The Poker Hall Of Fame Is Broken – How To Fix It?

Editor’s Word: This column initially appeared in July of 2023, however since no modifications had been made to the Poker Corridor of Fame within the final 12 months, it stays related and is being re-run with the suitable edits.

There’s no doubting Patrik Antonius’ worthiness for the Poker Corridor of Fame. The 43-year-old has a stellar poker résumé that boasts tens of millions in excessive rollers wins and prolonged time in among the greatest money video games on the planet. By all accounts, the Finnish professional was a slam dunk selection for nomination, described by WSOP Government Director Ty Stewart as “a drive each on-line and reside.”

Antonius turns into the 63rd general member, and can have the ability to forged a vote subsequent 12 months together with the 31 different dwelling members of the Corridor.

Nonetheless, it’s exhausting to not really feel for the deserving gamers left on the skin trying in, and that’s a listing that’s far longer than simply the 9 different nominees who got here up simply quick this 12 months.

Antonius beat out Mike Matusow, Matt Savage, Ted Forrest, ‘Miami’ John Cernuto, Isai Scheinberg, Invoice Smith, Barny Boatman, Josh Arieh, and Kathy Liebert for induction this 12 months. All of them have Corridor-worthy achievements, however but their possibilities at getting in develop slimmer annually because the logjam of eligible gamers ages into consideration and bottlenecks with a one-player-per-year restriction.

Matusow has now been nominated 10 totally different instances, with Savage sitting on 9. Forrest has been up for induction seven instances. There are lots of points dealing with the establishment, however the greatest stays the Corridor’s exclusivity.

1. One Participant Per 12 months Is Not Sufficient

I doubt I’ll get many who disagree with me right here. There at the moment are 63 members of the Poker Corridor of Fame (full checklist under), however arguably simply as many gamers who meet, or will quickly meet the standards for induction. In reality, within the subsequent 5 years there will probably be a lot of high-stakes crushers who will flip 40, placing my private present depend of Corridor-worthy gamers at greater than 80. (Sure, I made a listing. No, I received’t publish it.)

It wasn’t all the time this manner, in fact. The Poker Corridor of Fame started with an inaugural class of seven members, and though there was just one inductee per 12 months for fairly a while after that, the poker world was additionally fairly small again then. In 2002, two gamers had been inducted on the similar time, and double inductees continued within the increase years from 2005 to 2019. However as a substitute of doubling the quantity to 4, as many needed, the Corridor as a substitute went again to 1 per 12 months.

The answer is apparent and easy… extra inductees. What number of? I consider three to 4 gamers per 12 months can be a superb quantity, with an extra inductee yearly for many who fall into the class of business contributors and influencers. (Even perhaps writers!)

The precise quantity might be debated, however it simply HAS to be a couple of. The poker world has grown exponentially because the Corridor was began again in 1979.

2. The Corridor Wants A Bodily House

The World Sequence of Poker operates the Poker Corridor of Fame and has been run by Caesars Leisure since their buy of the sequence again in 2004. They’ve since launched a particular Corridor of Fame occasion on the WSOP that contains a $1,979 buy-in and bounties on all Corridor members who play, and rebranded the Horseshoe card room because the Corridor of Fame Poker Room, full with participant photographs and a few restricted memorabilia.

Las Vegas is residence to many fascinating locations and has museums honoring the historical past of every part from punk rock to pinball, even the mob, however poker’s Corridor doesn’t actually have its personal bodily house to name its personal. And that’s shocking given the quantity of precise house that Caesars has at its disposal on the Paris and Horseshoe on the Strip.

Every summer time, the WSOP ought to dedicate a small part of the conference space to the Poker Corridor of Fame and its members. Current Corridor members may mortgage out memorabilia resembling photographs and bracelets that would rotate on show for guests. Caesars may even tie it into their reward store and promote t-shirts if they should justify the sq. footage. (Will folks purchase a hoodie with Hellmuth’s face on it?)

3. Most Voters Are Clueless

With all due respect to the general public (and to the readers of Card Participant), the general public ought to have little to no say in who will get into the Poker Corridor of Fame. The WSOP discovered this out the exhausting approach in 2009 once they requested followers to vote on nominees and a then 22-year-old Tom Dwan was the overwhelming selection.

At the moment, the general public will get some enter with a web-based nomination interval, however it’s minimal. In line with the WSOP web site, the Poker Corridor of Fame Governing Council will get the ultimate say on who makes the checklist.

The ultimate vote goes to the dwelling members of the Corridor, of which there at the moment are solely 32. Whereas all of them are legends within the poker world, not all of them are as plugged into the sport as they as soon as had been, and consequently, most of the post-boom gamers have been ignored.

