The Poker Hall of Fame (PHOF) is an exclusive club of professional poker players who have been awarded for their achievements and overall contributions to the poker industry. It is considered to be the highest honour a professional poker player can receive in his lifetime. The group of poker players inducted into this exclusive club are known as ‘Poker Hall of Famers’ and this list includes legends like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Stu Ungar, Mike Sexton, and Billy Baxtor.
The club was started by Benny Binion, owner of the Horseshoe Casino, in 1979 as a way to preserve the legacies of the greatest poker players in the world. He also created it with an intention that it will become a tourist attraction for his casino. Known for his creative marketing strategies, this became one of his most famous ideas till date. For those who have guessed it by now, Binion was also the founder of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) which is considered to be the most prestigious poker tournament in the world.
In 2004, Harrah’s Entertainment (which later rebranded to Caesars Entertainment) obtained the rights of WSOP and the Poker Hall of Fame. As of today, WSOP directly handles the membership to PHOF. Currently, there are 60 people who have been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame as of 2021. The first person to be inducted into PHOF was Johnny Moss in 1979.
Annually, Poker Hall of Fame elects one or two members into the club out of a list of nominees. The requirements to become a nominee as given by WSOP are:
In 2009, then-WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced that the process for becoming a PHOF member would undergo a slight modification. After this, PHOF also started accepting nominations from the public, this was done to create more interest in the Hall. This proved to be a success as brands like partypoker and PokerStars launched campaigns for their representatives to be inducted.
The age bracket for nominations was also revised after Tom Dwan, who was 23-years-old at the time, was a finalist due to being nominated by the public. This is why the minimum age requirement for PHOF was bumped up to 40. It was due to this that Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey were only inducted upon reaching the required age bracket.
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The induction ceremony for PHOF is now held alongside the final table of the WSOP Main Event. The 2006 PHOF inductee, T.J. Cloutier said in his acceptance speech, “It’s one of two things I’ve always wanted to win.” This quote summarises how prestigious it is to be chosen to be a member of PHOF. Barbara Enright was the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Enright in her speech mentioned that her induction was a “lifetime achievement honour.”
Before being acquired by Harrah’s Casino, awards design and manufacturing company, R.S Owens & Company were commissioned to design an award for Poker Hall of Fame. This award was an 8-inch-tall piece of glass with a hand of cards sandblasted at the bottom, the winner’s name, and the words ‘Poker Hall of Fame.’ The award design also has a gold emblem bonded circle to the glass and the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino logo in it along with three gold-plated stacks of chips at the base.
Brian Rast – Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Rast was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023. Rast had his first WSOP win in 2005 and is a double WSOP bracelet winner, a feat he achieved at the 2011 WSOP. One of the two bracelets from 2011, came from the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event while the other one came from the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Patrik Antonius – Patrik Antonius is among the Class of 2024 inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame. The former Tennis pro has an impressive record, with nearly $23 Million in live tournament winnings. He has been active since the early 2000s and has become the 63rd inductee in the prestigious Hall of Fame. Antonius’ induction is unique, as he is one of the few inductees who haven’t won a bracelet while they were inducted.
Other notable names that have been inducted are Billy Baxter and T.J. Cloutier in 2006, late poker commentator Mike Sexton in 2009, nine WSOP bracelet holder Erik Seidel in 2010, Vietnamese poker pro Scotty Nguyen in 2013, WSOP 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker in 2019, Huck Seed in 2020, and most recently Israeli poker pro and businessman Eli Elezra in 2021.
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Donna Amo was a writer at Gutshot Magazine. She is a graduate from Sophia College of Women, Mumbai with a degree in English Literature. When this October born foodie is not writing content or poetry, she spends her time laughing at memes or watching series. Based out of Mizoram, she is drawn to all things nature and has a soft spot for puppies.
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