Greg Raymer Reflects on Historic WSOP Main Event Win 20 Years Later

Jun 26, 2024

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

In 2003, the game of poker changed forever after Chris Moneymaker topped a field of 839 players to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $2.5 million. By doing so, the Moneymaker effect ignited the “Poker Boom,” which saw the tournament field triple the following year.

The 2004 Main Event was the last to be held at the birthplace of the WSOP – Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. The venue was packed to the rafters with 2,576 players entering that year’s tournament, and with the ESPN cameras capturing all the action several poker players made a name for themselves that year including young guns David Williams and Josh Arieh, while 1995 WSOP Main Event champ Dan Harrington made history by following up his third-place finish in the 2003 WSOP Main Event by placing fourth in 2004 for $1.5 million.

However, when the dust settled it was a patent attorney from Connecticut by the name of Greg Raymer winning the whole thing for a smooth $5 million and a gold bracelet. While attempting to defend his title in 2005, which doubled from the year prior by attracting 5,619 players, Raymer proved his win was no fluke by making another deep run, ultimately falling in 25th place for $304,680.

It’s been 20 years since Raymer’s victory, but he hasn’t slowed down as he’s continued to play poker all across the globe. In recognition of Raymer’s anniversary, PokerNews caught up with the champ, who will be at the 2024 WSOP!

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Q&A with Greg Raymer

PokerNews: It is the 20th Anniversary of your WSOP win. Does it seem like so long ago or still a fresh memory?

Greg Raymer: It’s a proper question, but I don’t know. It feels like it just happened, and yet it also feels like I have always been the World Champion. It is a very strange ambiguity that I have just learned to live with.

What memory or memories stick out the most for you about winning the 2004 WSOP?

Memory is a strange thing. All of us have bad memories, much worse than we think we have. Scientific research has proven this to be indisputably true. Most of what I remember well are the parts that were broadcast on TV, as I have seen those hands play out so many times. Beyond that, there are also hands I remember well, but I also know that this far removed from when they happened, these memories might not be accurate.

What I remember best is the final hand. After check-raising the flop, and betting the turn, I went all in on the river. When you watch this on TV, they edit it so it looks like I say “All in” and they cut to a close-up of David who thinks for a few seconds then says, “Call”. In reality, I was facing Matt Savage when I said “All in.” Before I could even turn my head to look at David he had already called and tabled his hand. My immediate thought was I must be losing here – I had the 8♦8♠ on the board of 5♠4♦2♦2♥2♣ – for him to call so quickly. It took me a moment to realize my hand was good, I tabled my cards and threw up my arms in a primal shout of victory. Absolutely the best moment of my life.

What were the years like after your win and during the poker boom? Fair to say you reached a sort of celebrity status? Do you still get recognized today?

"I would typically get recognized several times per visit to the grocery store, or any other public setting. However, things have cooled down a lot since then."

For several months after winning, my “celebrity” was limited to poker rooms. After it started airing on ESPN, I started getting recognized everywhere I went. We would take our daughter – she was 7 and a half when I won – to Disneyworld every year, both before and after 2004. But now I would have well over 100 fan interactions per day in a setting like that. I would typically get recognized several times per visit to the grocery store, or any other public setting. However, things have cooled down a lot since then. I am still going to get recognized by almost everyone in a poker room, but fan interactions in public spaces outside the poker room and casino have become much less common.

Here's a funny story about that in-between period in 2004. I had started representing PokerStars and they asked me, Chris Moneymaker, and a couple of other pros to go to Dublin in the summer of 2004 for the Pot-Limit Hold’em World Championship. My wife and daughter came along and we were heading home. We were boarding our plane and only a few people were already seated. As we walked past a couple of guys, one of whom was obviously drunk, the drunk guy points at my PokerStars shirt and says “Poker! Do you know Chris Moneymaker?”

