The basic reason for why Stu changed from gin rummy to poker was that Stu was a tiny bit too good at it. So skilled was he, that no one was able equal him. Even the commonly called professionals who were supposed to be the greatest at gin were blow away when they played with Stu. One of these gin rummy professionals was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry suffered such a humiliating defeat at the hands of mr. ungar that he apparently stopped playing it as a pro and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.
Certainly, with a distinction like that it wasn’t long before everyone became shy of competing against stu. He could find no matches and in his bleakness he started doing something no one had performed before. He presented starting handicaps to potential opposing players with the wish that they might just play against him if they thought they held an edge. He deliberately played from a bad position and one story has it that he even played against a constant bad egg. Amid the game, he received a few words of wisdom that the absconder was at it yet again but stu stated that he knew of the fraudulent activity and he would still win, which of course, he did.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar into sin city. He won so much that the poker rooms started asking him not to wager on their poker rooms anymore. The explanation why was that other casino customers would not sit at the table if he were playing.
Stu Ungar is recollected more for his achievements in holdem poker but he himself always said that he was much more accomplished at gin rummy.
He defeated Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 and became the youngest world champion. Due to his looks that made him seem far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
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