The Raymer incident finally made my morning paper

[Freudian]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey Greg,

Given that your attackers seem to have known who you were, do you think that they would actually have been willing to kill you? If you were (god forbid) murdered under such circumstances, it would be an international story, and law enforcement would stop at no end to ensure they were caught (not that they would necessarily think so far ahead, but I would think that the archetypal criminal would be aware of this).

[/ QUOTE ]

No criminal thinks he is going to get caught. I would expect that the chance of something bad happening to Raymer here would be the result of irrational thought more than rational thought.

As I see it, if you are going to put up a fight a hotel corridor is a much much better spot to do it than in a hotel room. But we will never know what might have happened if he just handed over the 1000$.

Anyway, Greg don't have to defend his decisions. Anyone who has been in a situation where you go almost completely by instinct (military/crime/accident etc) know how natural the action is.

[sfwusc]

Good job. I am from the south, and we dont believe in taking that crap down here either. Good luck next year in the WSOP.


SFWUSC

On a side note: I know you saying, you are fossilman doesnt make you fossilman. Though I am not going to "call" the bet whether it is a bluff or not. I am going to trust you here.

[Rick Nebiolo]

I'm having problems understanding why this story took so long to get into the papers.

Not only is Greg Raymer now a big name, but what he did would be considered brave and noteworthy by most. Certainly the descriptions and analysis (other than the flames) written on this board was more interesting than the story that was released to the media almost two weeks late.

Was there some reason this took so long?

Have the two attackers been arrested?

It's disturbing that at least one of them is supposedly a poker room regular. We are all glad to see Greg wasn't hurt and from what I've read I think "The Champ" did the right thing fighting them off in the hall. Those that explained why he would have been in tough shape had they gotten inside his room are probably correct.

Regards,

Rick

[PoBoy321]

[ QUOTE ]
On a side note: I know you saying, you are fossilman doesnt make you fossilman. Though I am not going to "call" the bet whether it is a bluff or not. I am going to trust you here.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's the real Greg Raymer. One of the reasons that you hear about him so often on here is that he's been a regular poster here for years, and everyone feels a sense of pride that another 2+2er won the WSOP.

[bigfishead]

My hat's off to you Greg. I know what it's like. 6 years ago I was confronted with a knife coming form behind around to my throat. I grabbed it and fought off the attacker (he later left the country). I sliced the tendons in my fingers and had nerve damage. No dealing for 3 years. 90% recovered now, still have the nerve damage and soreness, especially after 8 hrs dealing. But would I do it again?

Hell yes.

[Han]

Wow!, I have been reading this thread and it is amazing how many jealous and envious people there are out there. Does it really matter if Mr. Raymer is portly or muscular? Does it really offend you wether he is making this story up or telling the God's honest truth? For all you HATERS out there get a freaking life. I'll bet none of you has the stones to say any of your bullcrap to his face, much less fight off would be muggers.

[Manimal 42]

From what I read I too think Greg did the right thing. I'm very happy to know a poker champ and gent came out alright.

EV calculations are all well and good but you have to put yourself in Greg's shoes, see the eyes and smell the fear of your attackers to know what to do in that very elongated split second.

I've been mugged twice. Handed my wallet over once and knocked a guy down and ran once. Both decisions were right as, hey, I'm still here.

It's happened to many of you too I'm sure and we don't need to tell the war stories without beers in front of us. For those of you who have not been in these situations, think long and hard before you criticize. ;~)

[dr_zorba]

Dear Greg,

As someone over 60 who (in the "old days") used to carry large sums of gambling money regularly, I have a lot of experience with muggers. I've been robbed at gunpoint three times, and once with a straight razor pressed against my jugular vein. It never occurred to me to fight off the thugs and I never miss the money they took. (Money is SO easy to replace.)

My advice: Don't make eye contact and give no resistence and you'll probably survive unhurt. They just want your cash.

In your case, you were absolutely correct instinctively refusing to go into your room alone with them. If they pop you in the hallway, then they surely would have killed you (or worse) out of sight in your room. Tell them take what they want but you're not going anywhere with them. (To casual observers, nothing is amiss, so why create panic?)

Responding with physical resistence was VERY unwise and extrememly dangerous. You are very lucky.

[tek]

As I said in one of the Raymer threads, I was mugged. It was at knifepoint on a dark deserted street. I was just getting into my car and he just appeared out of nowhere. I couldn’t run since I was sitting in the driver’s seat and the car was not yet running. I gave up the cash and he let me go.

I was not in a well-lit hallway in one of the busiest hotel/casinos in the world. The mugger could have killed me to, but didn’t. (I know you will all say he should have… [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]).

So basically, what I’m saying is I believe Raymer is embellishing the part about them trying to force him into the room. Security cameras had them on tape before they got up to the hotel hallway, so him being able to ID them was not an issue. I just believe he wanted to look tough so he editorialized…

I too am glad he wasn’t hurt, but he doth protest too much…

[PokerNeal]

Apparently Greg's bravado caught the eye of a Hollywood producer who was staying at the Bellagio. They are going to cast him in a movie (temporarily titled Poker Ninja) with Chuck Norris. Let us wish him luck in his new career...