Did the fix actually fix anything?
Never has a Poker Hall of Fame election come and gone without controversy. The Powers That Be tried to head off some of the angst this year by tweaking the voting process, but after Jason Koon was the lone inductee this week, some of the top players in the world have given their suggestions for further changes.
Whether by rule or happenstance, there have only been at most two people inducted into the Hall in any given year, except in 1979, its inaugural year. Players and fans have grumbled that there has been a long backlog of deserving nominees and as a result, the WSOP adjusted things this year.
As has been the case for nearly two decades, the list of eight finalists was determined by a public nomination process. The vote to narrow it down to the inductees is what changed. Previously, the living Poker Hall of Fame members had ten votes each, to distribute as they wanted. All ten could go to one player, four could go to one, four to another, so on and so forth. Now, each of the 33 living Hall members gets four votes, and can only allocate one vote to any given player (up to four players, naturally). Any nominee who appeared on two-thirds of the ballots, so 22 votes, got into the Poker Hall of Fame.
With 23 votes, Jason Koon was the only person to meet the requirement.
Tweak the tweaks
Many of Koon’s peers have issued their public, heartfelt congratulations – he is incredibly deserving of the honor – but some have also criticized the voting process and have suggested further changes.
Scott Seiver, who fell just short of induction with 19 votes, posted a very warm message to Koon on social media, calling him “the exact type of player and also person that exemplifies what the poker hall of fame should represent.”
Seiver was also clearly disappointed that he didn’t make it, recalling a conversation he had with the late Doyle Brunson, who told him that there are eight to ten Hall of Famers who don’t follow poker anymore and thus don’t know anything about the nominees. Seiver suggested that going forward, each nominee should be permitted to write a bio to go along with the ballot, a way to make their case to the voters who might not otherwise be familiar with them.
Phil Hellmuth, himself a Poker Hall of Famer and voter, said he cast his ballot for Koon, Seiver, Shaun Deeb, and Isaac Haxton. He added, though, that the legendary Ted Forrest should be in. Hellmuth did not say what changes he would make to the process, despite saying there should be a “new system,” but by talking about Forrest, he implied something many have said: relying on the public to nominate people might not be ideal. There are deserving players like Forrest who are no longer front and center to casual poker fans and thus get ignored in the nomination process.
Daniel Negreanu, also a voter, said that he previously proposed a system in which the living Poker Hall of Famers rank their top three choices, with a first-place vote worth five points, a second-place vote worth three points, and a third-place vote worth two points. The top two points earners get in, along with a third person if they garner more than 50 points.
Negreanu agreed with Koon’s induction, but believed more players were deserving, as well.
The post Poker’s Elite Sound Off on Poker Hall of Fame, Propose Changes appeared first on Poker News Daily.
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