The main reason why Stu switched from gin rummy to poker was that Stu was a tiny bit too skilled at it. So good in fact, that no player was able stand up to him. Even the so-called professionals who were supposed to be the best at gin rummy were defeated when they played against Mr. Ungar. One of these gin rummy player was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry Stein suffered such a crushing beating at the hands of mr. ungar that he apparently stopped playing it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin tournament.

Certainly, with a reputation like that it wasn’t very long before gamblers became afraid of competing against stu. He could not find any games and in his bleakness he started doing something no one had attempted prior. Stu offered beginning handicaps to likely competitors in the hope that they may compete with him if they thought they held an edge. He deliberately played from a disadvantageous arrangement and one story has it that stu even played with a regular absconder. Mid contest, he received warnings that the absconder was at it again but Stu Ungar guaranteed that he knew of the chicanery and he would still actually win, which of course, he did.

The same trend followed Stu Ungar to vegas. He won so much that the poker rooms started asking him not to gamble on their rooms anymore. The reasoning behind it was that other casino visitors would not be seated at the table if Stu was seated.

Stu Ungar is remembered better for his abilities in texas hold’em poker but he himself always said that he was far better at gin rummy.

He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in Nineteen Eighty and became the youngest world camp. Because of his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".