Raymer Repeat = -EV

[benza13]

Well as of the last chip count at Card Player Raymer has a 115,000/56,190,000 ~ 1/500. So you were close. As far as the guy who said he hasn't heard of Raymer, you're kidding right?!?!

[TStoneMBD]

having a repeating champion with fields this large would bring the most ridiculous publicity to the game and even people who know nothing about poker would realize how amazing this is. i dont know if raymer winning again would be good fro poker or not, hard to say.

[LargeCents]

[ QUOTE ]
As far as the guy who said he hasn't heard of Raymer, you're kidding right?!?!


[/ QUOTE ]

I think this speaks volumes about what Raymer means as a WSOPME champ. He's kinda anonymous, at best. "Moneymaker" was an easy story to grasp for the average Joe Bluecollar. Raymer, is more of a calculating, kinda geeky, 2+2 regular. Pretty tough for the general population to relate. As far as appealling to a wide demographic, I think these are the two extremes. For the sake of poker popularity, we are much better off with another "Moneymaker".

Basically, we should be rooting against any of the "favorites". Lederer, Reese, Flack wouldn't help to expand the popularity of poker if they win. Who wants a David vs Goliath story where Goliath wins. Some notable exceptions, though, might be Ivey, or maybe even Matusow because they might have "story potential". Ivey can be spun as the "Tiger Woods" of poker, Matusow, the "Jerry Springer Character" of poker.

[vetman81]

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As far as the guy who said he hasn't heard of Raymer, you're kidding right?!?!

[/ QUOTE ]

He was asking 'who is Gavin Griffin?' rather than Raymer.

[MrMon]

Two words - Olga Varkonyi

Let the sputtering start. She's in 3rd at the moment.

[Tonsafun]

It would be +EV in my eyes.

The amount of publicity and exposure that would come from that would be enormous. I mean, can you think of a harder thing to do in any kind of competitive setting?

[daryn]

don't you love how everyone's talking about raymer repeat when there's maybe a 1% chance at most that he wins again?

i am rooting for him though, but there's still a lot of people left.

[Smoothcall]

I want Greg to win. If he doesn't i want Mike mattusow so i can hear while putting his bracelet on VINDICATION!!

[Michael Davis]

I think having a repeat champion might sell the game as having more skill than it actually does. Remember, tons of people think that the same players make the final table of the WSOP every year (thanks to Rounders) and there are those who even though they don't see poker as a pure crapshoot, are afraid to play because they will get eaten alive by the supposed pros at their local card barn and everywhere else. I think a repeat champion only solidifies this myth.

-Michael

[meow_meow]

[ QUOTE ]
having a repeating champion with fields this large would bring the most ridiculous publicity to the game and even people who know nothing about poker would realize how amazing this is. i dont know if raymer winning again would be good fro poker or not, hard to say.

[/ QUOTE ]

So true. It's really all about how much mainstream publicity is generated.
Repeating in record field = newsworthy.
Added bonus that Raymer is articulate.

Sad to say, but from a poker boom perspective the worst would be someone whose English is poor, followed by anyone non-american. So, if the poker boom is what you are worried about, stop rooting against Raymer and start worrying about the obviously large number of SE Asian immigrants remaining.

I really think the impact is small in any case.