"never try to bluff a calling station"

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Devilfish is overrated, and one of the players that gets attention for their character (like Matasow, Hellmuth and Unabomber, though I'm not calling them overrated.) He's just mad that he got busted by an excellent call.

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Good points. Unabomber is also overrated, Matasow is not. The jury is still out on Hellmuth.

[TheBlueMonster]

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Last night's coverage did make Raymer look a little like a calling station, but the hand where he had 66 was a great call. He made a good read there. Devilfish was an absolute d**k at that table. And does anyone else notice those tacky two finger rings he has on?? What a douche!

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All true, but this, combined with his penchant for calling ANY situation where he MIGHT be racing getting ok odds to do so, even for a BUNCH of his chips, lends itself further to the description. He made a couple REAL ugly calls in the 10 man TOC last year where he made his own pot odds and then called off a ton hoping not vs an overpair or dommed, but it seems there is something to be said for it.

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again, ESPN converage is heavily edited so unless you know hand for hand what went on at the final table (while knowing each player's hole cards) than you really can't make that statement.
And would you call Mike Gracz a calling station for calling with a winning hand of Ace high?

Greg: I think having the image of a "calling station" might be pretty beneficial, huh? They'll think twice before trying to bluff you!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[andyfox]

So the guy won the World Series main event in 2004 and his opponent feels the necessity of making a snide remark when he loses a pot to him te next year. What a jerk.

The poker world had/has a classy champion in Mr. Raymer.

[NYCNative]

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You make alot of plays that are +EV as long as you are not dommed, which is obviously fine, but I personally feel that you dedicate too many chips in some of these allin preflop confrontations when you have a marginal hand at best. I'm not saying it's bad, and I'm DEFINITELY not saying what I do is better, or even that I've been in similar situations $$$-wise, but I do have extensive experience in 10 player left tourneys, and creating your own pot odds isn't a good strategy in them, especially when you are capable of outplaying your opponents, as you are. Why leave it up to luck when to can utilize your obvious skill?

[/ QUOTE ]If a player feels that Greg is the kind of player who will call a lot, he is less likely to be bullied. The players Greg is usually seen playing against on TV are almost always aggressive and can make moves with anything from any position. If those players see Raymer on their left, someone they deem as a "calling station" (or, to be less rude about the terminology, someone who will defend himself) they are probably going to not get out of line as much. Not only does this have a direct impact but an indirect one - take a player out of his comfort zone and he will probably not play at 100%. All of this is very +EV, IMHO, allowing Greg to steal and defend and generally run a table even without a massive chip lead (although that obviously helps). If Greg waited for better opportunities, this aspect of his game would be removed.

I feel that this is a very important aspect of his game, if not the most important aspect of his game. He is very tough to bully and he can therefore be a bully himself because Greg can steal easier.

Please note that I never played with him and this is just a hunch.