The main reason for why Stu Ungar switched from gin to poker was that Stu was a bit too skilled at it. So skilled in fact, that no one could equal him. Even the so-called experts who were meant to be the most favorable at gin were blow away when they competed with Stu Ungar. One of these gin rummy masters was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Mr. Stein suffered such a crushing blow at the hands of stu that he apparently stopped competing in it as a pro and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.

Certainly, with a reputation like that it was not too long before gamblers became afraid of gambling against stu. He couldn’t find any games and in his bleakness he began doing something no one had done prior. Stu began offering starting handicaps to potential competitors with the hope that they might just compete against him if they thought they held an advantage. He at will began from a negative position and one account has it that stu even competed with a regular bad egg. During the game, he received a few words of wisdom that the bad egg was at it yet again but stu assured that he was aware of the cheating and he would still come away with a win, which of course, he did.

The same problem followed Stu Ungar to vegas. He won so often that the poker rooms started asking him not to compete in their respective premises anymore. The reason for it was that other casino visitors would not be seated at the table if Stu was seated.

Stu Ungar is remembered better for his achievements in texas holdem poker but he always insisted that he was much better at gin rummy.

He defeated Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 to become the youngest world camp. Due to his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".