”Poker Hall of Fame” 2020 nominees

End of the year is usually a time to sum up the results, in the world of poker too. One of the most honorable ceremonies is the nomination of the new “Poker Hall of Fame” member. The history of this event dates back to 1979 when Benny Benion – owner of the casino in Las Vegas – took the initiative to create the Hall of Fame. 

Only one winner

To this time there are 56 members of “Poker Hall of Fame” who have inscribed their names in the history of poker. They now select new members every year with help from media and usually two members are determined during the ceremony. 

The criteria remain unchanged:

Age not less than 40 years old;

High stakes experience;

Positive winrate in a long run;

Candidate has stood test of time;

Authority and recognition in the poker community;

Contribution to the development of poker industry (if the candidate is not a player).

Due to the coronavirus this year is different and so is the Poker Hall of Fame ceremony. This time there will be only one winner instead of usual two. And also media and journalists do not participate in voting. The first stage involves candidates selection and voting (until December 11) on the WSOP.com website, the official partner of the ceremony since 2004. 

The winner is symbolically announced one day before Heads Up of WSOP Main Event starts. This year the event will take place online on December 28-30, so the honorable member #57 will be chosen the day before. List of nominees

Antonio Esfandiari;

Chris Ferguson:

Huckleberry Seed;

Mike Matusow;

Ted Forrest; 

Chris Bjorn;

David Cho.

Everyone has a chance to win. And finally, you can take a look at the honorary list of Poker Hall of Fame representatives since 2004, the year the cerenomy became a part of World Series of Poker:

Year   Winner

2004  Berry Johnston

2005  Jack Binion and Crandell Addington

2006  T.J. Cloutier and Billy Baxter

2007  Phil Helmuth and Barbra Enright

2008  Henry Orenstein and Dewey Tomko

2009  Mike Sexton

2010  Eric Seidell and Dan Harrington

2011  Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson

2012  Brian Roberts and Eric Drache

2013  Scotty Nguen and Tom McEvoy

2014  Daniel Negreanu and Jack McClelland

2015  John Juanda and Jennifer Harman

2016  Tod Brunson and Carlos Mortensen

2017  Phil Ivey and David Elliott

2018  Mori Eskandani and John Hennigan

2019  Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim

David Oppenheim and Chris Moneymaker were the last two to join ”Poker Hall of Fame”. Chris’s victory caused a lot of controversy especially because of the lack of big winnings for almost 10 years. The only 6-digid prize he got during this period was $300,000 for coming second in NBC National Heads-Up Championship in 2011. Apparently his breakthrough at WSOP 2003 and the poker boom that followed was enough to win.