The main basis for why Stu changed from gin rummy to poker was that Stu was a little too skilled at it. So good was he, that no player possibly could equal him. Even the so-called experts who were supposed to be the best at gin rummy were defeated when they competed against Stu Ungar. One such gin player was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry was handed such a crushing defeat at the hands of mr. ungar that he apparently stopped competing in it professionally and never resurfaced at a gin tournament.
Certainly, with a distinction like that it was not too long before gamblers became shy of competing against Stu Ungar. He could not find any games and in his agony he began doing something no one had performed before. Stu provided beginning handicaps to likely opponents in the hope that they may play with him if they thought they had an edge. He deliberately began from a bad arrangement and one account has it that stu even played against a constant cheater. Mid contest, he received advice that the absconder was at it once more but stu guaranteed that he knew of the dishonestly and he would still acquire a win, which of course, he did.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar into sin city. He won so much that the casinos started asking him not to play in their respective premises anymore. The explanation why was that other poker room visitors would not sit at the table if Stu was seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his abilities in texas holdem poker but he always said that he was much more skilled at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in Nineteen Eighty to become the youngest world camp. Because of his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".
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