Most of the time when poker players sell a percentage of their action in tournaments it’s because they can’t afford the total buy-in, want to lower variance or are really tight their bankroll management. 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer is selling action for a different reason; to keep his wife happy.
‘The Fossilman’ took to the 2+2 Forums this week to outline his plans, saying, ‘my wife has become more and more nervous about me playing poker. Although I have a 21 year track record of winning results in both tournaments and cash games, she is not a poker player, and is worried that I will start losing. And without a paycheck to immediately recoup any losses, she gets anxious. So, to make her happy, I have chosen to sell off a big piece of my bankroll, so that the downside risk is a lot more limited. Even though this move is costing me EV, it is making up for that fact by providing marriage EV.’
It’s very common for players, even former World Champions, to sell action but rarely do they do so with such honesty in a major public forum. Raymer is attempting to raise $100k which will see him through the 2014 WSOP and lots of smaller tournaments throughout the year. He’s selling in $1k chunks to interested parties and, at the end of the year, any profits will be split with 60% going to Raymer and 40% going to the investors.
Since his major $5m Main Event win in 2004, Raymer has been more successful than most World Champions in the past decade. He’s since cashed for almost $2.5m in various events, and went on a remarkable run in late 2012 where he won three Heartland Poker Tour events in a row. That’s a hell of a lot better than Jerry Yang has done…
It seems like a good deal for any potential investor with a few thousand dollars to spare. Raymer promises to email a report regularly to all investors with hand histories, results and stories from his exploits on the American tournament circuit. Between 2002-2004 Raymer had a similar staking deal in place and says, ‘many of them later told me that even though I had been winning for them, the main reason they continued their investment was the fact that they really enjoyed the monthly email reports. While I can’t promise anything, I will try to make them fact-filled and entertaining.’
Let’s just hope that 2014’s monthly email reports don’t include any fashion tips – we hate to break it to you Greg but the shorts, sandals AND white socks look isn’t cool anymore. Not that it ever was…
If you’re interested in buying a piece of ‘The Fossilman’ then you can send him a direct message on the 2+2 Forums for more information.
For more poker news and great content, get the latest issue of PokerPlayer magazine on iTunes here.
