PaulMagriel, a brilliant mathematician and an extraordinary skill games player, has become a living legend in the backgammon and gaming world many years ago. He was born (1946) and raised in New York City; graduated the New York University and became a member of the National Science Foundation at Princeton University, always focusing on probability as his major field of interest. Paul even served as a mathematics professor at, what is today, the New Jersey Institute of Technology for 4 years, but has always kept his passion to skill games active and predominant.
Magriel started his professional life as a chess player. He won the New York State Junior Chess Championship at the age of 19 (1965); nevertheless, backgammon was the game that made him famous all around the world. On top of being a rare phenomenon as a player, he is one of the greatest backgammon theoreticians, commentators and teachers of all times.
There is no other backgammon player to be found, who can compete and excel Magriel's achievements. He won the World Backgammon Championship in 1978 and has collected numerous important trophies ever since. His reputation includes outstanding verbal and writing abilities as a commentator, as well as being the 'celebrity and aristocracy' backgammon teacher.
The crown of his work, although written in 1976, is the first book he wrote together with his first wife, Renee Magriel. The book, "Backgammon" is considered to be the Bible of backgammon, carefully learnt and memorized by any serious and aspiring backgammon player. Magriel wrote several other books such, 'An Introduction to Backgammon: A Step-by-Step Guide', served as a live commentator at large backgammon events and televised backgammon series, and wrote backgammon column for the New York Times.
During the 90's of the previous century, Magriel has broadened his activities to include professional poker tournaments and theories; a clever move that has been contributing high value prizes to his bank account.
PaulMagriel, one of the world's top backgammon and poker players and authors, lives today in Las Vegas, Nevada, together with his second wife and the mother of his child, who is a professional poker player herself.