Greg Raymer Poker Player Some things are just plain creepy; big, hairy spiders, old Hitchcock shower scenes, and a guy with lizard eyes staring at you from across the table. Greg Raymer knows it creeps you out, too. That’s why he wears his trademark hologram lizard-eye sunglasses. It’s to gain a psychological edge. And it works.

Gregory Raymer Childhood

Gregory Raymer was born in June of 1964 in Minot, North Dakota. His father was a military man in the Air Force. He retired while Raymer was still a baby and they moved to Lansing, Michigan. At the age of 11, Raymer’s family moved again, this time to Clearwater, Florida. Then just a few years after that, they moved yet again to Manchester, Missouri which is a suburb of St. Louis. There Raymer would attend and graduate from high school.

Greg Raymer Education

After high school, Greg Raymer enrolled at the University of Missouri where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He later earned his master’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Minnesota along with a J.D. in law. His first job out of school was as a patent attorney for a large litigation firm in Chicago. After a handful of years, he decided that litigation was not for him. He moved to San Diego where he took a job at another law firm that specialized in biochemistry patents and prosecution. He again did not like the lifestyle of working so many hours in a week. So in 1998 he quit the law firm and took a job working for Pfizer, Inc., one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and moved to Connecticut.

Greg Raymer Stars Playing Poker

Greg Raymer started playing poker while in college in Minnesota working on his master’s. The games were only nickel and dime games with some friends and were just for recreation. However, he did frequent the nearby Indian casinos where he counted cards at blackjack. While working his first job in Chicago, he took a more serious approach to poker. He purchased several books on the game to study and they helped to build a solid foundation for him. He started out in small-stakes poker and slowly built up to bigger games. While in Connecticut, he played regularly at the Foxwoods Casino and became a known as one of the best local tournament players around. In 2000, Greg Raymer took third place in No Limit Hold’Em at the World Poker Finals which earned him $48,960. Then in March 2001, he took first place at the New England Poker Classic in the Limit Seven-Card Stud event. That win earned him $25,560.

Greg Raymer - Enters World Serios of Poker

In 2001, Greg Raymer entered the World Series of Poker. He took twelfth place in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split. The next year at the World Poker Tour season 1 World Poker Finals, Raymer ended with a ninth place finish and a third place finish.

Greg Raymer struck gold in 2004. He won a $160 satellite event on Pokerstars.com and got a spot at the World Series of Poker. He made it to the final table of the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold’Em main event where he outlasted the other contenders and finally defeated David Williams in heads-up. He took the first place title and the prize of $5 million. At that time, it was one of the largest pots in WSOP history.

Greg Raymer Trademarks

Greg Raymer won the title during the early part of the poker boom and gained instant fame. Greg Raymer attracted a lot of attention due to his now trademark holographic lizard-eye sunglasses. He had purchased them during a trip to Disneyland and had originally intended to wear them as a joke. However, the first time he put them on, they freaked out his opponent so much that they folded. So Raymer has since kept wearing them during games as a psychological advantage.

His use of fossils to cover his hole cards also garnered attention. Back in 1996, he and his wife went to a rock and mineral show in San Diego where Raymer bought a orthocera’s fossil because he thought it would make a cool card protector. He also bought several more to resell at a higher price. A year earlier he had made a deal with his wife that if he did not get a bankroll of $1000, separate from their income and savings, then he would quit poker. By reselling the fossils at tournaments, he helped to build his bankroll. Thus he earned the nickname of ‘Fossilman’.

Greg Raymer WSOP Events & Other Poker Tournaments

After his win at the WSOP, Greg Raymer quit his job to pursue poker full-time. In 2005, Raymer again made it to the $10,000 main event of the WSOP and took 25th place, outlasting a field of 5,600 players. The win earned him $304,680. He also took sixth place in the No Limit Hold’Em event and won $119,450. At the time, no player since Johnny Chan had come as close to repeating their championship win at the WSOP.

Also in 2005, Greg Raymer participated in the inaugural British Poker Open in London, England. It was televised and became Britain’s biggest live poker event in history. Raymer made it to the final table and took third place and won about 20,000 British pounds.

Greg Raymer has also done well in numerous other tournaments. At the 2006 WSOP, he finished in fifth place in $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball. Also in 2006, he finished in second place in the first quarterly tournament on PokerStars.com and outlasted a field of over 1500 players to win $180,000. He was part of a five-man team for Team USA in the 4th Annual PokerStars World Cup of Poker. In 2007, Raymer won the PokerStars World Cup of Online Poker $320 Pot limit Omaha event. He defeated 771 players and won $168,362 and his first WCOOP bracelet.

Greg Raymer - WPT Lawsuit

Greg Raymer does not participate in any World Poker Tour events due to his lawsuit against WPT Enterprises. He is one of several players, including Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon, Joseph Hachem, and Chris Ferguson, that accuse the WPT of using the pro players’ names and images in their products without fair compensation or consent. The lawsuit brought about a public debate between Raymer and fellow player Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu had criticized the players online for their actions against the WPT and when Raymer fired back, the online debate quickly escalated. Since then, the two have called a truce and apologized for their comments.

Greg Raymer Current Events

Greg Raymer’s appearances at tournaments are not frequent. He prefers to spend time with his wife and family. They currently live in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a representative of PokerStars.com where he plays online. He spends a lot of his free time on the golf course but also enjoys tennis and bowling on his Wii game system. He has built up a well-deserved reputation as a solid player and all-around nice guy. As of 2008, his estimated tournament winnings are $6 million.