Sports are ingrained in our society. From a very young age, American children are throwing a ball, swinging a bat, competing at some level. For Geno ‘GRaman32’ Raman, that competition, that sport was football. From the day he could fit into shoulder pads, his life was engulfed with the game. Like so many other kids, he had the dream of playing in the National Football League and while he managed to play a few years in college, at the Division I and III level, the dreams of making it “to the league” ended at Rowan University in New Jersey.

A handful of ex-college athletes have experienced poker success, maybe most notably Eric ‘basebaldy’ Baldwin and Raman is hoping to be the next to see success in another, less physical, competitive outlet. Like so many former athletes, once the clock hits double zero, they look for other ways to fuel that forever burning competitive desire. Some make a quick switch and they find their next fix, while others take time to pursue another competitive outlet, another dream.

The last few years haven’t been easy for Raman, an online and live grinder from New Jersey, and some “tough times” have had him use some time to find that next outlet. He’s remained hungry and humble though, one of the many reasons he’s been able to enjoy his recent success even more, results he hopes to improve on when he heads to Vegas in a few weeks for the World Series of Poker.

That recent success started at the WSOP Circuit stop in Baltimore in late March, where Raman finished second in the 512 player ‘Monster Stack’ event. The breakthrough result netted Raman just over $20,000 but he wasn’t done, as a month later he notched another final table run a little closer to home. A fourth place finish in the Parx Big Stax XVI 300 earned him another $25,000 score, besting his previous two-year poker totals in the matter of a few weeks time.

“To say that I’m happy about my successes would be a total injustice, I’m ecstatic.” Raman said. “It’s nice to see some fruits of my labor coming through and it just refuels the drive inside of me to continue to work on my game and continue to learn and get better every day.”

That’s something he’s done over the last two years, as he started out, half jokingly, “winning some dailies, some online events here and there and loading up on min-cashes.” Some changes to his game, brought on by some additional online volume where you’re able to learn at a faster pace, and an increase in studying, have Raman feeling confident but that confidence has always been there, thanks to his ever supporting family.

He lived in seven different states while he was growing up and going to school and the only real constant in his life has been his family. They were there for him when his first Division I football team’s program was dropped by Iona College and they were there when he decided that he was going to leave a full-time job with benefits for a “game that has a factor of luck involved in it”.

#TeamRaman, as he refers to them as, has been in Raman’s corner throughout his young poker career but his recent success isn’t going to slow his drive.

“My sports and competitive background isn’t something I ever lost and the recent runs just have me hungrier than ever. It’s finally started to click and that’s a result of a lot of hard work.”

Poker is a grind but so is football. Raman knows that and even though he’s taken some hits through the first three quarters of the game, he’s still running and still competing into the forth quarter. That’s the quarter he’s been preparing for, that’s the quarter you go through two-a-days for, that’s the quarter that matters.