The World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Governing Council has announced that poker players Chris Bjorin, Eric Drache, David Chiu, Thor Hansen, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, George Hardie, Tom McEvoy, John Juanda, Brian Roberts, and Scotty Nguyen are the finalists for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame 2012. Of these players, Juanda, McEvoy, Nguyen, and Harman-Traniello were nominated last year too. In 2011, Linda Johnson and Barry Greenstein were inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
The above-mentioned 10 names will be submitted to a panel of 18 media persons and to the 18 living poker players already in the Poker Hall of Fame. The elected players will then be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame during the festivities held after the WSOP Main Event finals at the Penn and Teller in Rio this October.
The Poker Hall of Fame has a total of 42 members. A player who wants to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame must qualify by being at least 40 years of age. He/she should also have played highly competitive poker tournaments at high stakes and should have won the admiration and respect of the community by consistently winning over a long period of time. Even non poker player can be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame if they have made any remarkable contribution to the growth and development of US poker.
Here is something about a few of the above-mentioned nominees. Chris Bjorin (64) is a Swedish player who lives in London and has earned over $5 million as a poker player. He has won six- figure cash jackpots consistently during the past 14 years. Chinese player David Chiu (52) has won the WSOP gold bracelet four times and has won cash prizes in 54 WSOP events. He won his best poker victory ever over Gus Hansen during the World poker Tour (WPT) World Championship of 2008, winning an impressive prize of $3.3 million. So far, he has earned $7.5 million playing poker. Jennifer Harman-Traniello is the first woman to win several WSOP bracelets in open poker events. A formidable cash poker player, she is a mother of two and spends a lot of her time raising funds for charities through poker events.
Some of the current members of the Poker Hall of Fame are Johnny Moss, Felton McCorquodale, Red Winn, James Butler Hickok, Bill Boyd, Benny Binion, David Reese, Thomas Preston, and Jack Keller, to mention just a few.
