Votes were cast and decisions were made, and of the nine nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame, only one went through. Mike Sexton, the so-called “Ambassador of Poker”, was the only one who managed to make it into the ranks of the elite this year. All the others, despite their more-than-impressive records, found the doors of the hall closed to them.
McEvoy, professional poker player and author of over a dozen poker books, was one of those who fell short. He reveals that he was “deeply disappointed” that he did not make the cut and that he “strongly believes” that he truly belongs to the said exclusive club.
An Error in the Voting Process
McEvoy placed the blame on the new voting process that was introduced for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame inductions. This year, the responsibility of nominating the candidates fell to the general public. What resulted from this was a conglomeration ofnames, some of them too fresh to even be truly considered for the HoF. Case in point: Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. This guy’s not even out of his 20’s, and yet he was nominated by the public. Harrah’s had to stomp its foot and declare that Dwan did not quite meet the criteria. Following the nomination process, the voting panel had to make their decisions. This year, the voting panel’s system was changed too. Now, it’s not just the members that get to make the decision, 15 members of the media were included as well. Now, here is where McEvoy thinks the system went awry. He declares that “the new balloting system makes it too hard to get in”. A player needs 75% of the ballots to have his name on them. And with the 32 ballots, the player would need a sizeable 24 to get in. The voters could only list a maximum of three players that they felt were eligible. And since there were 9 nominees, all of them gilded with many achievements, the competition turned steep, very steep – too steep. And out of the 9 nominees, only 1 pulled through despite the fact that usually 2 or more made it into the hall yearly.
There’s Always Next Year
But while McEvoy was disappointed at the results, he does say that he is “genuinely thrilled” that Sexton made the cut. He believes that Mike truly deserves the award and claims that he will be among the first to shake the newest Hall of Famer’s hand in the ceremony that will be conducted on November 7. McEvoy isn’t too worried that he didn’t make the cut, though, as there will always be next year, and there is no doubt at all the McEvoy deserves to be in the Hall.
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OK, I understand its cool to have the public involved. But to nominate them, I think that is taking it a bit too far! The poker players should nominate the candidates, they know and will judge fairly.