Most impressive aspect of Greg's rise

[Scooterdoo]

Have you noticed a trend these last few days in the summaries on the internet of the WSOP? Most the blots, summaries, articles go on and on about hand after hand, showdown after showdown, etc., etc., and Greg is rarely mentioned in them. However, most of the summaries end with something like 'and Greg Raymer is still the chip leader', or Greg Raymer has increased his chip lead'. While this must mean that Greg is avoiding confrontations with superior play and use of his large stack, it is surprising that more hasn't been mentioned of how he continues to grow his stack witih his solid play. Last night with 10 left he grew his stack by $3 million chips before the 10th player was knocked off, but you won't read a word how he did it. While it may not be 'exciting' if he didn't do it one or two hands by winning a showdown, most of us poker players would be more impressed to discuss how he took advantage of smaller stacks and other players wanting to simply make it to the final table and move up in the money. Clearly, Greg is doing everything in his power to set himself up for the win, and this is really the story IMHO.

Anyone else notice this?

[NotMitch]

Yes when I went to bed last night I think he was at $5M or so, and when I read the chip counts this morning he was at $8m and change, but none of the posts I have seen mention any hands during this period of time. Very impressive.

[jdl22]

I think the ESPN coverage should show this nicely. After all they get to see all the hole cards so they can show at least some of him pushing the others around.

[adios]

.....

[fsuplayer]

[ QUOTE ]
Last night with 10 left he grew his stack by $3 million chips before the 10th player was knocked off, but you won't read a word how he did it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is very true, but unfortunately for serious players interested in these details, these types of hands are just not action packed enough for ESPN to air.
I hope I am wrong as I would love to see some of these steals/resteals myself, but that is in the hands of ESPN.

BTW They best be showin' the 10-8 hand where he raised with it, got reraised big, then moved in and watch the villian fold. That is one ballsy/brilliant play.

fsuplayer

[Daithi]

Yes, I too have noticed the lack of commentary on Greg.

I can understand the commentators focusing on Harrington, "Jesus", and Doyle. But they have also given a lot of ink to the younger players that are doing well, and who are apparently crowd favorites. They go on and on about these other players then wrap up their commentary with something like "and Gregg Reymer (sic) has add $3 million to his chip lead."

Take a look at how Card Player magazine summerized play for Day 4.

card player article

[shaniac]

Excellent post. Probably should be on the MTT Board.

Greg has said as much in his posts on this website: when he's the big stack, he finds his key to success is stealing his way to victory.

I think someone like Harrington gets his chips by doubling up with the best of it and to some extent has to expect risky confrontations. Big stack masters like FossilMan will make up leaps and bounds without ever having to put major chips at risk.

This is what makes Greg such a force and No Limit such an interesting game--different styles work similarly well, although I think people who play like FossilMan, Hanson, Negreaunu, and Phillips get the most of the best of it in the critical stages of a big tournament.

Shane

[huge]

not a whole lot more attention paid to him in the Day 5 write-up:
Card Player Day 5 recap

Seems like this is good for him if the other players think he's just a decent internet player who knows that he's supposed to be pushy when he's got a big stack, and who is stupid enough to show his bluff to the table. Anyone know (or can anyone guess) how much the others are likely to know about Greg? Maybe they're all thinking "good grief, another Pokerstars Moneymaker".

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe they're all thinking "good grief, another Pokerstars Moneymaker".

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll bet that Party (and other sites) are thinking "Oh, please don't let another #$&$%%# from Stars win this thing"

[shaniac]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll bet that Party (and other sites) are thinking "Oh, please don't let another #$&$%%# from Stars win this thing"

[/ QUOTE ]

I seriously doubt that the other sites are shaking in their boots. This is good for business, period.

No matter who wins this year, his story will not be a parlay on the magnitude of Moneymaker (whose namesake and chump-change-into-$2.5M-story was a marketting and publicity dream). Moneymaker's success, while it obviously helped Pokerstars, didn't prevent Party from continuing to be the most populated poker site on the internet.

If a "Pokerstasr Player" (Greg, for instance, is only a "Pokerstars Player" by virtue of the fact that that's how he got in; Greg was going to play anyway) wins this year, it's good for Pokerstars but it's great for the business of online poker in general.

Shane