Raymer's Run Continues With 4th HPT Main Event Win Since July

Greg "Fossilman" Raymer following his fourth Heartland Poker Tour Main Event victory in five months.

Greg "Fossilman" Raymer has found himself back in the poker spotlight as 2012 comes to a close thanks to a jaw-dropping string of Main Event victories on the Heartland Poker Tour. Since July, Raymer has won no less than four $1,650 buy-in Main Events on the HPT, repeatedly topping fields of hundreds of players in order to do so.

Raymer has remained a prominent figure on the professional poker circuit ever since his 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event title in which he bested a field of 2,576 to win the bracelet and a $5 million first prize. And while he's continued to add steadily to his career tourney earnings over the years, his recent success on the HPT represents a remarkable return to the winner's circle for the Raleigh, North Carolina resident. 

Many remember how in 2005 Raymer followed up his WSOP ME victory with another deep WSOP Main Event run that ended in 25th (out of 5,619 entries), earning $304,680 for that finish. That would be his largest tourney score until 2009 when he took third (of 201) in the special $40,000 buy-in 40th Anniversary event at that year's WSOP to earn $774,927.

Raymer has 18 total cashes at the WSOP, including four other final tables, two in stud events and one 2-7 no-limit. Raymer's tourney resume also includes cashes on the World Poker Tour, the European Poker Tour, the North American Poker Tour, and in other venues. But it is his recent dominance on the Heartland Poker Tour over the last few months that has garnered him renewed attention in the poker world.

The Heartland Poker Tour was first launched in 2005 by Greg Lang and Todd Anderson amid the poker "boom" that accompanied the victories of Chris Moneymaker and Raymer at the WSOP. Originally based in the American midwest, the tour and HPT television show was consciously geared as "something completely opposite of the glamorous poker shows on-air at the time," as Anderson explains on the HPT web site, with the tour adopting the slogan "Real People, Unreal Money."

After a rocky start, the HPT found its feet and in the years since has grown into a respectable and popular tour. The recently completed eighth season of the HPT saw 15 events take place, with the tour stopping in nearly every state that has casinos and legal table games. The accompanying television shows are additionally available on a wide range of networks and cable providers in the U.S. Full episodes of the show can also be viewed on the HPT website.
 
Fields for the $1,500+$150 buy-in Main Events (with re-entries) during Season VIII of the HPT were often in the 200-300 player range, with the two stops at the Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour in Black Hawk, Colorado attracting record-sized fields for the HPT of 820 (in April) and 739 (in September), good for $1 million-plus prize pools in both cases.   

Raymer's run of Main Event victories on the Heartland Poker Tour began in July at the Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico just after the summer portion of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas concluded. That event attracted 131 players, with Raymer earning a $71,875 payday for his victory.

Then in September Raymer was back at the River City Casino in St. Louis, Missouri where he bested a field of 336 to take his second HPT title. Former November Niner and 2008 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Dennis Phillips was among those Raymer outlasted at that final table, with Phillips finishing seventh.

The following month Prairie Meadows Racetrack Casino Hotel in Altoona, Iowa was the venue for Raymer's third HPT title. A total of 186 players participated in that event, with Raymer earning $72,089 for the win.

Season VIII then concluded this week with the HPT Championship Open at the Belterra Casino Resort in Florence, Indiana. A total of 283 players played in the season finale, with Raymer entering the six-handed final table as the short stack. But he quickly doubled up, then chipped up some more to have the lead when heads-up play began between himself and Jacob Bazeley. And 14 hands later Raymer had won another HPT title and a $106,030 first prize.

Raymer had already locked up the 2012 HPT Player of the Year race even before his win at Florence. HPT Main Event winners earn 50 POY points, thus Raymer finished Season VIII with a whopping 200 POY points, well ahead of second-place finisher Stan Jablonski's 83. Raymer receives six HPT Main Event buy-ins (with hotel accommodations) for Season IX for winning the Player of the Year title.

Raymer's win at Florence also made him the first four-time winner on the tour and landed him on top of the all-time HPT money leaders list with $371,967 career earnings on the tour, pushing him past Craig Casino's total of $347,207.

The run has not only grabbed renewed attention for Raymer in the poker world, but has helped bring the HPT into the spotlight as a well-run, competitive tour with reasonable buy-ins and lots of reasons for players to participate.  

Following the season finale, HPT Director of Operations Jennifer Mastrud spoke of further expansion for HPT's Season IX. "HPT will stop in new markets across the country while still visiting some of our favorite casinos and local players," promised Mastrud.

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