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Greg Raymer - Poker Legend
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Greg Raymer, also known as Fossilman, which is his online poker name, is the defending champion at this year's World Series Of Poker. He won the main event in 2004 with a dazzling display of aggression, seizing the lead relatively early on in the tournament and never relinquishing that advantage.
Raymer came into the tournament as an amateur but he was far from "dead money" and even the term amateur is misleading in his case. Fossilman was a well known high stakes limit player at Foxwoods where he regularly played in the $150-$300 game. That's hardly small change. He was also well known online, regularly contributing to the various poker forums and participating in numerous online poker tournaments. He had played in the WSOP main event before and performed credibly, so Greg Raymer's emergence in 2004 was not that surprising to those who knew him.
Greg Raymer is a patent attorney whose wife was reluctant to let him give up his solid career in order to pursue the volatile life of a professional poker player. They made a compromise whereby Raymer started with $1000 and promised her that if he lost that initial amount he would stop playing poker. In order to supplement his bankroll he began selling fossils to other players at the card room. He would place the fossils on his cards to protect them when he was in a hand, hence the nickname "Fossilman".
Raymer's highly intelligent approach to poker suggests that he will be a force to be reckoned with on the poker tour. Unlike his immediate predecessor, Chris Moneymaker, one gets the feeling that Raymer is no flash in the pan. His victory was hard earned, and although he has a negligible chance of repeating as champion in the 2005 World Series of Poker he will almost certainly win another major no-limit event in time to come. The fact that over 6000 opponents will all be especially keen to knock him out personally, and in so doing earn their ten seconds of fame on ESPN's telecast, probably precludes him from doing well this year.
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Mike Matusow - Poker Legend
> T J Cloutier - Poker Legend
> Layne Flack - Poker Legend
> Gus Hansen - Poker Legend
> Chris Moneymaker - Poker Legend
> Doyle Brunson - Poker Legend
> Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson - Poker Legend
> Johnny Chan - Poker Legend
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