Greg Raymer - 2004 WSOP Champion's Biography

Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer started playing poker during his college years with his Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School back in 1992. He practiced law for over a decade, but no longer works as an attorney. In the following years, he developed a more serious infatuation with the game and started reading poker-related books and poker guides. Fossilman first finished in the money of a WSOP event during 2001 in the Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8 or better. He also took part in the 2002 World Series of Poker won by Robert Varkoniy. To participate in 2003's World Series of Poker, he invested as much as $10,000 of his own money.

In 2004, he won a seat to the WSOP via $160 Double Shootout at the prominent online poker room Pokerstars.com. He had to outperform 2,575 entrants before he could claim the coveted 'WSOP champion' title and collect the $5,000,000 first place prize. At the time, it was the largest amount of money ever awarded in the poker industry. Commenting on that exciting event he said that he was very calm and focused all through the WSOP events. He made almost no moves that he later considered to be mistakes. Although at the final table, both he and his opponent David Williams had Full Houses, Raymer's hand was eventually stronger. He is now an official representative of PokerStars.com, alongside Chris Moneymaker and 2005 WSOP winner Joseph Hachem.

Raymer received his nickname, "Fossilman," because he is an ardent fossil collector. He revealed the he enjoyed using them as card protectors during poker games. Among his other eccentricities, is a weird pair of glasses he purchased in Disney World's Tower of Terror gift shop. After winning the 2004's World poker championship and nabbing the multi-million first prize, Greg spends little time playing tournaments, focusing instead on spending quality time his wife and daughter. Once, he said of himself that he only appeared to be a weirdo and that in real life he was actually much worse...

Raymer's advice to poker beginners is to play for free or for small stakes, and work their way up cautiously. As of 2006, his total tournament winnings exceed $5,700,000.