Raymond Davis Poker
02 Dec
Prominent Las Vegas poker pro Raymond Davis has reached a plea deal with Nevada authorities to resolve sex-related charges that could have resulted in a lengthy prison stint. Raymond Davis has won 0 bracelets and 0 rings for total earnings of $432,451. See all events where they placed in-the-money. MOST TRUSTED BRAND IN POKER.
Raymond Davis, founder of the RealGrinders poker site that has almost 18,000 members on Facebook, has given an interview from jail as he faces serious sexual abuse charges that could see him spend 35 years in prison.
The 52-year old Wisconsin-born pro, who now lives in California, was arrested this year, some two-and-a-half years after a warrant was issued in connection with several accusations of sexual crimes against minors.
The details of the charges include one of masturbating while watching two minors shower, while also paying one of the minors to give him oral sex, after grooming them on Facebook.
In an interview this week from a Las Vegas jail, Davis claimed to 8NewsNow:
“I have never, never in my life, paid a girl, underage woman, girl for sex.'
The news station’s I-Team investigative reporters quizzed him on why the police had taken so long to execute the arrest warrant, Davis only arrested after a completely unrelated traffic stop.
Davis claimed:
“They never made an effort to come to my house. They never came to my store. I’m very high profile; anybody, a 10-year-old Boy Scout can find me.”
The RealGrinders group founded by Davis also has a bricks-and-mortar lounge in Las Vegas, close to the Rio Casino, Davis explaining it would have been easy enough for police to find him.
'I got a big following. I’m on social media. My whereabouts is there. I got a custom red Camaro, my name on it, my business RG on it.”
The crimes allegedly occurred in 2014, with several posters on the Poker Fraud Alert website referencing even earlier accusations of sexual abuse dating back as far as 2004, which were eventually dropped – but coincided with his divorce.
Of the current charges, Davis told the I-Team’s Vanessa Murphy:
“If there was an arrest warrant, and I was a danger to the community, why wouldn’t they come and get me?”
He added:
“If they would have sent me a subpoena saying I had a warrant, I would have just went downtown or turned myself in, went to court, paid bail, whatever.”
The court, however, has raised his bail from $25,000 to $500,000 –with ‘house arrest’ and ‘high-level monitoring’ included in the conditions.
That occurred after Davis represented himself in court, accusing the judge and others of various misdeeds and causing his impending trial to be postponed.
Davis later apologised to the court, but was ordered to undertake a psychiatric evaluation. Davis will now stand trial in February 2020 and faces up to 35 years in prison.
Raymond Davis has $1,663,459 in live cashes recorded on the Hendon Mob, the biggest being a $177,600 payout at the 2008 WSOP.
His 10th place in that year’s $50k HORSE bracelet event was ahead of notables such as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson, with the tournament eventually being won by Scotty Nguyen.
RealGrinders includes Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Brian Hastings among its Team pros.
I met Raymond Davis a few years ago while playing in Los Angeles. He was always a likable, very polite, fun-loving young man.
He was at times a little brash about his poker abilities, but always in a fun-loving way. I have to admit, I never took him as a serious threat to become a world-class player – that is, until last year.
Raymond Davis Poker Player
About midyear, I noticed he was doing well and winning several tournaments. As the year progressed, he continued to do very well. When the smoke finally cleared and the year ended, he had made 18 final tables, with nine wins, in Card Player Player of the Year qualifying tournaments.
In early January of this year, I ran into Raymond at Hollywood Park Casino. After congratulating him on a great year, I asked if I could do a column about him, to let the poker world know a little more about him. He said OK, so I interviewed him.
Vince Burgio: Can you give us a little bio on Raymond Davis?
Raymond Davis Poker Player Arrested
Raymond Davis: I was born in Fondulac, Wisconsin, 36 years ago and was raised in Milwaukee. I joined the United States Army at the age of 18 and was discharged after four years of service at Fort Lewis, Washington. I settled in Seattle and lived there for about 10 years, and moved to Los Angeles about three years ago. I am divorced and have a 14-year-old son. Currently, I live in Downey, California, and I am a professional poker player.