Poker Hall Of Fame Nominees

2018 Poker Hall Of Fame Nominees
2018 Poker Hall Of Fame
Poker Hall Of Fame 2019
Poker Hall Of Fame Nominees

The Video Poker Hall of Fame is a listing of significant people in the video poker industry. This honor is awarded by the vpFREE group, an Internet site and online community of online video poker players who take the game VERY seriously. The people in the Video Poker Hall of Fame are recognized for making significant contributions to video poker.

vpFree Video Poker Hall of Fame Inductees

After the compilation of the fans’ selections for consideration, the Poker Hall of Fame have announced the top ten nominees, with two of the men on the list being enshrined in the ‘Valhalla of.

The following people have been inducted into the vpFREE Video Poker Hall of Fame:

Dean Zamzow (2002)
Gary Catlin (2002)
Lenny Frome (2002)
Si Redd (2002)
Stanford Wong (2002)
Dan Paymar (2003)
Bob Dancer (2004)
Jean Scott (2005)
Skip Hughes (2006)
Michael Shackleford (2007)
TomSki (2008)
Ernie Moody (2012)

The list of 10 nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2019 has been announced by the WSOP. Find out who's on the ballot this year and who was left off.
So the WSOP recently released it’s ten nominees for induction into the 2014 Poker Hall of Fame. The process for this appears to be a combination of a fan vote, with some additions where necessary. For example, Bob Hooks is on the list and I can’t imagine he was voted in by the fans.

Dean Zamzow

– Dean Zamzow is a charter member of the Video Poker Hall of Fame. He designed the famous WINPOKER software in 1997. According to the vpFREE website, if you’re serious about video poker, then WINPOKER is a requirement.

Gary Catlin – Gary Catlin is also a charter member. He’s the author of VIDEO POKER TUTOR, which was distributed by Panamint software in the 1990s.

2018 Poker Hall Of Fame Nominees

Lenny Frome – Lenny Frome is another charter member. vpFREE calls him the “George Washington of video poker”. He wrote multiple books and articles on the subject of the game.

Si Redd – Si Redd is another charter member. In 1975, when he was head of IGT, the largest designer of slot machine games in the world, he helped introduce video poker to the world.

Stanford Wong – Stanford Wong a charter member too, and he is well-known for his books about blackjack and sportsbetting, but he also produced VIDEO POKER ANALZER and VPEXACT software. He also wrote Professional Video Poker, one of the earliest books on the subject.

Dan Paymar – Dan Paymar is a well-known author of video poker books and articles.

Bob Dancer – Bob Dancer is arguably the most famous video poker player in the world. His series of books about video poker strategy are the best on the market. He also wrote a book, Million Dollar Video Poker, explains how he turned $6000 into $1 million playing video poker.

Jean Scott – Jean Scott is known for her books about frugal gambling. She writes about how low rollers can take advantage of comps, and her preferred game for this purpose is video poker.

Skip Hughes – Skip Hughes wrote books and articles about recreational video poker play. He also launched one of the first online video poker discussion groups.

Michael Shackleford – Michael Shackleford runs multiple websites, but he’s best known for his site Wizard of Odds. He analyzes all kinds of casino games on his website, including multiple variations of video poker.

TomSki – He’s responsible for VIDEO POKER STRATEGY MASTER, a well-received software package from 1999. He’s known for analyzing bankroll requirements for different variations of video poker.

Ernie Moody – Ernie Moody owns and operates VideoPoker.com. He has patented over 50 different video poker games. You can play free video poker on his site.

The Future of the Video Poker Hall of Fame

vpFREE only inducts new members to the Video Poker Hall of Fame every four years, so there won’t be more new members until 2016. My personal pick for their next member is JB, a member of the Wizard of Vegas forums and the founder of the site vpgenius.com. That site is a wonder, with more analytical tools for video poker than you could imagine.

