Gregory "Fossilman" Raymer
b. June 25, 1964
Greg Raymer was born in Minot, North Dakota. His father was a serviceman in the Air Force but retired a few months after Greg was born. Raymer’s family moved to Lansing, Michigan, soon after his father’s retirement and lived there until he was eleven. From Michigan, Raymer’s family moved to Clearwater, Florida, and then on to Manchester, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.
After attending high school in St. Louis, Raymer earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri at Rolla and followed that with a master’s degree in biochemistry and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. Raymer was twenty-eight years old when he finally finished school and got a job as a patent attorney.
While in graduate school, however, Raymer did two things to earn extra money: he learned how to count cards playing blackjack at various Indian casinos and he performed stand-up comedy.
When he took his first job as a patent attorney in Chicago, there were no real blackjack games available to Raymer, so while searching for some at different casinos he stumbled onto poker. Raymer began playing $3-6 limit Texas Hold ‘em, liked it and wanted to improve his game, so he began buying and reading books on poker strategy.
One of the first books he read, and the one he credits most for laying down his poker foundation, was David Sklansky’s The Theory of Poker.
After three years of working and playing in Chicago, Raymer took a new job in San Diego, California, working in Biotechnology patent preparation and prosecution. He also stepped up his poker game, leaving behind the $3-6 limit and moving into a $10-20 limit game, and occasionally $20-40. In San Diego, Raymer also learned how to play tournament poker.
After a few more years, Raymer again took a new job, this time with Pfizer, Inc., the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, and moved to Stonington, Connecticut. Raymer’s poker game took another huge jump, and he started playing $150-300 limit poker and started entering tournaments at the infamous Foxwoods Casino. Raymer quickly gained a reputation at Foxwoods as one of the best local tournament players.
Raymer built up his bankroll and decided to enter the 2002 World Series of Poker. He paid cash to enter the main event and few of the smaller events. That year, Raymer lost about $30,000, leaving him about $15,000 of his original bankroll. He went back to Connecticut with a plan.
He needed investors, so he posted his proposition on the internet and found people willing to “buy” into Raymer at $500 a share. Raymer used these investments to play in tournaments, and after two years each share was only worth around $600; however, that all changed at the 2004 WSOP.
As many players know, Raymer won the main event of the 2004 WSOP, and he did it with the help of his investors. Raymer’s prize money totaled $5,000,000, and after all taxes were accounted for, each $500 share was valued at $36,000. Raymer’s single largest investor, who bought 10 shares, made over 1/3 of a million dollars from a $5,000 investment.
Raymer picked up the nickname “Fossilman” at the many tournaments he has played in because of the small collection of fossils he carried with him, and for extra cash he sold some of them to other players at the table.
In the 2002 WSOP, Raymer took to wearing a pair of holographic sunglasses that looked like dinosaur eyes, which played right into his “Fossilman” table image.
Raymer now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his family and travels the world playing poker and representing PokerStars.com.
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