WSOP Poker Hall of Fame Nominees Announced

A star-studded cast of players have been nominated for the World Series of Poker Hall of Fame class of 2010. The ten finalists include a number of household names, none of whom would seem out of place in the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame.

The finalists are as follows, in alphabetical order: Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Erik Seidel.

The ballot will be finalized by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, after which it will be voted on by a panel which includes the 16 living Hall of Fame members, as well as 17 media members. In order to make it into the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame, a player must both be one of the two top finishers in the voting, and must be voted in by a majority of the voters. This does not guarantee that two players will be inducted each year; in 2009, Mike Sexton was the only nominee to be approved by a majority of the voters, and became the only new member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

The Poker Hall of Fame was established in 1979. Since then, 38 members have been inducted, including both players and other influential names in the poker world.

Several criteria have been established for how to judge whether or not a player deserves admission to the Poker Hall of Fame. The criteria set by the World Series of Poker include the following: A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition, played for high stakes, played consistently well, gained the respect of their peers, and stood the test of time. For non-players, they must have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with positive and lasting results.

Much like in any Hall of Fame, these criteria leave a lot open to interpretation, and lead to fascinating debate as to who deserves to be inducted. In a recent post, ESPN poker editor Andrew Feldman said that the most ambiguous criterion was that of standing the test of time.

“One issue I had trouble with last year and continue to have trouble with this year is a tough internal argument about how old a player needs to be (or how long he or she needs to have played) to have ‘stood the test of time,’” said Feldman. “If players faced some criteria by which, for example, there must have been X years between his first WSOP event and his potential nomination/induction, I think it would be beneficial to this process.”