John Grochowski is another of my favorite writers about gambling in general and video poker in particular. His book The Video Poker Answer Book is good enough to warrant at least a nomination, as far as I’m concerned. Jeff Lotspiech and Michael Bluejay might also be good candidates.

The Video Poker Junkie Hall of Fame

Another “video poker hall of fame” can be found at the Video Poker Junkie website, which is a very old gambling affiliate site. It’s not really a hall of fame in the same sense as the vpFREE listings. It consists mostly of screen shots of online video poker royal flushes. It’s still being updated as of 2013, though, and it’s always fun to see people winning at video poker, online or off.

2018 Poker Hall Of Fame

A couple days ago, the list of the 10 final nominees for induction to the Poker Hall of Fame was published. There are four repeat nominees this year (John Juanda, Tom McEvoy, Jennifer Harman, Scotty Nguyen) and six first-time nominees (George Hardie, Brian “Sailor” Roberts, Chris Bjorin, Eric Drache, David Chiu, Thor Hansen). In the past couple of years, we’ve written about the latest inductees, Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson (2011) and Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington (2010), so if any of the nominees end up getting inducted, we’ll naturally be doing another write-up. News, names, and inductions aside, however, we think that it’s high time for a proper Poker Hall of Fame to be built.

What Does It Mean to Get Inducted?

Election to the Poker Hall of Fame is considered to be one of the biggest honors in the game. As many of you know, while public nominations are accepted, to be eligible for enshrinement nominees must fulfill a number of strict criteria. Wikipedia has a great page with details about Poker Hall of Fame and its 42 current members. Owned by Caesars Entertainment, all Poker Hall of Fame matters are handled exclusively by the people who run the World Series of Poker.

Currently, the official “home” of the Hall of Fame is at Binion’s in downtown Las Vegas; the original home of the WSOP. There, a dedicated wall displays pictures of all Hall of Famers, dating back to Johnny Moss and the other six initial members who were inducted back in 1979. Ironically, the Poker Hall of Fame at Binion’s was originally conceived not just to honor the achievements of the game’s greatest players and proponents, but also to serve as a tourist attraction. I’ve been to Binion’s and I’ve seen the wall. Buried in the bowels of an aging downtown Las Vegas relic, however, I’ve got to say that as a poker fan I was both very unimpressed and disappointed.

Like Sports and Music or Professional Wrestling?

The head honchos over at the WSOP need to decide what sort of character they want the game’s Hall of Fame to have. Currently, it most resembles WWE’s professional wrestling Hall of Fame, which essentially exists online, “in people’s minds and hearts”, and in yearly induction ceremonies. Perhaps that type of Hall of Fame is apropos for what essentially boils down to lifetime achievement awards for excellent service to a private entertainment company. Real-world achievements in public arenas like sports and music, however, arguably deserve better. When there’s an actual shrine to visit, it elevates those enshrined that much more.

Famous Halls of Fame like in Cooperstown (baseball), Cleveland (rock and roll), Canton (football), and Nashville (country music) get millions upon millions of visitors each year and for good reason. Fans of those enshrined make pilgrimages to these edifices in order to pay tribute to their heroes and the greats of sports and music who have inspired and influenced them.

If You Build It, They Will Come

We call upon the WSOP to build a permanent home for the Poker Hall of Fame in Las Vegas at the Rio. The game of poker has so much to gain from the creation of a bona fide Hall of Fame tourist attraction. Hold the annual ceremonies there and collect memorabilia from current members, who will likely be all too happy to contribute their time and effort. Put up plaques, showcase video footage, mention it during WSOP broadcasts – we’re talking about something very highly marketable here.

Poker Hall Of Fame 2019

Give us tens of millions of poker fans worldwide another reason to want to come to Las Vegas. I dare say go ahead and even charge us $1 admission (payable by poker chip – how’s that for unique and innovative?) to keep the hall open 24/7 (another first) and ensure that it’ll be a moneymaker (“you know who” would be a great front man to promote it…).