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Less than a month from now, the World Series of Poker Championship Event “November Nine” will play out in front of a packed Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas. Over the past few years, the “November Nine” has also been the moment that the new additions to the Poker Hall of Fame will be announced. The same holds true this year as ten of poker’s legends of the game wait with bated breath for the announcement.

The ten players eligible for election to the Hall – Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, John Juanda, Huck Seed, Barry Greenstein, Linda Johnson, Marcel Luske, Jack McClelland, Tom McEvoy and Scotty Nguyen – have been receiving votes from a specially selected committee as to who will be elected. The eighteen living members of the Hall and seventeen members of the poker journalism community will be the final arbiters of their fate, with their votes due in today. A member of the poker media with a vote, PocketFives.com’s Dan Cypra, has been so far the only person to be transparent about where their votes are going.

Each elector has ten votes to divvy up as they see determined and Cypra, who has been a voting member for the past three years, detailed out his criteria in an article at PocketFives. “I began my vote by discounting any poker pro associated with Full Tilt Poker, UB or Absolute Poker, none of which has paid back U. S. players following Black Friday,” Cypra states in his article. Using the criteria Cypra exercises, Duke, Harman, Juanda and Seed are eliminated.

Of the final six pros, Cypra admits that, while deserving, there are reasons for three of them to be eliminated. Scotty Nguyen doesn’t receive support from Cypra because of his actions during his championship run in the 2008 World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. “Nguyen’s (allegedly) intoxicated actions remain firmly entrenched in the minds of many members of the poker community,” Cypra writes. “Therefore, he would not be considered in my eyes on the grounds that he’s not as strong of a poker ambassador as the other individuals on this list.” (One of the criteria for election is having been an ambassador of the game, or respect among your peers.)

While Cypra believe that the nomination of Marcel Luske is important in recognizing the international aspect of poker, he points out the lack of success that “The Flying Dutchman” has had in the tournament poker world. “Luske lacks any WSOP, WPT or EPT titles, which pushes him off my ballot on poker credentials alone,” Cypra opines. In the case of Jack McClelland, Cypra notes his contributions to the game through his job as tournament director at the Bellagio are impressive but, compared to his fellow nominees, pale in comparison.

There are three people that Cypra believes are worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame. Perhaps surprisingly, Cypra allocates five of his ten votes to Linda Johnson. The one-time owner of CardPlayer Magazine, a WSOP bracelet winner, her work in the creation of the Tournament Directors Association and her philanthropic work with another group she founded, PokerGives, are just a few of the strong marks on her record, not to mention her work in bringing the World Poker Tour out of its infancy as its first TD. Cypra notes, “(Johnson) is far and away the strongest candidate of the three.”

Cypra casts three votes for Barry Greenstein, but adds, “(Greenstein) seems like a shoo-in this year.” He has clicked off all the appropriate accolades worthy for induction: longevity, success in the game (two WPT titles and three WSOP bracelets) and being an ambassador for poker. Add in his charitable works and it is hard to vote against Greenstein.

Finally, Cypra gives his final two votes to former World Champion Tom McEvoy. A four time WSOP bracelet winner, Cypra states, “When some considered him to be irrelevant, McEvoy responded by winning the WSOP Champions Invitational two years ago.” Along with his longevity in the game, McEvoy has penned several seminal poker books that have aided players in their understanding of the game.

When the final votes are tallied, the top two vote getters will be enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame (provided they also receive a majority of the votes). So who will be standing on the Penn & Teller Theater stage come November for the honor of joining poker’s legends?

2 Comments

  1. PokerDave says:

    I really like this criteria for voting. My votes would go to Barry Greenspan.

  2. BJ Nemeth says:

    Several voters (including Doyle Brunson) have made their votes public on Twitter, though some didn’t include specific breakdowns.

    I’ll be posting my ballot publicly within the next day or so, along with a detailed explanation as to why I voted the way I did.

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