By August Darnell | July 15, 2009

While the World Series of Poker Championship Event has been playing out, the poker world has waited for the announcement of the final ten candidates for the most prestigious award offered in poker, a seat in the Poker Hall of Fame.

Since the start of this year’s World Series, the public has had the opportunity to nominate some of the brightest and most recognizable stars in the world of poker for the chance to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame. Those that were nominated that didn’t receive enough votes to make the Top Ten included former World Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, top female professional Annie Duke, the late groundbreaking poker writer Andy Glazer, European Poker Tour founder John Duthie and excellent tournament director Matt Savage. These nominees, as well as nearly thirty others, will be maintained on the ballot for next year’s nominations.

There were some missteps – such as former World Champions Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar and Phil Hellmuth being nominated even though they are already Hall of Fame members – but there were some solid choices in the Top Ten vote getters (presented in alphabetical order):

Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Barry Greenstein
Dan Harrington
Phil Ivey
Tom McEvoy
Daniel Negreanu
Men “The Master” Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Erik Seidel
Mike Sexton

These nominees now head to a blue ribbon panel that is comprised of the fifteen living members of the Poker Hall of Fame and fifteen members of the poker media. A nominee will have to receive 75% of the vote (23 out of 30) to earn their induction and the panel is not restricted to voting for only those people who have been nominated. The maximum number of inductees is two.

With such an important decision, poker legend Doyle Brunson has no qualms about who his votes are going for. In his blog, Brunson states that, “…my vote has to go to Mike Sexton or Barry Greenstein. Some of the others are too young and some don’t fit the criteria that are required for being elected. Phil Ivey is one that is a cinch to be inducted, but not this year because of his young age. Of course he is still alive in the Main Event and if he somehow wins, I’ll vote for him now.”

The final results of the membership panel’s vote will be announced during the play of the “November Nine” WSOP Main Event final table. For full details on the Poker Hall of Fame, visit the World Series of Poker’s website to learn more.

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