After a remarkably fast public nomination process, the Poker Hall of Fame announced on Wednesday night the final eight nominees for the Class of 2026. Due to the changes in the voting process of the living Hall members, as many as six of these players could be inducted into the Hall. Those inductions will be announced during the final table of the 2026 WSOP $10,000 Championship Event (the “Main Event”) in August.
New Process Leads to Difficult Choices
In the initial nomination process, the fans were allowed to make their opinions known by proffering choices for the Hall. The players suggested by the public had to meet the criteria set by the Poker Hall of Fame since its founding in 1979. Those criteria are:
- A potential inductee, 40 years old or older (the Chip Reese Rule), must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
- Played for high stakes
- Played consistently well, gained the respect of peers
- Have stood the test of time
- For non-players, they must have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.
Each of the eight nominees – seven players and one industry contributor – meets these criteria and will present a difficult choice for the 33 living Hall members, who are responsible for choosing the next entries into the vaunted Hall.
Those 33 Hall members will also face a new election process. Previously, the living Hall members were given ten votes to divvy among their selections (or all to one selection). This time around, due to changes in the voting process, Hall members have only FOUR votes, and they can choose which member or members they want their votes to go to. In essence, a Hall member can vote for one person (and give all four votes), two (two votes each), or four different individuals. The eventual inductee(s) will receive votes from 22 of the 33 members of the Hall; if no one captures that level of support, then there will be only one inductee – the top vote getter of the nominees.
So, who are the nominees? Glad you asked…
Dominated By “Poker Boom” Era Players
The eight men whom the public has chosen for potential induction are, in alphabetical order:
Justin Bonomo
Shaun Deeb
Isaac Haxton
Jason Koon
Chris Moorman
Mike Matusow
Isai Scheinberg
Scott Seiver
If there is a critique to make of the nominees, it is that they are tremendously biased toward the “poker boom” players who started in the Aughts. Even Scheinberg, the man responsible for creating PokerStars, comes from that era. Where are those who actually BUILT the game of poker? Where are those who grinded it out in the pre-21st-century days of the game? Where are the writers and announcers, such as Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, tournament director Matt Savage, the late Andy Glazer, Tony Holden, or Al Alvarez? Where are the international groundbreakers for poker, such as Terry Rogers and Liam Flood, Bruno Fitoussi, or Thor Hansen?
But I digress…
Among the choices offered, a few will probably come up short in the voting process. The living Hall members will not select Bonomo, Haxton, Koon, and Moorman because they have yet to set themselves apart from the pack. That leaves four members – Deeb, Matusow, Scheinberg, and Seiver – for consideration.
Because the living Hall members are mostly “old school” – people like Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, and others – you can pretty much count Matusow as an inductee. For several years, he has been overlooked by voters in favor of other people whom the Hall members felt were more deserving. It is also likely that the changes to the voting process will allow Matusow to collect the required 22 members.
Deeb is the most likely inductee left from the final three, simply because Deeb is out there proving it every day at the WSOP. The defending WSOP Player of the Year, Deeb is constantly pushing to win that title, playing in as many tournaments as humanly possible, which makes him a likely selection among those Hall voters. While it is not the “Hall of WSOP Champions,” the Poker Hall of Fame encourages such actions.
Seiver and Scheinberg are the “wild cards” in the mix. Seiver, who won three bracelets last year when he was initially eligible for induction (he turned 40 last year), earned a nomination but was not chosen for induction. Scheinberg has previously received SIX nominations to the Hall, but each time has been overlooked, potentially because voting members are biased against contributors and in favor of actual players. Seiver could squeak in by garnering 22 Hall member votes, but I do not think Scheinberg can pick up enough votes to make it in.
The decision on the Class of 2026 for the Poker Hall of Fame is now in the hands of the 33 living Hall members. As many as six potential inductees could be chosen if the Hall voters vote in the right manner (33 Hall members times four votes equal 132 potential votes; that means six nominees could get 22 votes each). We will find out their choice – or choices – during the play of the final table of the Main Event in August.
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