Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

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For the second year in a row, an unknown has come out of the internet ranks to win the World Series of Poker. Greg Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut, qualified on PokerStars and caught the cards to win the prestigious 2004 World Series of Poker.

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News wire story as printed in my local newspaper. So I guess until some AP/UPI/Reuters reporter has heard of you, you're just another unknown....

Cris

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

caught the cards to win the prestigious 2004 World Series of Poker

This is awesome, since we all know all you do is have to gather the entry fee and get lucky to win. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Statements like this can create many a new poker players online and live, good stuff.

Peace,
Joe Tall

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Greg is an unknown (up until now, that is). We know him here, but he's not a famous name in the poker world (up until now).

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Luck is vastly more important than skill in any given poker event. I don't care how good you are, unless you are very lucky you will not win.

Just because we know him here at 2+2 does not disqualify him from being an unknown. Also, unknown does not mean bad player.

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

wow do you really think luck is "vastly" more important than skill in a tourney? Thats a pretty pessimistic view of poker tourneys. I'd say the split is somewhere around 60/40 for skill/luck.

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

You mean this isn't the poker world?

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

While luck is important in large tourneys it is not "Vastly" more important than skill. In large tourneys winning players will look back at various hands they were down preflop, or post flop to turn or river one of very few outs, however, that is the nature of the game. The way to win tourneys is to skillfully build your stack through small pots so you can survive when luck doesn't want to give you a helping hand. Bottom line is there are just as many unlucky beats a winning player will take in a tourney as lucky wins, the trick is having enough chips to survive, or staying out of the pots all together.

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

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Bottom line is there are just as many unlucky beats a winning player will take in a tourney as lucky wins, the trick is having enough chips to survive, or staying out of the pots all together.

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I disagree...when it gets to near the last 200 or so, luck becomes a major factor.

I usually play in 4-6 online multis per week(all of the $150 or more 'specials' at party)...I almost always make the top 400 and will make top 150 about 75% of the time. However, the ones that I've gone really far(final table or so), I've always gotten great cards down the stretch. Usually getting a bad beat at this point means you're out of the tourney, so I disagree that the winner of the WSOP overcomes many bad beats.

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Among players of equal skill, luck obviously makes 100% of the difference. But that's not the same thing as saying the game is all luck!

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

I know it comes down to some lucky flops at the end, many of the bad beats I spoke of come in the first few levels, when the good players are simply trying to slowly build a stack for later, rather than pushing all in. Later in the tourney it as much about your stack and positioning as luck.

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

[ QUOTE ]
Greg Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut, qualified on PokerStars and caught the cards to win the prestigious 2004 World Series of Poker.

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Wow. I guess I should be lucky when I catch a T8 and push all-in with it. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Jedi made me laugh
[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Just be thankful he didn't try it on Annie Duke [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Greg Raymer noted that he only got 2 bad beats the whole tournament. Maybe he's diminishing the actual number in the name of humility, but that's pretty amazing to me after 6 days of playing. Both a testament to his luck and his skill. (I must be doing something wrong, I get like 2 beats on average in a 2-hour ring game session!)

I always wonder what the variance of the luck factor is at different stages of the tournament. Based on my own experience, it seems to be a much bigger portion near the end of a tournament, as the beginning levels play more like a standard ring game, and you don't have to take as many chances.

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Skill means having a 1/100 chance of winning it, luck is hitting that 1% (or .01% for a fish).

Looks to me like luck is more important.

Craig

Re: Unknown holds all the cards to win WSOP
 

Of course he was an unknown. He hadn't written a poker book, nor was he on TV before. He was not a famous name in the poker world. He's an attorney, not a professional poker player. While it plays as a better story with him being an unknown, it's also accurate.