Ungar eventually had to leave New York due to gambling debts at local race tracks. By 1976, he was regarded as one of the best players in New York City. He dropped out of school to play gin rummy in the 1960s full-time to help support his mother and sister after his father died, and began regularly winning tournaments which earned him $10,000 or more. Ungar won a local gin tournament at age 10. One of Ungar's most famous quotes sums up his competitiveness: 'I never want to be called a 'good loser.' Show me a good loser and I'll just show you a loser.' However, his relationship with Romano gave Ungar protection from various gamblers who did not take kindly to his crass attitude and assassin-like playing style.

Ungar was infamous for his arrogance and for routinely criticizing aloud the play of opponents he felt were beneath him, which included just about anyone. By many accounts, the two developed a very close relationship, with Romano serving as a mentor and protector.

He had the ability to recite the spelling and definition of all of the words in the dictionary and apparently shared a penchant and interest for calculating odds while gambling as Ungar did. Romano was regarded as one of the best card players of his time. Following his father's death, and with his mother virtually incapacitated by a stroke, Ungar drifted around the New York gambling scene until age 18, when he was befriended by reputed organized crime figure Victor Romano. Ido died of a heart attack on July 25, 1967. Ungar was gifted at school and skipped seventh grade, but then dropped out of school in tenth grade. Despite Ido's attempts to keep his son from gambling after seeing its effects on his regular customers, Stu began playing underground gin rummy and quickly made a name for himself. His father, Isidore ('Ido') Ungar, was a bookmaker and loan shark who ran a bar/social club called Foxes Corner that doubled as a gambling establishment, exposing Stu to gambling at a young age. He was raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Ungar was born to Jewish parents Isidore (1907–1967) and Faye Ungar (1916–1979). Additionally, Ungar is one of only four players in poker history to win consecutive titles in the WSOP Main Event, along with Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. He is the only person to win Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker three times, the world's second most prestigious poker title of its time. Ungar is one of two people in poker history to have won the World Series of Poker Main Event three times. Stuart Errol Ungar (Septem– November 22, 1998) was an American professional poker, blackjack, and gin rummy player, widely regarded to have been the greatest gin player of all time and one of the best Texas hold 'em players.

Old famous poker player