GREG Raymer, ESPN's 2004 World Series (news - web sites) of Poker champion, apparently knows how to wield more than a stack of chips when everything is riding on it.
The soft-spoken patent attorney from Stonington, Conn., fought off a pair of attackers Dec. 20 at the Bellagio hotel-casino after he had finished playing a cash game of poker, according to a Las Vegas police report.
Raymer, 40, was returning to his room at about 2 a.m. when two men jumped him and tried to push him in the room, Raymer said in an interview.
But the heavyset Raymer resisted and began struggling with the men, the report said. As he was fighting, one of the men pulled out a gun and said: "We just want the money."
But Raymer didn't give up, and yelled for security after knocking one of the men down, he said. Seconds later, the men fled the hallway.
A security officer said one of the suspects was a poker player he recognized from a previous incident.
Police made an arrest in the case, but the report didn't identify the person.
Raymer — known as the "Fossilman" in poker circles because of his good luck charms, a dinosaur bone and his holographic glasses with lenses that make it appear as if he has the eyes of a reptile — won the WSOP Texas Hold 'Em title and $5 million in cash.
He beat out a field of 2,576 in May to win the prestigious event.
On a poker message board, Raymer recently wrote: "I don't write this to brag, I just want any robbery-minded people out there who hear about this to know that I'm a tough mark, and they won't get that much off me even if they succeed."
