With its ever-growing backlog of deserving players and industry professionals waiting for their time to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, some players are calling for changes to the nomination and induction process.
One of those players is Daniel Negreanu, poker’s biggest ambassador and himself a member of the Poker Hall of Fame who was inducted in 2014. Negreanu has long called for overhauls to the Poker Hall of Fame nomination process and renewed his calls this week on his daily vlog during the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
“How I would fix the Hall of Fame is this: every single year, two players get in — players, not contributors,” Negreanu told his vlog viewers. “Every single year, two players get in. Every third year … we add an additional third person who is a contributor to the game. That would be the Isai Scheinbergs and the Matt Savages of the world. Every three years, one of them would get in. That way, we don’t have to constantly compare apples to oranges.”
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A Criteria Purist
Negreanu made his comments just a few days after the ten finalists were disclosed for this year’s Hall of Fame induction, among them recent three-time Poker Players Championship winner Brian Rast and fellow six-time bracelet winners Josh Arieh and Ted Forrest.
The list of finalists, chosen by poker fans, also includes longtime industry names like Matt Savage and the commentator duo of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad.
In his vlog, Negreanu noted that it is difficult to compare top high-stakes pros to industry pros who have helped grow the game. Negreanu also complained that finalists are often chosen based on their popularity as opposed to their skill and longevity.
“It’s annoying every year, it’s annoying to me because I’m a purist, I look at the actual criteria. And it’s as if most people don’t understand it.”
“One of the most important parts of the criteria is (that the nominee is) respected by his peers at high stakes and stood the test of time in those games. What ends up happening is the public, like you guys, you’re like, ‘I know that name. I’m voting for that guy because I like that guy. What other Hall of Fame do they do that in? Every other Hall of Fame they look at the numbers, whether it’s baseball, he hit .300, had this many home runs, whatever. He qualifies based on his stats; not because he was a nice guy, not because he contributed to the game.”
Negreanu added that “there’s so many people that are not in the Hall of Fame that should be because the people who nominate don’t know who they are.”
“Ray Dehkharghani, he’s a f***ing killer,” he said. “Ted Forrest, how the hell is he not in the Hall of Fame? Guy is an absolute legend. He was literally the best for an extended period of time.”
Negreanu also gave his pick for who he thinks should be inducted this time around.
“Let me make a case for why Brian Rast deserves to be in the Hall of Fame of all the many players,” Negreanu said. “I think it’s a good case. First and foremost, he has six bracelets. He has won the PPC, which is the most prestigious mixed game tournament in the world, three times, which is insane. In addition to that, he’s a high-stakes cash pro in both big bet and mixed at the highest levels everywhere. Online, at Bobby’s Room, in Vegas, in Macau, everywhere.”
Chad Holloway and Jesse Fullen broke down this year’s Poker Hall of Fame nominees on the latest episode of the Chad & Jesse Poker Show.