Posts Tagged ‘2004 WSOP Main Event’

Greg Raymer leaves PPA in Wake of Prostitution Scandal

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

For the past few years, Greg Raymer has been fighting for American poker players’ rights as a member of the Poker Players Alliance board. However, his work with the PPA will come to a halt for now after Raymer was busted for soliciting a prostitute in Wake Forrest, North Carolina. The 48-year-old voluntarily stepped down so that he can focus on his legal problems.

PPA Executive President John Pappas discussed Raymer’s decision by saying, “Earlier today, members of the Board of Directors of the Poker Players Alliance had a conversation with Board member Greg Raymer. Mr. Raymer requested, and the rest of the PPA Board accepted, that he be given a formal leave of absence as member of the PPA Board.”

With the organization currently battling for legalized poker on both the state and national level, it’s obvious that Raymer’s current problems aren’t an asset. Pappas said, “We are at a critical juncture in the fight for poker rights and we have to make sure side issues do not obscure focus from the main issue.”

During the time that Raymer was with the PPA, he showed up to various poker-related court cases around the United States. He also spoke to Congressmen on Capitol Hill about why online poker should be legalized.

Based on everything that Raymer has done, it’s not surprising that Pappas left the door open for him to return to the PPA board one day. However, the rest of the PPA would have to see Raymer as an asset, which certainly won’t be any time in the immediate future.

Greg Raymer is best known for winning the 2004 WSOP Main Event. He has also won four Heartland Poker Tour titles, and cashed in quite a few WSOP tournaments. To date, he’s earned $7,391,124 in live poker tournament winnings.

WSOP Champ Greg Raymer busted in Prostitution Sting

Friday, March 15th, 2013

2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Ryamer was recently busted in a Wake Forrest, North Carolina prostitution sting. ABC WTVD first broke the news as they reported that Raymer was apprehended in a “male prostitution sting.” However, the ABC affiliate later backtracked and removed the word male from the original news report.

Jeffrey Leonard, who’s the Wake Forrest Police Chief, said that Raymer was “one of six men who responded to an advertisement posted by undercover police on a website often used by prostitutes.” Leonard continued his statement by saying the following:

The locations prostitutes choose for this type of criminal activity vary and seldom remain the same for more than a couple of days at a time, which makes enforcement difficult. In this instance, we conducted the operation at a local hotel with its full cooperation. We are not aware of this type of criminal activity ever occurring at the hotel. Our officers selected the hotel for the undercover operation at random.

Besides Raymer, another famous person who was busted in the sting is Christopher Burell Shella; he defended stripper Crystal Mangum after she falsely accused Duke University lacrosse players of raping her.

Going back to Raymer, he set a record by becoming the first man in history to win four Heartland Poker Tour titles. Raymer captured his fourth HPT win in November of 2012, which capped off an incredible run of four titles in seven months.

Of course, the 48-year-old is best known for winning the 2004 WSOP Main Event along with $5 million. Raymer was a patent attorney who satellited into the 2004 ME via PokerStars. After winning the world’s most prestigious tournament, Raymer quit his legal career and became a poker pro.

Greg Raymer wins third HPT Title, proves Longevity

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

Winning the WSOP Main Event is by no means a recipe for long-term success. Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold and Robert Varkonyi are all prime examples of this point. However, there are also plenty of ME champions who have made a nice career out of poker including Greg Raymer.

The Raleigh, North Carolina native added yet another big accolade to his career by recently winning his third Heartland Poker Tour title. Raymer beat out a 185-player field to win HTP Altoona along with a $72,089 payout. He defeated Chad Lawson heads-up to secure the title, and you can see the complete final table results below:

1. Greg Raymer – $72,089
2. Chad Lawson – $41,771
3. Craig Casino – $26,275
4. Ben Stroh – $22,233
5. Ed Sinnett – $16,978
6. Josh Birkenbuel – $14,526

What’s truly impressive about Raymer’s HTP titles is that they’ve all come within the past few months. Before we continue discussing how great this accomplishment is, take a closer look at the three Heartland wins:

2012 HPT Route 66 – 1st place, $71,875
2012 HPT St. Louis – 1st place, $121,973
2012 HPT Altoona – 1st place, $72,089

After winning three HPT tournaments in a single year, Raymer becomes the only player to do so. In addition to this, he’s also the only person other than Jeremy Dresch to win three HPT events overall.

These wins are just the tip of the iceberg because Greg Raymer has truly proven the test of time by winning $7,285,094 in live poker tournaments. Some of the most notable tourney finishes in Raymer’s career include a third place effort in the 2009 40th Anniversary event ($775k), 25th place in the 2005 WSOP Main Event ($305k), and of course his 2004 WSOP Main Event victory ($5 million).

Besides his playing career, Raymer has gained considerable respect for his involvement with the Poker Players Alliance. Going further, he’s done a lot of fighting for players’ rights and is an adamant supporter of legal online poker. Hopefully all of his hard work in this department will pay off someday!

Josh Arieh retires from Poker since it’s “Really Tough”

Saturday, July 14th, 2012

Josh Arieh has remained a well-known figure in the poker world ever since he finished third in the 2004 WSOP Main Event and collected $2.5 million. He’s also managed to win two WSOP gold bracelets (1999 and 2005), which has furthered his reputation as a strong tournament player. However, it appears that Arieh has decided to retire from poker – save for playing in the WSOP Main Event.

The 37-year-old dropped this news by telling PokerListings, “I’m not thinking about it, I am (retiring from poker). This is my last tournament until the next WSOP. To me, poker is not what it used to be.” He expanded on the reasoning behind quitting as he said, “Poker is really tough. Kids got so good. Instead of poolroom hustlers and gamblers it turned into freaking geniuses. Kids that are making 1600 on the SATs.”

So how serious is he about retiring from poker? Well the Atlanta resident commented on this by saying, “I’m willing to take any bet from anyone. I’m the action junkie, everyone knows that I love being in action and I’m a complete degenerate. I’m willing to take any bet that I don’t play another tournament after this until the $10k PLO at the WSOP next year.”

About the only way that Josh Arieh would return to poker full-time is if the United States fully legalized the game. After all, this would bring a lot of fresh, unskilled players into the fold and give pros like Arieh a bigger edge. He echoed this sentiment by saying, “If poker gets legalized in the U.S. there will be another boom. It would be great again. That would make it worth what we go through.” You can read the rest of Arieh’s comments on the matter here.

Besides his aforementioned accomplishments and $6 million in tournament winnings, Arieh is also known for representing Bodog and Full Tilt Poker in his career. However, without a sponsorship deal now, it’s likely that this helped contribute to his decision to quit playing poker.