Greg Raymer Needs A Stake

[BUBBLES]

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Greg Raymer Wants You to Stake Him for 2014[ return to main articles page ]
By: Bill Grinstead [See all articles by Bill Grinstead]
Published on Jan 17th, 2014
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Greg "FossilMan" Raymer (pictured) recently turned to the poker community to solicit backers for a slightly unorthodox staking partnership that would see shareholders bankroll the 2004 Main Event champion in tournaments and cash games for the entire year.

Unlike most staking deals that are only usually set up for one or a series of tournaments, Raymer hopes to raise "at least" $100,000 to use as his entire bankroll while he plays a variety of tournaments and cash games hosted around the US and globally.

Buying shares at $1,000 a unit, backers will be entitled to a total of 60% of any winnings, while Raymer will claim the other 40%. In the unfortunate event that he closes the year in the red, all investors will lose equally in accordance with how many shares they own. To make sure he is "incentivized properly," FossilMan will kick things off by purchasing at least 20 shares of himself.

Perhaps allaying fears of potential investors, Raymer also mentioned that this isn't the first time he's cut such a deal. "Prior to the 2004 Main Event, I had done something similar. I sold pieces of my action to a group of about 18 individuals, who bought 1-10 shares each, while I bought a much larger portion."

For those shareholders, he wrote periodic reports on his progress, something his backers admitted was a fun perk that led to their continual participation in the investment. He promised to do the same for investors this time around and e-mail a report to the group once a month or more throughout the year.

While Raymer had a quiet year on the tournament circuit in 2013, earning only $30,000 on record, he had a stellar 2012, taking first place in four Heartland Poker Tour events for over $370,000 total. Adding that to his $5 million prize in the 2004 WSOP Main Event, he has over $7.4 million in recorded lifetime earnings to his name.

Why does a poker pro who has made millions in the game and boasts a "21-year track record of winning results" need a backer? As if already anticipating wild speculation on the forums, Raymer explained that the decision was made mainly to create more financial peace of mind for his family after his sponsorship deal with PokerStars ended in 2011. "Since I no longer receive a guaranteed source of income, my wife has become more and more nervous about me playing poker," he said. "Without a paycheck to immediately recoup any losses, she gets anxious."

While most people couldn't simply turn to an internet forum to raise over $100,000, Raymer's reputation as a well-liked, trusted, and long-term member of the poker community makes the proposition not at all improbable.

With Raymer's skill and dedication to the game, he almost certainly wouldn’t have any trouble continuing to play completely on his own dime. But for now, the former patent attorney is focusing on family stability and trying to minimize volatility at the poker table and at home: "Even though this move is costing me EV, it is making up for that fact by providing marriage EV."

In his post, FossilMan invited anyone who is seriously interested in the deal to send him a private message on TwoPlusTwo and reiterated his passion for the game. "It has been 10 years since I won the Main Event and 21 years since I started playing poker. I still love the game and am looking forward to a great year in 2014 and I would like you to be a part of that."

[Dan Druff]

There has to be more to this story.

Cash games included in the package? Did he consult Jasep before offering this "package"?

This isn't just a buy-a-piece situation to reduce variance at tournaments, like I do at the WSOP.

This is basically begging for 100k to play poker with.

No way he's just doing this to pacify his wife.

[BeerAndPoker]

I posted about this the other day in the Greg Raymer Prostitution thread which is in Flying Stupidity area.

The deal is LOL for his backers. Perhaps Raymer blew his money on them hookers!

[Dan Druff]

I posted about this the other day in the Greg Raymer Prostitution thread which is in Flying Stupidity area.

The deal is LOL for his backers. Perhaps Raymer blew his money on them hookers!

While this isn't always true, a lot of guys who routinely get hookers also engage in other sorts of irresponsible behavior, including poor money management.

I wouldn't be surprised if he shot it all off and now needs a stake to continue playing, especially without Pokerstars footing the bill.

[Hockey Guy]

I posted about this the other day in the Greg Raymer Prostitution thread which is in Flying Stupidity area.

The deal is LOL for his backers. Perhaps Raymer blew his money on them hookers!

While this isn't always true, a lot of guys who routinely get hookers also engage in other sorts of irresponsible behavior, including poor money management.

I wouldn't be surprised if he shot it all off and now needs a stake to continue playing, especially without Pokerstars footing the bill.

