Comments on: Poker Hall of Fame Nominees announced

By: DanM

DanM — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:25:54 +0000

I’m not sure about that yet. They have sent us rules and criteria, but I haven’t studied it yet. I think we can do write-ins on our own, but don’t put money on that.

By: Kevin Mathers

Kevin Mathers — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:09:04 +0000

Aren’t you only able to vote for the top 10 and any other late additions made by HOF Committee?

By: DanM

DanM — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:27:11 +0000

I now can recognize Elky (by face, or at least hair and sunglasses, not just by name) … so there are only four players left who are currently auto-eliminated on my ballot. Good job on Elky doing well enough in Day 3 to make him more famous than before.

By: Kevin Mathers

Kevin Mathers — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:15:51 +0000

The Commish has mentioned having an actual location of the Poker Hall of Fame a priority in previous interviews with items similar to what you’ve suggested.

By: Earl Burton

Earl Burton — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:00:21 +0000

Kev,

You do have a point there!

In an effort to help out with this problem, why has there never been a dedicated Poker Hall of Fame built or established? I know Binion’s had the photos up of all the HoF members before Harrah’s took it over and, to the best of my knowledge, has never added members elected after 2004 and could even not have the display up anymore (since they remodeled). Isn’t it time that the Poker Hall of Fame had a home?

A small area on the Strip would be all it would take and it would probably draw a good crowd. Collecting memorabilia from all the HoF inductees, trace the history of poker, perhaps even have an occassional small tournament where one of the HoF members plays (and many more possibilities)…I think this would be a tremendous idea. Who’s with me?

By: Kevin Mathers

Kevin Mathers — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:32:46 +0000

Earl,

It’s expected when the casual poker player gets involved: ballot stuffing, voting for people who are already enshrined, etc.

By: Earl Burton

Earl Burton — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:34:25 +0000

I don’t think there should be an age limit on how old someone has to be to gain entrance to the Poker Hall of Fame, but it is an embarrassment to see “durrrr’s” name included in that list. He is a solid two decades away from even being in the running. Let’s see him win a half dozen bracelets and a few other $10K events before crowning him.

Sexton is a lock for election IMO. The second choice will be a tough one and should come down between Greenstein and Seidel. I think both would say they aren’t ready for the HoF yet as they still have some poker in them!

Now there is a possibility that a second person doesn’t earn the 75% level and a non-player could garner enough support from the 30 voting members (23 of the 30 votes) to bypass the nominations. Perhaps that is what is necessary to allow some level of comprehension of what the HoF means. (On a side note: Dwan nominated and HoF mambers Hellmuth, Brunson and Ungar getting votes? Who was voting on this?!?!)

By: Johnny Hughes

Johnny Hughes — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:59:17 +0000

In the old West, when you said, “There is a one-eyed man in the game.”, that meant someone is cheating. Now we have a one-eyed man, with an agent who might sell two votes, and his big store is open for prop bets on the outcome.

Poll the voters. Don’t put the results on your web sites. Hustle prop bets. Vote your bet.

By: Kevin Mathers

Kevin Mathers — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:30:05 +0000

When I posted the announcement on 2+2, I later added a poll asking when Dwan should get into the Hall of Fame.

At the moment, with nearly 500 votes in under 24 hours:

Now – 117
In 15 years – 116
In 10 years – 103
In 5 years – 58
Never – 54

By: BJ Nemeth

BJ Nemeth — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:28:48 +0000

As a bonus, I also know how to properly spell Jennifer Harman’s last name.

By: BJ Nemeth

BJ Nemeth — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:25:59 +0000

As someone who is *not* among the 15 voting members of the media, there are only two people on the extended list that I don’t know by sight, though I am familiar with them by reputation. (Jay Heimowitz is tied for 7th on the all-time list with six WSOP bracelets, and Jesper Hougaard is the only player to win a WSOP bracelet and a WSOP Europe bracelet in the same year.)

Personally, I think a player needs to be competing at the highest level for at *least* a decade before they are even a part of the conversation. I’d also require a minimum age of 35. Those are bare minimums in my book.

If somebody is currently competing at the highest level with regularity (at the height of their career), I would be less likely to vote for them. What’s the rush? I’d give more consideration to those who aren’t currently in the limelight, but have still earned the recognition.

