The Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF) has announced the list of candidates for induction into the Hall’s Class of 2018. The candidacies of the eleven women will now be put to a panel of media members and WiPHoF members.
Cutting right to the chase, the finalists are as follows, in alphabetical order:
Hermance Blom
Mandy Glogow
Haley Hintze
Angelica Hael
Maria Ho
Karina Jett
Terry King
Shirley Rosario
Kara Scott
Lupe Soto
Jennifer Tilly
The nomination process for the WiPHoF began just over a month ago and closed March 15th, as the general public was invited to submit names of the most deserving women involved in the game. People could submit one vote per IP address. Eligibility requirements for the Hall, as posted on the WiPHoF website, are:
a) A candidate must have been active as a player or industry leader for a minimum of 10 years prior to nomination and 35 yrs of age or older.
b) Player/industry leader must have contributed to the world of poker in some significant way. For example, a candidate may qualify by either winning major poker tournaments, gained prominence through their poker success, or by making significant contributions to the industry of poker.
c) Player/industry leader candidate must be a proponent of women in poker- i.e.: refrain from publically criticizing women’s tournaments.
d) All nominees must be approved by the Organization Committee and current Hall Members.
When the nomination period ended, the list of nominees was reviewed by both the the WiPHOF Organization Committee and current Hall of Fame members and the final list of nominees was produced.
As mentioned, it is now up to a panel of living WiPHoF members and selected media members to submit their votes. Each person is given ten votes to cast, which can be distributed in any way. If my colleague, Earl Burton (who, UNLIKE ME, is a member of the voting panel), wants to cast all of his votes for Karina Jett, he can. If he wants to give ten women one vote each because he is wishy-washy, he can do that, too.
Speaking of Earl, he wrote an article a month ago detailing who he would like to see nominated. My friend, you only hit 40 percent, which is in itself Hall of Fame material if you were a baseball player. Two of his choices – Karina Jett and Shirley Rosario – are finalists, but three – Betty Carey, Nani Dollison, and the controversial Annie Duke – didn’t make the cut this year.
So, I think we know who is going to get at least some of Earl’s votes.
The Women in Poker Hall of Fame website makes no mention as to when the inductees will be announced, though the induction ceremony will be held on June 26th at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas (perhaps it is a surprise until then?). Anyone can attend; tickets cost $55 per person and include a nice-looking lunch. Proceeds (or a portion of) will benefit PokerGives.org.
