Poker champion fights off attacks at casino

Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.

Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series 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 after he had finished playing a cash game of poker, according to a police report.

Raymer, 40, was returning to his room about 2 a.m. when two men jumped him, Raymer said in an interview. Raymer said the men then tried to push him in the room.

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 and also recognized him from a previous incident.

Police made an arrest in the case but the report didn't identify the person.

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