Who's The BEST Chess-Poker-Backgammon Player in the World?

Brief Background.  When I was a kid, my uncle taught me poker.  It wasn't Texas hold-em.  It was 5-card draw.  Then when I was in Jr. High, my friends and I played nickel-dime-poker.  Max of 3 raises.  We were lousy, but we had fun playing all kinds of games and wild cards too.

About the same time in Jr. High I joined the chess club.   I really didn't like the geek/nerd/propeller head reputation of being in the chess club, but I ignored it because the game was fun.  I was a decent athlete, and "cool", and the other guys in the chess club were not decent athletes, nor all that "cool".

Then in the Navy, I got introduced to Backgammon.  Man, that's a really fun game.  And when I "retired" from chess, I enjoyed playing in some backgammon tournaments.

Then it was Fantasy Football.  That's super fun too.  Researching the players and coaching schemes and plotting against your fellow fantasy owners was very enjoyable.  

So I like to play games, but after all these years away, Chess has come back to reclaim #1 spot in my heart.  

A few days ago, or last week, I was reading a thread by someone who was a Russian (I think he was Russian) M.D. who won a poker circuit tournament, and wants to get good at chess to beat the hustlers in NYC.   That made me think of Dan Harrington, who I think was a State Chess Champion, and won the World Series of Poker a couple of times.  I don't know if he played backgammon, but that dude is great at both chess and poker.

Then there's Bill Robertie whose book Winning Chess Tactics is my first book that I read this year, and he's a backgammon champion.

I heard there's some other chess masters who's also really good in poker, but I don't know who they are.  I just figure that since they're so good at calculating so speedily and accurately in chess, then they apply that successfully to poker too.  

Backgammon requires some calculation, but it's just not the same as in poker or chess.

Anyways, as an aside, I wasn't too keen when computers beat Kasparov and the World's Best Backgammon players.  And I've heard that computers might be programmed to beat the Best Poker players too.

So who's the Best Chess-Poker-Backgammon Triathlete that you can think of?

Robertie is good at poker, and Dan Harrington was also a top backgammon player in the 1970s.  Both were Boston-area expert/masters in the early 1970s, who improved at the Boylston Chess Club at it's old site at the Boylston Young Men's Christian Union in Boston.  In the mid to late 70s, Backgammon became all the rage amongst rich celebs, and there was money to be made, so Robertie and Harrington fished in those waters as well.

The Mayfair Club in NYC, was the games club in the early 80s.  Chess, backgammon and poker.

Men: GM'S - Ylon Schwartz, Alexander Grischuck, David Howell

Woman - Jennifer Shahade, Almira Skripchenko

Harrington reached chess master I think, but was elite backgammon and poker player.

Stu Unger was of course the undisputed best at all card games and backgammon. Don't know of his chess skills. He took on all challanges (with enough money) in poker, gin rummy and backgammon.

I didn't know Stu Unger played backgammon.   Flat out genius in cards with his prodigious memory.     Too bad he was a degenerate gambler and druggie.       

Paul Mariel is a backgammon fiend and poker player.   Don't know if he plays chess.   Same with Eric Seidel.  

Stu would gamble on anything. Players would fly to Vegas just to play him poker, gin, backgammon. He'd fleece everybody, just to lose it all the next day on the ponies, stay in $10,000 a night suites and pay for his habits. Never played backgammon tournaments, only hustled the few who thought they were better. As was the case with Gin. It's a very elite club, the high stakes players. Legend has it Unger Never lost a match. Good script for a movie I'd think.

Unger's "memory" can be attributed to his possessing a "photographic memory". This skill comes in various levels, but you're right, his memory was prodigious.

The OP asks:

So who's the Best Chess-Poker-Backgammon Triathlete that you can think of?

David Howell, the British GM, is a regular on the tour with some success at making final tables.

Jennifer Shahade has the most success at the poker tables, with a quite high chess rating.

There's little money in backgammon tournaments so who knows their skill level. Harrington was elite in backgammon and poker, back when BG was popular, but was just you're "average" chess master.

Baccarat is good too.

I think if Hikaru Nakamura devoted a little bit of time to studying and getting good in poker and backgammon, he'd be a monster   He already likes to gamble in the stock market, so I think he'd do well in poker and backgammon   

Alexander Grischuk probably. Elite poker player and top 10 chess player. I think he plays backgammon, but I am not sure if he's very good or not.