I replied, “Yes, I actually had breakfast with him this morning.” Which was true. The drunk guy elbows his friend and says “Yeah, right. And my wife is having dinner with him tonight!” I just grinned and walked past him to our seats, but I was thinking I hope this guy isn’t so drunk that he has forgotten this when he sees me on TV in a few more weeks. That would have been fun to watch, his mouth dropping open, and him realizing that guy on the plane wasn’t just joking with him.

What were the biggest impacts on your life in regards to your WSOP win?

I had been a full-time patent attorney for a dozen years. The last half of that I worked for Pfizer in southeast Connecticut, and it was very much a 9-5 job. So, I had plenty of family time, was home every night to spend time with my wife and daughter. I played at the nearby Foxwoods poker room a couple times per week, and took one poker trip per year, usually to the WSOP.

After my win, I accepted a job representing PokerStars, and that required me to spend about half of the year on the road going to live tournaments around the world. While I love poker and loved playing in those events, it did mean I saw much, much less of my family. They traveled with me occasionally, mostly to fun places like Paris or London in the summer, and to the PCA in January, and they would come spend some time with me in Las Vegas during the WSOP. But choosing this life did cost me a lot of family time, which was by far the worst outcome of my win. However, it was my choice and my regret. It wasn’t forced on me.

What was the best thing to come out of you winning the WSOP Main Event?

I have been able to visit a lot of wonderful places, meet many great people, and experience numerous amazing things. I have been to Seoul, Melbourne, Sydney, New Zealand, several places in South and Central America, and all over Europe to play poker, and that allowed me to visit places like the British Museum, the Louvre, and much more.

I have been able to play a lot more poker, which I love to do. It has also enabled me to become a true poker teacher, which is a real passion of mine. Back in high school, I would have chosen to become an educator, except I knew that career doesn’t pay very well and I didn’t want to struggle financially my whole life. But I enjoy teaching people more than almost anything else I could do. Not just poker, but any topic on which I know enough to be useful. Even though it keeps getting harder to book a poker room to host my FossilMan Poker Training Seminars, I still try to book them as much as possible, and I have a great time doing it, every single time.

On the flip side, what was the worst thing to come out of you winning the WSOP Main Event?

See above about family time. Also, those guys trying to rob me at the Bellagio sucked. However, as bad as that might have been, it turned out to be a plus in hindsight. I didn’t get hurt, they didn’t take anything from me, and I learned a lot about myself and how I reacted in those life-and-death circumstances. Plus, it gave me a bit of a badass reputation. More so than I could ever merit. Let me add, whoever it was that put the comment about a “karate chop” in the Wikipedia entry is totally full of shit.

Where do you think you'd be today if you never won the WSOP Main Event?

I would almost certainly still be practicing patent law. It was not a job that I loved with an overwhelming passion, but I did enjoy it. I always said that it’s a great job if you have to work for a living, and I still do some patent work even today. I am no longer a lawyer, but I am still a licensed patent agent and can represent an inventor before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

If I had won significant money in that Main Event, but hadn’t finished high enough to be offered a sponsorship deal with an online site, I might have quit my job. However, I wouldn’t have turned to poker full-time. Instead, I would have started a solo practice as a patent lawyer and had more flexibility in my schedule, which would have meant a bit more travel for the WSOP and a few other poker series.

"Even today, I tell people to NOT drop out of school or quit their job to play poker full-time. The only reason I did ... was PokerStars offering me more money."

Even today, I tell people to NOT drop out of school or quit their job to play poker full-time. The only reason I did so in 2004, even after winning that much money, was PokerStars offering me more money to represent them than Pfizer was paying me to do patent work. I think being a full-time pro is just too risky and will not work out well for the large majority of people who want to take that path.

What's your future look like? Do you think poker will always be a part of your life or do you have any plans of retiring?

My future will always include poker. As long as I can play, and be +EV doing so, I will continue. If that means stepping down to smaller games at some point, so be it. I’ll deal with that possibility when I come to it. I truly love this game, and can’t imagine not playing poker for any extended period of time. Even when I run bad in several tournaments in a row, and want a break, within a couple of days I’m ready to get at it again.

For more on Raymer, follow him on X at @FossilMan.

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