Poker Hall of Fame Open for Nominations to June 18

Last updated on June 11th, 2023

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It is that time of year again. Well, it’s World Series of Poker time, obviously. But that also means that it is time to start thinking about who belongs in the Poker Hall of Fame.

Once again, it appears that there will be only one new member inducted into the HOF this year. While that is always a top of debate in itself, the most important part of the process takes center stage. It is the time that poker players and fans around the world can submit their nominations for those they think should be considered for the Hall of Fame.

The submission window is open through Sunday, June 18. And the form is located on the WSOP website.

Submission Guidelines

Anyone can nominate anyone for the Poker Hall of Fame. You can nominate your mother if you’d like. The issue with that is that there will probably not be enough overall votes for your mother to get her to the final list of 10 nominees.

The poker players or industry contributors receiving the highest numbers of votes will make it to that final list, and all living members of the Hall of Fame will be able to cast votes to determine the ultimate inductee for 2023.

Poker players must meet the following criteria to be considered:

-Must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
-Must have played for high stakes
-Must be a minimum of 40 years old at the time of nomination
-Must have played consistently well, gaining the respect of his/her peers
-Must have stood the test of time

Non-poker players, on the other hand, must meet one requirement:

-Must have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

HOF Process

When the submission window closes on June 18, a committee will tabulate the results and reveal the list of 10 finalists. The 32 living members of the Hall of Fame will then use their allotted points (usually 10) to distribute among the finalists as they deem fit.

Those numbers will then be tallied, and the final inductee will be announced on Thursday, July 13. The induction ceremony will kick off the $1,979 buy-in Poker Hall of Fame Bounty tournament (Event 86) at the World Series of Poker.

While there is always a desire among poker players and fans to induct more than one person per year, the WSOP appears to still only want to induct one person in 2023.

Last year, the inductee was Layne Flack, the longtime poker pro who died the previous year. Eli Elezra was inducted in 2021.

Likely Nominees

There have been many, many names mentioned in social media conversations as possible nominees this year. Many of them are previous nominees:

-Josh Arieh (nominated in 2022)
-Bertrand Grospellier (nominated in 2 prior years)
-Kathy Liebert (nominated in 2022)
-Mike Matusow (nominated in 8 previous years)
-Lon McEachern & Norman Chad (nominated in 2 prior years)
-Michael Mizrachi (nominated in 2 prior years)
-Brian Rast (nominated in 2022)
-Matt Savage (nominated in 7 previous years)
-Isai Scheinberg (nominated in 3 previous years)

Other names have been included in the nomination process in the past:

-Ted Forrest
-Antonio Esfandiari
-Patrick Antonius
-Chris Bjorin
-David Chiu
-Bruno Fitoussi
-John Cernuto
-Jeremy Ausmus
-Maria Ho
-Jack Effel
-Jeffrey Lisandro
-Robert Ciaffone
-Joe Hachem
-Victoria Coren
-Humberto Brenes
-Gabe Kaplan
-Tom Dwan

Nominations for the @WSOP Poker Hall of Fame are now being taken until June 18th. Cast your vote for up to 3 individuals 40 and older at https://t.co/qNKc2OUqW6
— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) June 5, 2023