The basic reason why Mr. Ungar changed from gin to poker was that he was a little too good at it. So skilled in fact, that no one was able stand up to him. Even the so-called champions who were meant to be the greatest at gin rummy were beat when they played with Stu Ungar. One of these gin rummy masters was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry Stein was handed such a crushing blow at the hands of Stu Ungar that he apparently quit participating in it professionally and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Certainly, with a distinction like that it wasn’t long before players became shy of betting against mr. ungar. He could not find any matches and in his desperation he started doing something no one had done before. He offered starting handicaps to likely opponents in the high hopes that they might compete against him if they believed they had an advantage. He at will began from a disadvantageous position and one story has it that stu even competed against a constant bad egg. Mid game, he get a few words of wisdom that the cheater was at it yet again but Stu Ungar assured that he deduced of the dishonestly and he would still come away with a win, which he did, of course.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to vegas. He won so frequently that the casinos began requesting that he not to wager in their casinos anymore. The reasoning behind it was that other poker room clients would not sit at the table if he were seated.
Stu Ungar is recollected more for his accomplishments in holdem poker but he always maintained that he was a whole lot more skilled at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 to become the youngest world champion. Due to his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".