The World Series of Poker has announced the much-awaited list of final nominees for 2016 Poker Hall Of Fame. Consisting of 10 names, the list was finalized after a vetting committee reviewed the nominations filed in the past two weeks. The WSOP usually inducts two individuals into the Hall of Fame each year.
The nominees are for the 2016 WSOP Hall of Fame includes Humberto Brenes, Chris Moneymaker, Chris Bjorin, Bruno Fitoussi, Eli Elezra, Max Pescatori, Carlos Mortensen, Todd Brunson, David Devilfish Ulliott and Matt Savage. Seven of these names are returning nominees with six of them previous finalists – Moneymaker, Brunson and Elezra are the new additions.
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The final two names for this year’s hall of fame will be chosen by the 25 living members of Hall of Fame and a 20 member blue-ribbon media panel. The announcement and the induction will take place on October 26 at the Binion’s Gambling Hall during the World Series of Poker Main Event final table. The process is being administered by the WSOP Governing Council.
The inductees will additionally be honored at exclusive November Nine events at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. Final voting will be based on a list of criteria that includes: a minimum age of 40, played high stakes games, played consistently well, has the respect of their peers, stood the test of time and finally for non-players, has contributed to the success of poker.
Last year poker pros John Juanda and Jen Harman were chosen to be a part of the hall of fame but there was criticism leveled at the vetting process as it was predominantly made up of Americans. This year’s list has a mix of American and European players.
Moneymaker is of course famous for creating poker history. Bjorin is a UK-based poker veteran with two WSOP bracelets and career winnings of $4,939,376. Brenes from Costa Rica has also won two WSOP bracelets and has live winnings of $6,042,095. Spaniard Mortensen has winnings of $ 11,844,347 and has won the WPT Five-Star World Poker Championship in addition to two WSOP bracelets.
Although French Fitoussi has won no major tournaments, he is well-known for his numerous deep finishes in premier tournaments. He also founded of one of world’s most well-known poker clubs, the Aviation Club de France.
The second Briton in the list is the late Dave Ulliott with winnings of $5,124,953. Max Pescatori from Italy has two bracelets and $3,822,223 in career winnings. American Elezra has three WSOP bracelets and winnings of $3,043,686 while Brunson has one WSOP bracelet with $4,570,208 in career prize money. The final name on the list is Matt Savage who is known as the world’s foremost poker tournament director.
