Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer Profile

Greg "Fossilman" Raymer was born in 1964 in Minot, North Dakota and was an Air Force brat. He lived in Lansing, MI until he was 11 years old, then moved to Florida and Missouri, where he finished high school. Greg received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Missouri, an MS in Biochemistry and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota. He was a patent attorney in Chicago and later a corporate attorney with Pfizer, until he won the WSOP in 2004.

While in school in Minnesota, Greg made extra money by playing blackjack as a card counter at the various Indian casinos in the state. When he got his first job in Chicago, there were no readily beatable blackjack games available. While looking for a blackjack game, he found a poker game, and played for fun. Greg had already learned the basics of the game while in college playing in nickel-dime-quarter games in his fraternity and with all of his friends in grad school and law school. Fortunately for Greg, one of the first books on poker that he found was The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky, which helped a lot to lay the groundwork for all his future poker education. While in Chicago, Greg mostly played 3-6. In San Diego, he moved up from 3-6 to 10-20 and occasionally 20-40. He also started to learn big bet poker in the 3,5 blind pot-limit holdem games in Oceanside, and also learned tournament poker at this time. In CT, Greg moved up from 10-20 to 20-40 to 150-300, and gained a reputation as one of the best local tournament players at Foxwoods.

The trademark "lizard eye" sunglasses that Greg wears were purchased at Disneyworld on a family vacation just prior to the WSOP events in 2002. Greg thought it would be a funny joke to put them on in the middle of an important hand. However, instead of making everyone laugh, the glasses freaked out his opponent and caused him to fold. Since then he has found that some of his opponents are very uncomfortable playing against him because of the glasses. Precisely why you will still see Greg wearing them during major tournaments.

Greg got the "Fossilman" nickname from players at the Oceanside Card Club in San Diego. He had purchase an othoceras fossil to be used as a cardholder. Many other players liked the fossil, so Greg went to the rock and mineral show where hed purchased the original one and bought several more to sell for a profit, thereby helping to build his poker bankroll. You can purchase authographed fossils from Gregs website.

Player stats:

2005: 6th place The Grosvenor World Masters Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
2005: 6th place WSOP Main Event
2004: 5th place WSOP Tournament of Champions No Limit Hold'em
2004: 4th place Gaming Club World Poker Championship
2003: Winner WSOP Main Event
2002: 3rd place World Poker Finals $300 No Limit Holdem
2001: Winner New England Poker Classic $100 Seven Card Stud
2000: 3rd place World Poker Finals No Limit Hold'em
1999: 5th place Orleans Open $300 Limit Hold'em

Greg and his family relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2005.

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