Or maybe everything isn't quite as rosy with his wife as it's made out to be & she's taken half of everything & there's an announcement coming.

Or maybe she controls the money in the family & she's given him the old "fuck you, if you want to continue galavanting around the country playing poker & fucking hookers you can get backed because you ain't using my money" since the prostitution scandal. My money is on this one.

[BeerAndPoker]

In one of the documentary videos somewhere on Poker that came out several years ago I remember before Greg Raymer won the main event he said his wife was very concerned about him playing poker.

I remember he said in the interview that he told his concerned wife he would give himself a $1k bankroll and if he lost all that his poker playing days would be over. Then he grinded it up and got some backing deals to play in the 2004 WSOP where he went on to win the Main Event.

[lvpkr1009]

In one of the documentary videos somewhere on Poker that came out several years ago I remember before Greg Raymer won the main event he said his wife was very concerned about him playing poker.

I remember he said in the interview that he told his concerned wife he would give himself a $1k bankroll and if he lost all that his poker playing days would be over. Then he grinded it up and got some backing deals to play in the 2004 WSOP where he went on to win the Main Event.

He doesn't strike me as the type of guy that sits in the big game and shoots off wads of cash at the poker table so I don't think it's that. Until something is shown where he has a habit of blowing money at other games or sports betting I think hes still got a big bit of his money left. I think the history of kids these days winning millions and having nothing to show for it and going busto makes people cynical about stuff like this but if there was someone I would buy this story about it would be him

[BeerAndPoker]

He doesn't strike me as the type of guy that sits in the big game and shoots off wads of cash at the poker table so I don't think it's that. Until something is shown where he has a habit of blowing money at other games or sports betting I think hes still got a big bit of his money left. I think the history of kids these days winning millions and having nothing to show for it and going busto makes people cynical about stuff like this but if there was someone I would buy this story about it would be him

A five million dollar tournament win really isn't as much as it sounds like in the poker world. Most of the time the Pro has backing or sold pieces of themselves. I'm not sure what Raymer had but lets say 60% of himself then it's really $3 million then after taxes we it's more like $2 million net profit from winning the 2004 WSOP ME.

Since then he has won a few more in MTT scores but what databases don't tell you is how much in buyins you've spent and from that if your a sponsored pro which Greg was for some events up until 2011 then how much did your sponsor buy you into? What about all those travel expenses which add up?

Also, how much does one win or lose in cash games? Even if Greg isn't throwing down $100k at a time to play in big cash games if he did take a few shots in nosebleed games that failed or just lost a bunch here and there in $10/$20 NL or $100/200 limit then that along with living expenses chip away and a few million can go down the drain very easily over ten years time.

Greg may still have some money left but if he's living in a $1.7 million dollar home he probably understands he needs to watch his finances in order to stay there.

The home I'm referring to is from this clip below which happened when he got busted for the prostitution ring:

http://www.pokertube.com/videos/greg...g-full-report/

[son of lockman]

I posted about this the other day in the Greg Raymer Prostitution thread which is in Flying Stupidity area.

The deal is LOL for his backers. Perhaps Raymer blew his money on them hookers!

While this isn't always true, a lot of guys who routinely get hookers also engage in other sorts of irresponsible behavior, including poor money management.

I wouldn't be surprised if he shot it all off and now needs a stake to continue playing, especially without Pokerstars footing the bill.

Yep think he must of popped his wad somewhere along the line and you're calling the right shots here. Anyone who has 7.4 million in lifetime earning shoudn't need backers.

[Hockey Guy]

While this isn't always true, a lot of guys who routinely get hookers also engage in other sorts of irresponsible behavior, including poor money management.

I wouldn't be surprised if he shot it all off and now needs a stake to continue playing, especially without Pokerstars footing the bill.

Yep think he must of popped his wad somewhere along the line and you're calling the right shots here. Anyone who has 7.4 million in lifetime earning shoudn't need backers.

You do realize that he had backers for his ME win so he didn't get all that money right?

[lvpkr1009]

He doesn't strike me as the type of guy that sits in the big game and shoots off wads of cash at the poker table so I don't think it's that. Until something is shown where he has a habit of blowing money at other games or sports betting I think hes still got a big bit of his money left. I think the history of kids these days winning millions and having nothing to show for it and going busto makes people cynical about stuff like this but if there was someone I would buy this story about it would be him

A five million dollar tournament win really isn't as much as it sounds like in the poker world. Most of the time the Pro has backing or sold pieces of themselves. I'm not sure what Raymer had but lets say 60% of himself then it's really $3 million then after taxes we it's more like $2 million net profit from winning the 2004 WSOP ME.

