Born in 1964, in Minot, North Dakota, Greg Raymer spent most of his childhood moving from one town to another with his family. He obtained a major in chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla then he attended the University of Minnesota which he graduated from in 1992. He became a patent attorney for a major pharmaceutical company, a profession which he pursued for more than 10 years.
Raymer moved to Connecticut in 1999, and that’s where he began to play poker, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino. The avid fossil collector began using a fossil as a card protector when playing, and he often sold such card protectors to other players around the table, a peculiarity which earned him the nickname “the Fossilman”.
Greg Raymer made his first WSOP cash finish in 2001, in the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better split event. In 2002, when Varkonyi took down the Main Event title, Raymer was there in the background. In 2004, he took down the Main Event title, busting out David Williams in the last hand of the heads-up stage.
In 2005, he reached 25th place in his unsuccessful title defense, which was still a rather impressive result given that there were more than 5,000 entrants in the tournament.
Altogether, he has 12 WSOP money finishes.
In 2005, he finished 3rd in the British Poker Open, taking down a £20,000 prize.
2006 marked one of the biggest online poker achievements for Raymer. He finished second in PokerStars’ $1 million GTD, and took down a prize of about $180,000.
In 2007, he won another online poker event, the WCOOP’s $300+$20 PL Omaha one, which netted him a profit of about $160,000.
The fact that you don’t hear about the “Fossilman” quite as often as you do about the other well-known professional players, can be explained by the fact that he seldom plays in tournaments outside the WSOP. He’s more focused on spending time with his family than on playing poker.
In 2004, two men attempted to rob him as he was returning to his room in the Bellagio after a game of poker. He managed to fend the attackers off, and police later caught up with them.