The guidelines for enshrinement into the Poker Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2010 were released on Wednesday. This year, the top two vote-getters will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in November as long as they receive a majority.
Last year, a candidate had to receive 75% of the vote in order to be enshrined. Consequently, World Poker Tour (WPT) Host and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Mike Sexton was the only player inducted out of the nine up for consideration. Those who failed to reach the 75% threshold included Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, and National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Erik Seidel.
Other than inducting the top two players that receive a majority vote, the process is similar in 2010 as it was in 2009. From July 1st to August 31st, the general public will be able to nominate players for consideration online at WSOP.com. Voters can submit up to 250 words to back up why their nominee should be considered for enshrinement. On September 1st, the names of the top 10 vote-getters will be announced.
Soon after, the Poker Hall of Fame Committee will sift through the 10 finalists to determine if any additional names should be included. Last year, the Committee axed Tom “durrrr” Dwan from the final ballot despite the 23 year-old being one of the top ten vote-getters on the grounds that the youngster did not stand the test of time.
On September 13th, the final ballot will be sent to the 16 living Poker Hall of Fame members along with a media panel. Last year, Poker News Daily’s Dan Cypra was a member of the media group, which selected up to three nominees each for enshrinement. This year, text found in the WSOP media guide explains that the current Hall of Famers and the media panel “will each rank the nominees in order of preference – ranking only those they deem worthy of admission in 2010.”
Last year, Poker Hall of Fame members who voted were eligible to submit a write-in candidate that would automatically be added to the ballot in 2010. Who the write-in candidates are remains to be seen. This year, Poker Hall of Fame members will also be allowed to submit names that will appear on the list of nominees in 2011.
What does it take to be enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame? In order to be worthy, players must “have played poker against acknowledged top competition, played for high stakes, played consistently well [and gained] the respect of peers, stood the test of time, or for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker with indelible positive and lasting results.” There are 38 Poker Hall of Fame members.
2009 marked the first year since 2004 that only one player was inducted. Here is a look at the current membership of the prestigious Poker Hall of Fame, broken down by year of enshrinement:
1979: Nick “The Greek” Dandolos, James Butler “Wild Bill Hickok,” Edmond Hoyle, Felton “Corky” McCorquodale, Johnny Moss, Red Winn, Sid Wyman
1980: T “Blondie” Forbes
1981: Bill Boyd
1982: Tom Abdo
1983: Joe Bernstein
1984: Murph Harrold
1985: Red Hodges
1986: Henry Green
1987: Puggy Pearson
1988: Doyle Brunson, Jack “Treetop” Strauss
1989: Fed “Sarge” Ferris
1990: Benny Binion
1991: Chip Reese
1992: Amarillo Slim
1993: Jack Keller
1996: Julius Oral “Little Man” Popwell
1997: Roger Moore
2001: Stu Ungar
2002: Lyle Berman, Johnny Chan
2003: Bobby Baldwin
2004: Berry Johnston
2005: Crandall Addington, Jack Binion
2006: Billy Baxter, T.J. Cloutier
2007: Barbara Enright, Phil Hellmuth
2008: Henry Orenstein, Dewey Tomko
2009: Mike Sexton
The top four bracelet winners in WSOP history – Hellmuth (11), Chan (10), Brunson (10), and Moss (9) – are all Poker Hall of Fame members. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest Poker Hall of Fame headlines.