Since then he has won a few more in MTT scores but what databases don't tell you is how much in buyins you've spent and from that if your a sponsored pro which Greg was for some events up until 2011 then how much did your sponsor buy you into? What about all those travel expenses which add up?

Also, how much does one win or lose in cash games? Even if Greg isn't throwing down $100k at a time to play in big cash games if he did take a few shots in nosebleed games that failed or just lost a bunch here and there in $10/$20 NL or $100/200 limit then that along with living expenses chip away and a few million can go down the drain very easily over ten years time.

Greg may still have some money left but if he's living in a $1.7 million dollar home he probably understands he needs to watch his finances in order to stay there.

The home I'm referring to is from this clip below which happened when he got busted for the prostitution ring:

http://www.pokertube.com/videos/greg...g-full-report/

The thing that sticks out to me though is that he's not running around playing 100k SHR or chasing down wpt titles and probably isn't getting bottle service in all the clubs. As far as I know he almost exclusively plays the HPT tour these days so how much is he really plopping down on buy ins last few yrs. unless he made some bad investments and shot off all his stars money to go along with the ME winning (which he was backed for a decent bit I think) then I think he's probably doing sort of ok. I could be wrong it won't be the first time

[Dan Druff]

The thing here is that he is acting like someone who is flat broke (or at least cash broke and unable to get cash for awhile).

He's not just selling pieces of himself, which would be extremely easy to do with a big name such as his, and he could charge some nice markup in the process.

Instead, he is asking for 100k up front, where he risks zero of his own money.

He is also saying he'll play cash games with the money, which is of course very suspect, because it's impossible to track real wins and losses unless it's online (and even then it can be tough).

I do think it's possible that his wife is behind some of this, perhaps already on the verge of divorcing him after hookergate. He might have lost the maximum she's allowing him to lose, and is demanding either a complete cessation of gambling or having someone else foot the bill.

If he refuses, she can divorce him and take half his assets, including forcing a sale of the house if he can't cover her part of it.

If I had to guess, it would be something like that. I have a feeling he is low enough on funds now to where his wife is uncomfortable with any further poker play with their money. If he were really a consistent winner, I don't think she would be clamping down like this.

[Daly]

The thing here is that he is acting like someone who is flat broke (or at least cash broke and unable to get cash for awhile).

He's not just selling pieces of himself, which would be extremely easy to do with a big name such as his, and he could charge some nice markup in the process.

Instead, he is asking for 100k up front, where he risks zero of his own money.

He is also saying he'll play cash games with the money, which is of course very suspect, because it's impossible to track real wins and losses unless it's online (and even then it can be tough).

I do think it's possible that his wife is behind some of this, perhaps already on the verge of divorcing him after hookergate. He might have lost the maximum she's allowing him to lose, and is demanding either a complete cessation of gambling or having someone else foot the bill.

If he refuses, she can divorce him and take half his assets, including forcing a sale of the house if he can't cover her part of it.

If I had to guess, it would be something like that. I have a feeling he is low enough on funds now to where his wife is uncomfortable with any further poker play with their money. If he were really a consistent winner, I don't think she would be clamping down like this.

Thats my read. I bet he is cash poor. He probably owns a lot of his house and has some retirement money set aside but cant get any cash out of it without setting off bells and whistles with the wife.

[zealanddonk]

Druff, he claims he's buying 20% of his deal. Naturally this isn't much better or different than Jasep's shenanigans.

http://t.co/QD1Ou6wvIY
Greg Raymer Wants You to Stake Him for 2014[ return to main articles page ]
By: Bill Grinstead [See all articles by Bill Grinstead]
Published on Jan 17th, 2014
Email A Friend
Buying shares at $1,000 a unit, backers will be entitled to a total of 60% of any winnings, while Raymer will claim the other 40%. In the unfortunate event that he closes the year in the red, all investors will lose equally in accordance with how many shares they own. To make sure he is "incentivized properly," FossilMan will kick things off by purchasing at least 20 shares of himself.

[Numba3]

Greg should know you gotta pay to play...