This year, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has decided to let the fans vote for 20 of the 27 players who will participate in the Tournament of Champions. Poker News Daily asked me to list who I’d vote for.
I’m happy to do that, but first, I’d like to say that I don’t care much for the notion of the fans voting for which players get to participate. Not surprisingly, it’s turned into a fairly ugly popularity contest reminiscent of my junior high school years. Only in junior high school, we didn’t have Twitter. So now, all of the “cool kids” are Tweeting their fans asking for votes. One player has even offered to send a percentage of his winnings to anybody who votes solely for him. You might find that distasteful, but is it not obvious that’s where this would end up?
It would make so much more sense if the voting were done by some subset of the poker media, which, while certainly not the perfect arbitration body (even if there were one), is certainly preferable to the masses. It’s why Major League Baseball, which gets many things wrong, still leaves Hall of Fame voting in the hands of professional sportswriters.
Okay, stepping down from my soapbox and picking up my scorecard…
Since this is my ballot and not yours, I’m taking a somewhat non-standard approach to my choices. I’m breaking my votes down by category. I am prepared to vote somebody in for any of the following reasons:
1. Continued success at major tournament and/or high-stakes cash games over an extended period. This is the most obvious category and the one that is likely to produce the most overlap with other voters.
2. Continued success in online poker over a relatively long period of time. I say “relatively” because obviously online poker hasn’t been around long enough for any person to establish himself or herself for decades.
3. Being an important contributor to or ambassador for the game of poker. This is a great time to acknowledge a handful of people who have done wonderful things for poker.
I am not going to put explanations next to every name; many of them require none. But I’ll make notes where it seems appropriate.
And now the envelope please…
1. Doyle Brunson
2. Phil Ivey
3. Phil Hellmuth
4. Johnny Chan
5. T.J. Cloutier
6. Carlos Mortensen
7. Daniel Negreanu. Extra credit to Negreanu for always being polite and accessible to the media and fans.
8. Chris Moneymaker. Sure, one WSOP bracelet, but it’s probably the single most important WSOP bracelet ever. Just as importantly, when he was suddenly and unexpectedly on the world stage, he didn’t screw up. He was a gentleman and represented poker well despite having zero preparation or training for the job.
9. Erik Seidel. I’m not even going to bother looking up Seidel’s (significant) WSOP bracelet count before I put him in here. He is one of those guys who sets a standard of professional and gentlemanly behavior wherever he goes. He makes you proud to be part of the poker community.
10. Barry Greenstein. He has prospered at the biggest live cash games in the world year after year and has demanded that the poker community learn how to give something back, setting an enormously high bar with his own generosity. Like Seidel, he’s a fellow to whom you could point your son or daughter and say, “Act like that guy and you’ll do just fine in life.”
11. Jennifer Harman. She has one WSOP bracelet, but has been the one woman to stand up to the biggest cash action the business has offered for the past 10 to 15 years. Her success has undoubtedly encouraged other women to take poker seriously, not that she needed a push across the top 20 line, but that doesn’t hurt.
12. Greg Raymer. Obviously Raymer’s tournament record speaks for itself, but he has also been a vocal and articulate supporter of legalizing poker. Because of his previous life as an attorney, Raymer can sit down with Congressmen and be taken seriously as he explains why online poker should be legal.
13. Annette Obrestad. I keep hoping that a generation of young women will look at Annette and say, “Gee, maybe there is something to this poker thing.” A tip of the bowler to Annette for not losing her young lady charm despite her status in the poker world.
14. Matt Hawlirenko. This may be the name you don’t recognize, but you should. He’s widely viewed as one of the toughest Heads-Up Limit Hold’em players in the world and a stupendously nice guy. He deserves more credit and publicity.
15. David Sklansky. He has a WSOP bracelet from two decades ago, but his writing and thinking about poker revolutionized the game 30 years ago and those seismic waves are still being felt.
16. Jason Mercier. He’s been tearing up both online and live games. He’s one of the top “crossover” players.
17. Billy Baxter. Many people don’t realize that he was the plaintiff in the landmark case that gave professional poker players the right to treat their winnings as “earned income” – that is, legally acknowledging the existence of the professional poker player. That should make him a hero in all of our books.
18. Howard Lederer. He is obviously one of the key movers and shakers in the poker industry. But, like Greg Raymer, he’s done an incredible job of pushing for the legitimacy and legalization of poker.
19. Chris Ferguson. His long locks and cowboy hat have become iconic within and outside of the poker world. Those combined with his genius-level intelligence and erudition make him a powerful force for poker in the halls of Congress.
20. Linda Johnson. She is one of only a handful of women with an “open field” bracelet, but her real gift to poker has been her undying support of the game through her cruise business, World Poker Tour (WPT) hosting, and charity-oriented poker events. Like Sklansky and Caro, she helped keep the game alive when there was no money, little TV coverage, and no appeal to the younger generation.
That’s the group I’d vote for. If you’re going to vote, I have a simple request: use your own brain and heart to decide who should get your votes. Don’t vote for somebody because he/she Tweets you the most. Let’s not make this game any more “American Idol” than it already is.
Lee Jones is the Card Room manager for Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business since 2003. He is also the author of “Winning Low Limit Hold’em,” which has been in publication for over 15 years.