Perhaps if Stars did themselves a favour and cut down on the amount of "pros" that they have, they wouldn't have to scale back on their offers to players like Raymer?

You could get rid of at least 20 named pro's from their list and it wouldn't affect them in the slightest.

Played live cash with Raymer several times at PCA (5/10 PLO - no high-rollin). Very cool dude as people have said. Also very good mixed game player (deep run in 50K Horse if I remember) as well.....

I think Stars realizes that online poker is on a slippery slope in US.....Heck, my deposits wont go through any more so I am left with Western Union and Money Orders as my means to getting cash on the site.

Since US market is eroding fast (and could go away completely), having an older ambassador type for US market is not a high priority anymore....

I like Greg Raymer. He's one of us, and has always struck me as a class act all the way.

But honestly at this point, this far from his big win, I can't imagine he drives a lot of business PS's way anymore.

I'm sure it's not personal for PS its a business decision. For w/e reason PS wanted to cut back and Raymer was one of the casualties.

If someone asked me who I think should represent poker at some sort of legislative forum (i.e. before congress) Greg would be at the very top of the list.

He is very obviously not a degen, is a very intelligent person, well spoken and friendly.

I'm glad that he's in a position where he can afford to refuse reduced compensation, if that is indeed the case.

GL fossilman.

maybe Greg Raymer is using his head and is getting ahead of this 15 month dead period or whatever U.S congress impliments when they legalize poker.


when that happens all the "pros" that are under contract with pokerstars are SOL for that period while Raymer and his new company start up immediately and make a ton of money.


you gotta look hard to find the nuggets on this site.

sad that stars got rid of greg and gavin to get Isuldur.. what waste

nothing in this post makes any sense.

Greg will be missed...a true gentleman and I always enjoyed watching him play on TV...but Bax is probably right about the geographical issues of today's sponsorships, especially as we in the U.S. continue to ***&^% up any chance of legalizing online poker.

Greg left Pokerstars for....Cake Poker...

People follow Kathy Leibert on twitter?

this

Greg Raymer is a Grade A poker player. Pretty sure he final tabled a WCOOP mixed game event a few months ago. I wouldn't be surprised if this was as much a Greg Raymer decision, as it was Pokerstars. Smart guy, probably going a different direction, good luck Mr. Raymer. Keep the game good!

Wow, this is a shock. He was 1 of stars solid pros.

How does Moneymaker keep being sponsored, he's the definition of a 1 hit wonder. Can't dump Raymer before Moneymaker. Stars is turning out to be a joke.

After Hachem won the ME, within a year all his buddies were pros on stars as well but stars woke up to them being useless and dumped them.

Seems stars is only concentrating on european players these days.

lol, way to jump to conclusions when you clearly have absolutely no idea what the terms of the negociation were.

So funny how people jump on the "let's hate big businesses" bandwagon any time something like this happens without even trying to think about the situation (which you obviously haven't)

Raymer is clearly not nearly as relevant as he was when they signed him.
His sponsorship (key word, here) deal was based solely on his marketing value.

He knew it, I don't think there was any deception on Stars' part and Raymer's not stupid enough to think he got the deal based on his looks.

His marketing value decreased significantly since then. Stars pbly let their renewed contract reflect that and he had to make a decision about whether to accept it or not, end of story.

A lot of these "pro's" have insane egos. Look at Hachem. This guy thinks raising more often than what he's comfortable with is "disrespectful to the game".
Basically if you put him out of his comfort zone, you're direspecting poker.
He couldn't beat 1/2 online to save his life, but woteva...

Obviously Raymer doesn't come close to Hachem's doucheyness level (who does, really?), but I wouldn't be surprised if he were confused and simply mistaken as to what his true marketing value really is.

Emotions, ego, etc...get in the way of honestly assessing these things, and I think that this is a much more likely scenario than Stars "shamefully" exploiting some guy whose marketing value isn't 10% of what it used to be by lowering his contract bonuses.

But hey, you seem to specialize in taking strong stances in a few words at your keyboard, and it's obviously doing something for you, so don't let me stop you...

I understand not needing much representation in the USA but whenever they discuss online poker regulation on CNN or MSNBC Raymer is the one they bring on to talk to. You would think given that many people watching may not be knowledgeable about online poker, having the key guy they see wearing your site's patch would be a big plus. And he speaks intelligently and has a credible background pre-poker as a patent attorney.

Best of luck to you, Greg. I'm sure some land based casino will bring you on as a "consultant" as they push forward towards regulation and legalization.

Stars just focusing on the really top pros like Pat Pezzin imo.

And ty Your Mom for calling out PPA nuthuggers - totally ineffective organization that has accomplished little for poker players while actively working against non-poker internet gambling.

will be missed.
seemed like it was just yesterday that he won the ME.
I will always remember him for his participation on 2+2 and noble attitude.
i wish his family the best.

LOL judging by the comments you would think Raymer died.

"will be missed", "I will always remember him", "he was a good guy", "my condolences to his family"

He will live without a Stars sponsorship, lol

Greg Raymer's always been a boss, always will be

****in fossilman bro? u kiddin PS? nice plan...

I see your opinion and obviously respect what you have to say as you know infinitely more about live tourney scene than I do, but we are talking about a ME winner and stars has always had a great ad campaign talking about how the last x of y ME winners are pokerstars pros, which I think reaches the casual depositers as much or more than most other poker related advertising.

He will be missed? Wtf dude, he's not dead.

Where is raymor to stop the speculation? Since he's not here, let the rumors begin.

I heard alan "alien" boston kidnapped him and he's not aboard his spaceship

maybe it was his decision to leave

But he wears socks with sandels