Greg Raymer is an American poker player who won the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
Nicknamed "Fossil Man" from his hobby of collecting fossils and using them as card protectors, he won $5,000,000 for winning the Main Event
"I started using a fossil as a card protector a long time ago and got the nickname 'FossilMan,'" he told PokerNews in 2020. "Since '08, it occurred to me that I might as well take that fossil and give it to the person that knocks me out. So every single tournament is a new fossil
Biography
Raymer was born in Minot, North Dakota. He majored in chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla and graduated with a master's degree in biochemistry in 1989. He worked as a patent attorney for more than a decade prior to his WSOP Main Event victory.
2004 WSOP Main Event
The 'Moneymaker Effect' had fully taken hold just one year after Chris Moneymaker's victory, with PokerStars providing 315 of the 2,576 entries to the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
By the time the final table was reached, Raymer held almost a third of the chips in play. Dan Harrington was making back-to-back final tables after finishing third in 2003. In 2004, he finished fourth.
Raymer busted four of the first five players at the final table and eventually made it all the way to heads-up against David Williams. Raymer defeated him in just seven hands to win the $5,000,000 first prize, with Williams having to settle for $3,500,000.
At the time, the top two payouts would be the most any two players would receive in a poker tournament ever, up until that point.
Read More: The Poker Hand I’ll Never Forget: Greg Raymer
Greg Raymer Poker Achievements
Raymer has attended the WSOP regularly since his Main Event victory, but has never won another bracelet. He came closest in 2009, with a third-place finish in the $40,000 40th Anniversary Event for $774,927.
Over the years, he has amassed over $8 million in live earnings and is a regular face on the U.S. domestic poker scene.
In January 2020, Raymer won a record fifth Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) title, winning HPT Ameristar East Chicago for $171,411.
Greg Raymer Top Five Poker Cashes
| YEAR | EVENT | BUY-IN | PLACE | PAYOUT (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2004 | WSOP Main Event | $10,000 | 1st | $5,000,000 |
| May 2009 | WSOP 40th Anniversary Event | $40,000 | 3rd | $774,927 |
| July 2005 | WSOP Main Event | $10,000 | 25th | $304,680 |
| January 2020 | Heartland Poker Tour Chicago | $1,650 | 1st | $171,411 |
| September 2012 | Heartland Poker Tour St. Louis | $1,650 | 1st | $121,973 |
WSOP Main Event Winners 1995-2004
| YEAR | ENTRIES | CHAMPION | COUNTRY | PRIZE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2,576 | Greg Raymer | United States | $5,000,000 |
| 2003 | 839 | Chris Moneymaker | United States | $2,500,000 |
| 2002 | 631 | Robert Varkonyi | United States | $2,000,000 |
| 2001 | 613 | Carlos Mortensen | Spain | $1,500,000 |
| 2000 | 512 | Chris Ferguson | United States | $1,500,000 |
| 1999 | 393 | Noel Furlong | Ireland | $1,000,000 |
| 1998 | 350 | Scotty Nguyen | Vietnam | $1,000,000 |
| 1997 | 312 | Stu Ungar | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 1996 | 295 | Huck Seed | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 1995 | 273 | Dan Harrington | United States | $1,000,000 |
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