Played 1/2nl with him at Bally's LV a few years back, very entertaining character.

cool post

more stories from the glory days please

Did he ever play online poker?

RIP

How X-22 won at backgammon blindfolded.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1...5/playing-x-22

I saw Magriel's interview on 60 Minutes when he was at the height of his popularity. He was traveling the Middle East where wealthy oil sheiks were paying him money to play them. He also was playing with super wealthy on the French Rivera. Backgammon had really taken off and it became the game of choice for the idle rich. That period didn't last long but it must have been a hell of a ride.

NY Times Obituary
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/o...ies-at-71.html

Thanks for posting that.

I was at the Reno Hilton when Paul Magriel made the final table of that WPT event. I went in and watched it. I had no idea who he was. I was fascinated with being able to see the face up cards on the TV screens when someone was all in and got a call. It was the first time I had seen that. I was used to watching final tables at the Horseshoe where when someone was all in and got a call everyone in the bleachers would jump up and crowd the table so I couldn't see jackall. It used to tick me off.

A couple years later Paul sat down beside me in a limit holdem game at the Horseshoe. Very nice and pleasant man. He even gave me a little advice before he left. He told me that if I just automatically folded UTG in a ten handed ring game without looking at my cards I would save a lot of money.

RIP

I didn't know the man but I really enjoy reading the write ups about his life upon his passing. Gamblers of this era all seem to have a much more fascinating life story then the players of the past 20 years.
Legends like this don't seem to exist anymore.

Played with sometimes at the Venetian in 06/07 iirc.

Nice guy. I remember him telling me a friend and him were betting to see who would profit 10K at 1/2 NL tables first. He quickly got his buyin in with the better side of a flip and lost.

I played with Paul a few times in the cash games in LV. Seemed like a nice enough guy, I knew his nickname but wasn't aware of his past accomplishments. It's fascinating how many elite players of other games gravitate towards poker in their later years and still get something out of the competition.

Harrington on Holdem were some of the first poker books I read ten years ago, I had no idea Paul devised the M system until reading this thread. He had a part in turning me from a loser into a winner. TY sir, RIP

I always thought Magriel was an interesting character when I first saw his antics on tv, and had no idea about his background prowess. Reading up on his accomplishments later really impressed me though.

However, it always baffles me to see such geniuses like him, end up either destitute or a shell of their former selves towards the tail end of their career.

Rise and fall of backgammon aside, I don't get why with his mathematical and analytical abilities moved on to something that I assume came easy to him, such as building models to handicap a particular sport and make money off it instead of playing low stakes poker in a dim lit room?

Or start playing limit/cap games online during the past few years where he could have easily found some near GTO strategies and made a hefty profit?

Or in the same vein, play spin and goes or hyper hu's and crush the more math based games.

It's not like his skills were limited to backgammon and tournament poker in the early 00's.

In any case, condolences to his family and hope he rests in peace.

R.I.P. sir. I played poker with him several times & he was always nice and fun to play with.

Quack quack

My very naive impression is that you're barking up the wrong tree. Think Stu Ungar.

Maybe that stuff didn't interest him. Ray Zee said in this thread it wasn't the money that drove him. Grinding low-limit live poker or online hypers (ugh) -- profitability aside, I'm picking the live games too.

Still, I hear you on the math side of it, you'd like to see a guy of that level of genius making use of his gifts, but, hey, if he was happy grinding poker then good for him.

I wonder if he ever played Gus Hanson in Backgammon or there ever was a challenge. Or Phil Laak for that matter.

I didn't know Paul away from the poker table, and I'm certainly no expert on his life, but we played together quite a bit and while chatting he would nonchalantly reveal/admit to aspects of his life that most people would hide.

The obits were well written and took the high road, but I do think they omitted an important part of his life that Paul would quite readily talk about with quasi-strangers. His mental illness. Knowing his past, I always took it as implied that mental illness is what caused him to fall from his 70s heydey, and that the illness and medication were the cause for his many ticks and quirks.

Paul overcame a lot to survive in the gambling world. I played low-stakes with him when my bankroll was low, and I have no doubt he could have beat the higher games I've played in. But what impressed me about him was not his poker skill. I was impressed by his ability to always stay positive, friendly and generous with his knowledge. I was impressed by his ability to survive in the gambling world while facing internal challenges I can't even fully comprehend. Even when people gave him grief for his ticks and and appearance, which was frequent, he always handled the situations with good humor. In his own way, Paul had class.

You are not dead as long as someone speaks about/remembers you. After this post will certainly include Mr. Paul Magriel in my memories without even knowing him. Meeting people having real class is a very rare occurence in life, so be grateful for having this experience! My condolences to family and friends.

some people are such scumbags.
i hope internally these people giving him grief didn't bother him much if at all.

Does anyone know details on any funeral services? I have heard there might not be one.

How he derived his nickname is fantastic

I heard team x-22 won in a 64 man simulated backgammon tournament where he played against himself in every match up. So that became his nickname. He ran simulations before computers made it easy to do so.

From the New Yorker article cited upthread:

"We asked X-22 how he had acquired that nickname.

"I used to play backgammon against myself," he said, "and once I had a private tournament with sixty-four imaginary entrants, whom I designated X-l, X-2, and so forth, through X-64. In the final, X-22 was pitted against X-34, and X-22 won."