The basic reason why Stu switched from gin rummy to poker was that he was a little too skilled at it. So good in fact, that no player was able stand up to him. Even the so-called experts who were supposed to be the best at gin rummy were defeated when they faced Mr. Ungar. One such gin rummy player was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry was handed such a crushing blow at the hands of mr. ungar that he allegedly quit competing in it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin tournament.
Certainly, with a image like that it wasn’t too long before players became shy of betting against Stu Ungar. He could find no games and in his boredom he began doing something no one had performed before. Stu provided beginning handicaps to likely adversaries with the high hopes that they might just play opposed to him if they thought they held an edge. He at will started from a negative arrangement and one story has it that stu even played against a consistent bad egg. Mid contest, he get advice that the bad egg was at it yet again but stu stated that he deduced of the chicanery and he would still actually win, which he did, of course.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar into Las Vegas. He won so often that the casinos started asking him not to bet on their casinos anymore. The basis for it was that other casino clientele would not be seated at the table if Stu was seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered more for his accomplishments in holdem poker but he himself always said that he was a whole lot more accomplished at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in 1980 to become the youngest world champion. Due to his features that made him appear far younger than he actually was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".