After years spent as one of the original members of Team PokerStars, 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer has found himself out of a job. According to a pair of Twitter posts by fellow pro player Kathy Liebert, the move comes as a response to cost cutting measures at the company.
“I heard that PokerStars was cutting many of their Team Pros’ compensation. Take it or leave it. Greg Raymer left it… I think it’s a bad business decision to cut their pay, but most won’t have a better offer, so they stay.”
Rumors of the action first broke, as one would expect, over a game of cards. While sitting together at a PokerStars table, sponsored pro Pat togel Singapore asked Fossilman why he didn’t have a red star next to his name.
“Long story,” replied Raymer. “Call me if you’d like.”
So, for now, it appears as if the former champ has moved on from his perch at the world’s largest poker site. In a later post on the TwoPlusTwo forums, Raymer had this to say:
“There has been a lot of discussion about my representation of PokerStars, and it is true that right now I am not representing them. In the near future, I will have a more detailed statement discussing this situation, but I have no further comment at this time. For those of you who have been reading about and discussing this situation, I appreciate all of the positive comments I have received. It is very gratifying to hear so many nice things from so many good people, and I am touched by your support.”
Further speculation on TwoPlusTwo has gone so far as to say that the cost cutting could be an attempt by PokerStars to clear their books for the arrival of Phil Hellmuth, should he sign with the company. While this is a bit far fetched, it’s clear that PokerStars is committed to redirecting their finances somewhere.
As a key member of the Poker Players Alliance, Raymer has been a tireless crusader for the rights of pro’s and amateurs alike. Almost universally revered as a class act, it will be interesting to see if Fossilman signs another sponsorship contract.
Schildy1984 wins PokerStars WCOOP Event 28
This year’s World Championship of Online Poker is in full swing at PokerStars, with players from around the globe competing for awesome prize pools in exciting tournaments. We’re fast-approaching the halfway mark of the series, so a huge amount of cash has already been won but, more importantly, there’s also a lot of it up for grabs. Event 28 wrapped up earlier this week, and the lucky winner to walk away with the number one spot was Schildy1984 of Austria, who received $206,280 for a job well done.
The World Championship of Online Poker is pretty much exactly what the name suggests. It can be seen as the internet’s answer to the World Series of Poker, and the PokerStars hosted series is by far and away the largest such online series around. This 2011 series boasts a massive combined guaranteed prize pool of $30,000,000, which is much larger than many were expecting given the withdrawal of PokerStars from the US market. The combined prize pool is spread over 62 events this year, which offer a great variety so players of any game should be able to find a tournament they’ll love.
Event 28 was one of the more standard formats, a simple No Limit Holdem tournament with no surprises. The buy-in was respectable at $1,000, and 1146 players decided to register and take their shot at the money. This many contestants lead to an almost doubling of the prizepool from its guaranteed $600,000 to the final figure of $1,146,000, to be divided among the top 135 players, with the winner allocated over $200,000. The event dragged on over two days before finally finishing less than an hour into September 15th.
After nearly two days of grueling button clicking and close decisions, the tournament got down to just three entrants, two players from Austria and one from neighboring Australia. The Australian player, delaney_kid, was Schildy1984′s first casualty, and was sent to the rail in third place. This gave Schildy1984 a slightly more than 3:2 chip lead against fellow countryman TheFan83 as Heads Up play commenced. While the chip edge was small, it was more than enough for Schildy who dispensed his opponent within a dozen hands when his flopped overpair turned a set to beat TheFan83′s two pair when the money went all-in on the river. Runner-up TheFan83 received just under $150,000 for his efforts, and the winner on the day Schildy1984 walked away with the pride, the title, and $206,280.00 in tournament winnings.
Final Table Results are as follows:
1 – Schlidy1984 (Austria) $206,280.00
2 – TheFan83 (Austria) $147,031.80
3 – delaney_kid (Australia) $110,016.00
4 – d-mon-d (Norway) $82,512.00
5 – djibh (Canada) $57,300.00
6 – touchmynuts1 (Ukraine) $45,840.00
7 – lindeyloo22 (Canada) $34,380.00
8 – anguila (Spain) $22,920.00
9 – hithenose (Spain) $13,752.00