There was once an extra voting block of media members, Card Participant included, however it was eradicated as soon as the Corridor went again to 1 inductee per 12 months. In my biased opinion, this was a mistake. Nearly each different sports activities corridor of fame asks their business journalists for assist in the nomination and voting course of, most notably the Baseball Writers Affiliation of America, which votes yearly on the Baseball Corridor of Fame.

So far as I’m involved, the extra educated voters, the higher. With solely 32 voters, a few of whom are extra influential than others, there’s a pure tendency for lobbying, if not outright collusion. (I received’t repeat unsubstantiated rumors, however there have been murmurs of gamers pushed in by pleasant votes through the years.)

When a small group of mates determines who will get into the Corridor yearly, the Corridor finally ends up missing in range. Even in case you neglect the truth that the Corridor solely has three feminine members, there’s additionally a obtrusive lack of worldwide gamers although the sport has grown by leaps and bounds everywhere in the world. (Though the Corridor grew a bit of extra various with its first Finnish inductee.)

4. Timing Performs Too Large A Function On Who Will get In

An age requirement was a good suggestion on paper, and it solved the Tom Dwan downside from 2009, however it additionally creates an unlucky bias of timing in relation to who will get chosen. Since a participant have to be 40, naturally, all eyes go to those that are of their early 40’s. There are dozens of candidates of their 50s, 60s, and 70s to select from, however they’ve largely been forgotten to historical past.

Understand that a participant who’s 40 has been enjoying poker for under twenty years, give or take once they began. Whereas that could be a lengthy profession in sports activities, it’s nowhere close to the end line in poker. Will we not give credit score to those that have constructed a whole lifetime for themselves within the recreation? Conversely, will we punish those that began out robust as crushers, however who finally aged out of the high-stakes video games earlier than they may get acknowledged for his or her accomplishments?

What about those that simply take their foot off the gasoline pedal? We’ve had quite a few excessive rollers during the last decade turn into so profitable that they determined to retire early or solely play half time. Will they be penalized for successful an excessive amount of, too quickly?

Rast confirmed unimaginable timing final summer time, successful his third PPC title simply days after the voting opened, however timing additionally components in different methods. Layne Flack and David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott are clearly worthy of the Corridor, however had they not handed away, they’d possible nonetheless be ready for his or her flip.

The principles already state {that a} participant should “stand the check of time” to be inducted, so there’s actually no motive for an age requirement. What constitutes “standing the check of time?” That’s as much as the person voter.

If somebody has put collectively a Corridor of Fame profession by the age of 35, (Fedor Holz is just 30!) then they need to be thought-about. Then again, if somebody qualifies at age 70 due to sheer longevity, then they shouldn’t be disregarded, both. ♠

Right here’s a take a look at the whole Corridor of Fame.

Identify
Inducted

Johnny Moss
1979

Nick “The Greek” Dandolos
1979

Felton “Corky” McCorquodale
1979

Crimson Winn
1979

Sid Wyman
1979

James Butler “Wild Invoice” Hickok
1979

Edmond Hoyle
1979

Blondie Forbes
1980

Invoice Boyd
1981

Tom Abdo
1982

Joe Bernstein
1983

Murph Harrold
1984

Crimson Hodges
1985

Henry Inexperienced
1986

Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson
1987

Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson
1988

Jack “Treetop” Straus
1988

Fred “Sarge” Ferris
1989

Benny Binion
1990

David “Chip” Reese
1991

Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston
1992

Jack Keller
1993

Julius Oral Popwell
1996

Roger Moore
1997

Stu “The Child” Ungar
2001

Lyle Berman
2002

Johnny “The Orient Specific” Chan
2002

Bobby “The Owl” Baldwin
2003

Berry Johnston
2004

Jack Binion
2005

Crandell Addington
2005

T.J. Cloutier
2006

Billy Baxter
2006

Barbara Enright
2007

Phil Hellmuth
2007

Dewey Tomko
2008

Henry Orenstein
2008

Mike Sexton
2009

Dan Harrington
2010

Erik Seidel
2010

Linda Johnson
2011

Barry Greenstein
2011

Eric Drache
2012

Bryan “Sailor” Roberts
2012

Scotty Nguyen
2013

Tom McEvoy
2013

Daniel Negreanu
2014

Jack McClelland
2014

Jennifer Harman
2015

John Juanda
2015

Carlos Mortensen
2016

Todd Brunson
2016

David “Devilfish” Ulliott
2017

Phil Ivey
2017

John Hennigan
2018

Mori Eskandani
2018

Chris Moneymaker
2019

David Oppenheim
2019

Huck Seed
2020

Eli Elezra
2021

Layne Flack
2022

Brian Rast
2023

Patrik Antonius
2024

*Photographs by WSOP

Julio Rodriguez is the Affiliate Writer and Editorial Director for Card Participant Media, having began with the corporate as a reside event reporter on the 2006 WSOP. Initially from Miami, Florida, he now lives in Las Vegas together with his spouse and daughter.