Poker History-Greg Fossilman Raymer
Posted on 23 May 2008 at 5:32 pm EDT by goodwithafork | Permalink
Today is Friday and that means it’s time for a little poker history from yours truly. I’ve been rolling with some player profiles and the things they have done to contribute to poker history and today is a continuation of that series. Today we’ll be talking about Greg Raymer, king of the goofy holographic sunglasses that we see him wear often when on TV, mainly on the World Series of Poker.
Raymer didn’t start playing poker until 1999 when he took a stab at it while working for Pfizer pharmaceuticals. Apparently this practice paid off for Raymer because in 2001 he finished in the money during a 2001 WSOP Omaha hi-lo event. He’s been seen in the background at numerous WSOP events since.
In 2004 Raymer made his mark on poker by winning the WSOP main event. This event alone netted him five million dollars and a lot of recognition in the poker world. He got to the event via PokerStars by winning a $160 buy in event. That’s an excellent payout for a small investment to put it mildly. I wish I had a chance to win cash like that after such a small investment!
This wasn’t a fluke because in 2005 Raymer went to finish 25th in the main event. Not a simple task considering 5,619 people entered in the event. Few players have come that close to repeating championships in consecutive years. Again in 2005 Raymer played in the British Poker Open and finished 3rd netting him around 20,000 pounds for his efforts. As of 2007 Raymer’s winnings exceed five million dollars. Not a shabby sum for a player to make his mark after winning a PokerStars tournament!
Raymer should be an inspiration to a lot of us smaller players in poker. He came from online poker to star in huge tournaments, an unexpected thing in recent years. When I see him at the table I can’t help but root for him because I know if I were in such a position it would be an incredible experience. It’s always great to see players such as Raymer succeed and it looks like he will continue to thrive in the poker world so keep your eyes out for the Fossilman!
