Time For Change: Fixing The Poker Hall of Fame

The Poker Hall of Fame began as a gimmick but has evolved into a prestigious honor, but it's never moved on from its gimmicky past.

It’s that time of year. The time when the poker world descends on Las Vegas to take part in the carnival that is the World Series of Poker and when the Poker Hall of Fame opens its nomination process for the class of 2024.

Earlier this week, I noted a tweet from Adam Schwartz, who bluntly said the Poker Hall of Fame process is broken.

I’ve been saying this for years, but to fully understand the issues confronting the Poker Hall of Fame, you must know its history.

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The Poker Hall of Fame: Gimmick to Prestige

Much like the World Series of Poker, the Poker Hall of Fame was created as a gimmick: the WSOP in 1970 and the HOF in 1979. Without getting into the original idea for the WSOP (the Texas Gamblers Reunion held in 1966 and 1969), both were the brainchild of Benny Binion, who inducted seven people as the inaugural class in 1979:

1. Johnny Moss

2. Nick “The Greek” Dandalos

3. Felton “Corky” McCorquodale

4. Red Winn

5. Sid Wyman

6. James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok

7. Sir Edmund Hoyle

Seriously, what the f**k are we doing. Is this some kind of joke? Edmund Hoyle?

As I wrote in 2018:

“Along with legendary gamblers like Johnny Moss and Nick ‘The Greek’ Dandalos, the inaugural class also included Wild Bill Hickok and Edmund Hoyle, which provides a glimpse into the Binions’ motives for the Poker Hall of Fame.

“Wild Bill was the Wild West version of a degenerate gambler and widely considered to be a losing poker player. His claim to poker fame? Being shot dead at a poker table.

“Hoyle’s treatises on card games gave birth to the phrase “according to Hoyle” but he lived a couple hundred years before poker was invented.

“Also inducted in 1979 was Red Winn, whose single-sentence Wikipedia entry basically says, “he was good at poker.” And there was Felton “Corky” McCorquodale, who is credited (by the Poker Hall of Fame) as having introduced Texas hold ’em to Las Vegas.”

Over time, the Poker HOF has evolved into a prestigious honor and really gained traction as a true honor when the Poker Boom started about 20 years ago. However, unlike the World Series of Poker, the Poker HOF hasn’t evolved.

In my mind, the Poker HOF has three significant issues. And in the words of Frank Costanza, “I got a lot of problems with you people. And now you’re gonna hear about it.”