Daniel Negreanu and Greg Raymer Are at War

In recent days, comments have been made by each of these high profile players against the other, and the comments have sparked a larger war of words between the two likable players. How did it start, and exactly what was said?

To understand the conflict, we have to go back to the beginning. Greg Raymer, along with six other players including Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon, are currently suing the World Poker Tour. The gist of the lawsuit is that, the World Poker Tour wants to be able to market their product however they want, and if they want to use a player that appears on their show to market their product, then they will do so. The World Poker Tour says that if a player appears on their show, then the WPT can use their names to help market their product. Well Raymer and six other high profile players are crying foul, saying that this breaks antitrust law, and they have filed a suit against the WPT.

Well, a few days ago, Negreanu put out a video blog on his site saying that he thought the suit was frivolous, and that the seven players should just drop the lawsuit. His opinion is, if you don't like the rules, they don't play on the show. Negreanu contends that there are plenty of tournaments to play, and no one is forcing these players to play in World Poker Tour events.

Well, this is where it hit the fan. Just last night, Greg Raymer was playing on PokerStars and said that he was "glad that Negreanu was out of the World Series of Poker" and that Negreanu was "either stupid or a sockpuppet for the World Poker Tour."

Negreanu heard about these comments and said that "Raymer should be in Africa breastfeeding some starving children" and that their professional relationship would never be the same. This was the last shot fired in the war, though I am sure that Raymer will have something to say in response.

First off, I have to say that I find it a bit surprising that these two players are fueding in public. It only hurts both of their images to squabble in public like this. Negreanu has gotten in public fueds before (most notably with Annie Duke) but Raymer's public image will definitely take a hit if he gets into an online mud-slinging contest. I was a bit surprised to see Raymer say that he was "glad Negreanu was out of the WSOP." I thought it was unbecoming of Raymer and tarnished his image.

I'll keep everyone up to date on the latest happenings in this new fued.

Filed Under: Random Poker News

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