About this time every year, the WSOP announces the ten Poker Hall of Fame finalists who have accumulated the most votes by poker fans within a preliminary designated voting period. The 2016 Class of the Poker Hall of Fame was revealed on Friday and it contains ten well-known players and industry personalities who have devoted their lives to playing, promoting, and popularizing the game of poker.
Since established in 1979, the Poker Hall of Fame honor has been bestowed upon 50 of the global poker community’s most influential people. A player or an industry personality needs to meet certain requirements in order to be eligible for a vote and induction.
Players, in particular, need to be at least 40 years old at the time of their nomination. They also need to have played against acknowledged opponents and to have demonstrated consistency over the course of their career, which has gained them their peers’ respect. It is also important to note that all players must have taken part in high stakes tournaments. The Poker Hall of Fame also considers it important for all its inductees to have “stood the test of time.”
As for non-players, their induction is usually the result of how much they have contributed to poker’s overall growth over the years of their involvement to the game’s promotion and popularization.
This year’s list of ten finalists contains three new names (of players who have not been nominated before), six players and industry personalities who were nominated last year, and one player who had been nominated in previous years. Here are the nominees themselves as well as a little more information about their poker-related deeds and feats over the years.
Bruno Fitoussi
With live tournament winnings of more than $2.8 million, numerous cashes in some of the world’s most prestigious tournaments, and a second-place finish in the 2007 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship, Fitoussi has indisputably made a name for himself as a capable and skilful player. However, despite his successful poker career, he is probably better known for his other contributions to the game, the ones related to its popularization in his home country – France.
Fitoussi was the person who brought the Texas Hold’em format to France back in 1995. It is also important to note that his compatriots would have probably had to wait a little longer before watching televised poker in their home country, if it had not been for Fitoussi again.
Carlos Mortensen
The Spaniard has entered poker history as the only player to have ever won the WSOP Main Event and a WPT Championship event. What is more, he is the most profitable WPT player of all time with over $6.7 million collected in events to have taken place as part of the popular poker series over the years. Mortensen’s live tournament winnings currently amount to a little less than $12 million. With that said, the player is topping Spain’s all-time money list. He is also among the world’s top 25 winningest poker players.
Mortensen holds three WPT Main Event titles, a feat that has been accomplished by just three other players so far. As for his performance in WSOP events, he has captured two gold bracelets so far. One of the gold pieces was granted to him for winning the 2001 WSOP Main Event. The Spaniard has cashed in 35 WSOP events since the beginning of his poker career, cashing more than $3.1 million in those.
Chris Bjorin
Bjorin is one of the most successful Swedish players. His cash history shows 286 in-the-money finishes. He has collected a total of $5.5 million in live tournament winnings over the span of his career, which makes him the second most profitable Swedish poker pro, with 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson being the only one ranking higher in their country’s all-time money list.
Bjorin’s career is one of the best examples of what consistency in poker means. The player has scooped six-figure cashes in 19 calendar years. The Swede has cashed in a total of 80 WSOP tournaments, and now stands 6th in the all-time WSOP cash list. Bjorin also boasts seven WSOP Main Event cashes, ranking 5th in the all-time WSOP Main Event cash list.
Chris Moneymaker
It has been been thirteen years since a never-heard-of-before Tennessee-based accountant changed poker for good. Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event after securing a seat into the tournament in a $39 buy-in online satellite. This was the player’s first appearance in a live tournament. At the age of 27, Moneymaker not only emerged victorious in his first ever live event, but also took down the field of the world’s most prestigious poker tournament.
Moneymaker’s victory created what poker insiders later on dubbed as the “Moneymaker effect.” In other words, his achievement resulted in the game’s popularity, particularly its online version, growing immensely overnight.
The player has collected a total of $3.6 million in live tournament winnings since the day he won the WSOP Main Event. The fact that he has not been among the 10 Poker Hall of Fame finalists has been a big surprise to many, given the fact that his Main Event title produced the biggest boom the poker world has ever witnessed.
David “Devilfish” Ulliott
Although last year he lost the most important battle – the one for his life, to a terrible disease, David “Devilfish” Ulliott would not be remembered as a loser at the poker table. Quite the contrary, his bright personality and his indisputable poker skills will be long remembered. Ulliott was among England’s most successful players. He won more than $6.2 million from 231 different events.
A WSOP gold bracelet and a WPT title were among his most noteworthy poker achievements. Ulliott cashed in 33 WSOP events over the course of his career.
Eli Elezra
Born in Israel and now residing in Las Vegas, Elezra is among the most active participants in WSOP events. He has cashed in 52 such tournaments, winning a total of $1.5 million in them. What is more, the player has won three WSOP gold bracelets so far. A WPT title is also among his accomplishments worthy to be paid attention to. Elezra has accumulated live tournament earnings of over $3.1 million so far. He is among the players to have made it to the list of ten Poker Hall of Fame finalists for the very first time.
Humberto Brenes
Born in Costa Rica, Brenes is among the players to have contributed the most to poker’s growth across Latin America. He has won more than $6.1 million in live tournament earnings so far, which places him at the top of Costa Rica’s all-time money list. Brenes has been one of the most active participants in WSOP tournaments for more than a quarter of a century.
His cash history shows 86 WSOP in-the-money finishes. Brenes is currently taking 4th place in the all-time WSOP cash ranking. What is more, he has cashed in the WSOP Main Event nine times, with Berry Johnston being the only player to have more in-the-money results from the $10,000 Championship.
Matt Savage
Founder of the Tournament Directors Association and former tournament director for some of the most prestigious poker festivals and some of the major casinos in different parts of the world, Matt Savage is among the most influential industry personalities. His contributions to poker’s growth and widespread popularity, including the standardization of poker tournament rules, are numerous and he certainly deserves a place into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Savage is currently WPT’s Executive Tour Director and Tournament Director of Commerce Casino and Bay 101 Casino. He has been generally considered as one of the brightest innovators when it comes to poker tournament formats and related offerings.
Max Pescatori
Live tournament winnings of more than $4.2 million, four WSOP gold bracelets, two WSOP Circuit rings, and a total of 208 in-the-money finishes over a fourteen-year time-span, Pescatori is apparently among Europe’s and the world’s most successful players. Apart from his performance on the felt, the Italian player is also known to be the author of two poker books intended to help for the popularization of the game in his home country.
Todd Brunson
Son of living poker legend and Poker Hall of Fame inductee Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson joined the 10 finalists for the very first time this year. The player has almost $4.3 million in live tournament earnings, with those being scooped from a number of prestigious tournaments. As for Brunson’s performance in WSOP events, the player has cashed in 52 of them, capturing a gold bracelet for his victory in a $2,500 Omaha High-Low Split tournament back in 2005.
He is well-known for persistently avoiding Hold’em poker variants and for his preference for mixed-game formats.
As usual, the list of ten finalists will now go to the living Poker Hall of Fame inductees and a special media panel for the winner or winners to be determined. It has become a common practice for two inductees to join the Poker Hall of Fame every year. This year’s players/poker personalities to be inducted will be announced at a ceremony as part of the WSOP Main Event Final Table celebrations.
