Paul Magriel
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| Nickname(s) | X-22 |
|---|---|
| Hometown | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | None |
| Money finishes | 4 |
| Highest ITM main event finish | None |
| World Poker Tour | |
| Titles | None |
| Final tables | 1 |
| Money Finishes | 2 |
Paul David "X-22" Magriel Jr. (pronounced Ma-greel) (born July 1, 1946) is an American professional backgammon player, poker player and author, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was also a fellow of the National Science Foundation at Princeton University. He is the son of Paul Magriel Sr., an art collector and author, and Christine Fairchild Magriel of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
[edit] Backgammon
Magriel is a former mathematics professor and National Science Foundation fellow in probability, who first came to note in the backgammon circuit, winning the world title in 1978. In 1976 he and his wife, Renee Magriel, wrote the book Backgammon (ISBN 1-59386-027-7) explaining his strategies. The book is widely considered to be "The Bible" of the game. The Magriels also collaborated on weekly backgammon columns published in the The New York Times beginning in 1978. Paul is the elder brother of Nicolas Magriel, a noted sarangi player and teacher.
His nickname "X-22" comes from the time he set up many backgammon boards to simulate a real tournament, X-1, X-2, X-3, and so forth, and the player called "X-22" was victorious.
Magriel is widely considered the world's premier backgammon teacher and one of its best players.
[edit] Poker
Magriel had several notable finishes in poker tournaments from the mid-1990s in Europe, playing in London, Paris and Vienna in Omaha, hold'em and seven-card stud events. He won the €2,000 no limit hold'em event at the Aviation Club de France in September 2002, defeating a field including Pascal "Triple P" Perrault, Patrick Bruel and Simon "Aces" Trumper on the way to the €48,600 first prize.
In March 2003 he made his first World Poker Tour (WPT) final table, finishing 4th in the $5,000 no limit hold'em World Poker Challenge event in Reno, Nevada.
Magriel has since finished in the money three times at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and has made the final table of events on the Professional Poker Tour and Ultimate Poker Challenge.
Magriel created the "M Principle" (better known since as the M-ratio) - a theory described to great lengths in the book Harrington on Hold'em Volume II by former WSOP Champion "Action" Dan Harrington. The theory explains at which stages of tournaments expected value exists to make moves on other players, depending on variance of all players' chip stacks.
Whilst playing poker, Magriel often shouts "Quack quack!" whilst making a bet, usually to declare a bet which has a numerical value beginning in 22 (e.g.: 2200, 22000.) This is a reference to a pair of 2's being known in backgammon as "double ducks" and poker as ducks.
As of 2005, his total live tournament winnings exceed $280,000.