As Kevin Mathers alluded to, integrity and reputation *do* matter in this process. In my opinion, that severely hurts Men Nguyen’s chances. However, I only consider integrity and reputation to be much of a factor as negatives; a player’s chances don’t get much of a boost in my book for having high integrity and a strong reputation, because those qualities should be assumed in a Hall of Fame candidate.

In the past, whenever I’ve thought about nominations for other sports Hall of Fames (primarily baseball), I always like to look at their record *without* their single greatest achievement — to me, that makes them too much of a one-trick pony. Would Hank Aaron still be in the Hall of Fame if he finished his career with fewer home runs than Babe Ruth? (Yes.) This line of thinking hurts someone like Tom McEvoy — if he finished 2nd in the Main Event in 1983, would he still be under consideration?

If I only got to induct one player this year from that list, it would be MIKE SEXTON. As Melissa Hayden points out above, he has done far more for the industry than just host WPT final tables.

By: melissa h

melissa h — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:59:46 +0000

i have to say mike sexton.
i thinking of his tournament of champions here. that got alot of people interested in other kinds of big poker tournaments, which eventually lead to WPT.

mike has always been a great (as you all like to say) ambassador for poker.

his very early involvement with party poker shows his awareness of the poker boom that would come.

hes been a great promoter and prolly the one he held the highest and made sure no one ever forgot was stu unger. to me he meets the criteria set by the HOF.

action dan (harrington) a grt player has been around long enough.

i think his books are a grt contribution.

seidel who has all that bling, fits the player critera. so if you want to vote on only results then prolly him.

ivey i think eventually, maybe after he wins the ME this yr! lol.

because i started in the late 90″s and remember a few people working non-stop on what would become poker as we know it today,
id like to see all them be inducted first.

after that you can start hanging fan boy plaques!

By: DicePanda

DicePanda — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:43:48 +0000

FIVE you wouldn’t recognize on the extended list? I don’t cover poker tourneys, and I think there are only three I wouldn’t recognize on sight, and that may be a stretch. Pauly, help the one-eyed man, please.

By: Pauly

Pauly — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:12:40 +0000

I get to vote as well. I wonder if any will try to buy me off?

The bidding starts at a Mercedes 450.

By: DanM

DanM — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:53:54 +0000

There are also five people on the extended list whom I wouldn’t recognize if we were in the same room … so they probably don’t belong in the hall of fame either.

By: DanM

DanM — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:51:47 +0000

As one of the 15 media who actually will be voting, I can tell you upon cursory evaluation, I see only two names on that list whom I think almost definitely deserve a vote, and durrr is not one of them.

By: Aaron A.

Aaron A. — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:53:03 +0000

Ed! That’s exactly what I said… Tom Dwan are you kidding me??!! I vote for Erik Seidel and only Erik Seidel because he is a great player, tons of bracelets and has been around a long time.

By: Johnny Hughes

Johnny Hughes — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:16:02 +0000

The top four you mention are all known as really nice guys, especially Sexton. That probably counts.

By: Kevin Mathers

Kevin Mathers — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:16:04 +0000

Of the 10, I’d consider Sexton and Seidel the morning line favorites.

Harrington and Greenstein belong in the second group of contenders.

Ivey and Negreanu are sure Hall of Famers, but haven’t been around long enough for consideration.

The Nguyens each have their share of issues which delay their chances of getting inducted.

If this was 2019, Tom Dwan would be considered. Him making the top 10 says that there wasn’t a lot of votes, or there’s a lot of people watching HSP who saw the HOF ballot and decided to vote for him.

By: Johnny Hughes

Johnny Hughes — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:10:01 +0000

Kevin….set a morning line. The age of the voters, and certain long friendships give Barry Greenstein, and Dan Harrington the edge.
Right? I wouldn’t bet against Phil Ivey if he said the sun was going to come up in the West tomorrow morning.

Age will be a factor, because the young guys can wait. Greenstein deserves it for his poker, and his charities. Harrington for his staying power. Ivey, because he plays the game the best, and is a real all around gambler. If I had one vote, he’d get it. I like the fact he is press shy.

I’ll take those three and give you the field. How many are going in?