Last week, my colleague Earl Burton penned his annual article detailing the ten people he feels deserve consideration for the Poker Hall of Fame. Upon reading it, I realized that I have never written a similar article, so I figured it was about time I take a crack at it.
The people I will list are not necessarily people I think should definitely be in the Hall of Fame; they are people I think deserve to at least be in the conversation. There are valid arguments for and against them all, but that is all part of the fun. It is actually getting pretty difficult to come up with a good list, especially if we’re trying to think of ten people (the top ten nominees get put on the official ballot), since the obvious choices are already enshrined, but if it was easy, it wouldn’t be interesting.
I agree with Earl’s repeat nominee choices: Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen, Thor Hansen, and Jennifer Harman. McEvoy has been a bit of a forgotten man in the new age of online poker, but let us not forget that he is a World Series of Poker Champion, a four-time WSOP bracelet winner, and even one of the first spokesmen for an online poker room (PokerStars). Beyond all that, he has made an indelible mark on the poker world through his prolific poker writing; he is one of the most respected poker authors of all time.
Scotty Nguyen has seen his reputation slump in the last couple years because of his alcohol-fueled poor behavior in live tournaments, but for years, he was one of the biggest characters in the game. A WSOP champ and one of the most successful live tournament players of all time, he has entertained poker fans for the better part of two decades and uttered arguably the most famous line in poker history, “You call, it’s going to be all over, baby.”
As for Jennifer Harman, there’s not much to say that hasn’t been said before. She has been a trailblazer for women in poker, battling it out with all comers in both tournaments in cash games. I was always interested in her as a poker “character” or sorts, in that she had two sides to her: on the one hand, she was one of the darlings of poker television during the poker boom – a petite, attractive woman who has overcome medical issues to put together an excellent tournament resume – while at the same time having the reputation as one of the toughest high stakes cash game players in the world. That latter persona is one casual poker fans never really knew much about, but it probably what will put her over the top if she does get elected to the Hall of Fame.
Earl said it best about Thor Hansen. He’s the “Godfather of Scandinavian Poker.” We here in the United States don’t hear a lot about him, but trust me, he’s done it all.
A couple years ago, I would have said Chris Ferguson was a lock for the Hall of Fame, but now I’m going to have to disagree with Earl and say he should not even be up for consideration. His involvement in the Full Tilt Poker scandal is just too much for me to feel good about his nomination. If he can somehow do something to make up for it someday, maybe I’d give him another look, but I don’t think that day will ever come.
I love Earl’s pick of Andy Glazer. He did the vast majority of his poker writing before I was involved in the industry, but I have read his stuff and man, was he good. More than that, though, from everything I have been told and have read, he was a fantastic guy and a true champion of the game.
I’ll also give the nod to Carlos Mortensen. A World Series of Poker Champion, the top money winner in the history of Spain, and an overall cool customer. Master chip stacker, too.
Now it gets tough. I want to nominate Phil Ivey, but he’s not 40-years old yet and that’s one of the qualifications. When he’s 40, he’s a snap-call.
How about this one: David Levien and Brian Koppelman, writers of everybody’s favorite poker movie, Rounders. The film was released in 1998, five years before Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP and the explosion of internet poker; poker was really not in the minds of the public at all. And while it did not do well at the box office, it found popularity on home video. We all know it was a hit amongst poker players and poker fans, but more importantly, it planted a seed in the minds of non-poker players. It got people interested. Though it depicted the seedy, dangerous underworld of poker, it at the same time made it look cool and oddly glamorous before poker really was glamorous. Rounders made many people want to try poker and it cemented Johnny Chan’s name in pop culture.
I’m not quite sure if he qualifies under the “stood the test of time” clause, but Mori Eskandani has been one of the most important people in poker television. He was co-creator (working with Poker Hall of Famer Henry Orenstein) of “Poker Superstars” and his production company, PokerPROductions, produced “Poker After Dark,” “High Stakes Poker,” and the “National Heads-Up Poker Championship.” In 2011, the company began producing the World Series of Poker.
That puts my list at eight or nine, depending on whether you count Levien and Koppelman as one or two people. A couple others I highly considered, but decided not to officially include because of the “test of time” qualifier are Greg Raymer and Norman Chad. Then there is Isai Scheinberg, the founder of PokerStars. Do I nominate him because of his influence on the poker world or do I not because he was one of the eleven named in the Black Friday indictments? In the end, I decided against him simply because I don’t know enough about him to feel totally comfortable putting him on the list.
