Poker Champion on Backgammon

Backgammon champions who turned to cash their analyzing and strategizing abilities in the lucrative poker scene are not a rare vision in both backgammon and poker worlds. Gus Hansen and Dan Harrington are famous examples, and even legendary author of the bible of backgammon, Paul Magriel, also known as X-22, tried his hand in poker and became a member of the infamous Mayfair poker club (first sought to be backgammon and bridge club) in New York City. 

A recent example to the tight relationship between two gambling/skill games provides Arnaud Mattern, the 2007 French backgammon champion and the European Poker Tour champion of the same year. Mattern learned to play backgammon from Francois Tardieu, number 3 in the 2007 Giants of Backgammon list and a poker player himself, who taught him to underrate the luck factor, to play the best possible move and to stay calm and calculated during game. All these lessons, he told Card Player, remained valuable around in poker tournaments as well. Yet, he admits he had hardly seen these qualities among his poker colleagues.