The inductees for the hall of fame in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) are scheduled to be announced sometime between 7th November and 10th November this year. Such induction shows that the world of poker is not any different from that of other sports. Some of the inductees may be veteran poker players. Others may be young poker players who possibly even caught the poker bug from playing online poker.
Beginning of nominations
Nominations for the poker Hall of Fame inductees have already started. They are being sent online and poker fans are being encouraged to include a brief explanation when sending the name of their nominee. The aim of this nomination is to honor people who have made tremendous impact in the poker arena. Poker, being an old game, is likely to have many nominees but definitely only a few inductees can be accepted.
Short listing
Poker, like other sports, has firm structures. After the final list of nominees has been compiled and sorted, the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council will do a thorough review of the top ten names, before handing that shortlist to another panel for the final stage before induction. That final stage is handled by a group of people who are respected in the field of poker; people who are already members of the Poker Hall of Fame. They will be assisted by some blue ribbon media panel.
How many inductees are expected?
It is important to note that the number of people to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame has nothing to do with the state poker law or any other state laws in the US or elsewhere. It has everything to do with the regulations set by the Poker Hall of Fame GoverningCouncil as well as the tradition within the field of poker. This year, 2015, as in other past years, the final pick for inductees will be one or two names from the finalists. And thereafter there will be, as usual, an enshrinement ceremony. This ceremony is normally held in Las Vegas.
Requirements for Qualification as Nominee for the Poker Hall of Fame
The poker player must have competed against renowned top competition
The nominee poker player must have engaged in high stakes play
He or she must be well respected in the poker arena
He or she must be a consistent poker player and competitor
There is a minimum age set at 40yrs
For those nominees who are not serious poker players or not poker players at all, they must have been known for promoting the sport in a manner to leave an indelible mark for posterity.
Any known names hoping to enter the poker hall of fame?
Some of the poker players already nominated for WSOP hall of fame includes Jennifer Harman and John Juanda. They both have had great play in poker for over 20yrs. Obviously, they cannot have made their name playing online poker as playing over the web is a relatively recent development. Their consistency has been on the brick and mortar arena where many prominent poker players have always been competing.
John Juanda, for example, is one poker player who is not just known in the US for being a consistent high stake player, but also in Macau and elsewhere. Jennifer Harman, on her part, has been a constant in the famous Bellagio Poker room in Las Vegas. She is the sole woman who has been at home competing and winning against the men in the high level mixed games. And, of course, she has set the way for other formidable women poker players like Maria Ho.
Two of poker players most elite, Jen Harman and his counterpart John Juanda are set to be inducted into the poker hall of fame class of 2015. The two will become the 49th and 50th members to be inducted into the club. The induction ceremony for the duo is set to take place in Las Vegas at Binion’s Gambling Hall on Friday, November 26th from 7 p.m.
The duo were nominated by the public fans and voted in by 39 already exiting members of poker hall of fame and a panel from blue ribbon media. To be inducted into the exclusive poker hall of fame, the duo had to have met a stringent criterion which includes;
Having played in poker tournaments against renowned opponents
Have played poker consistently well and from that gained respect from fellow players and fans
Stood the test of time
They must have contributed in a small or big way to the growth and success of poker with positive and lasting outcomes.
“Congratulations to the newest members of the poker hall of fame, “said Ty Stewart, a member of the Poker hall of fame governing council. “Both John and Jen are well respected, long time poker players who have paid their dues and deserving to represent the 2015 class of the poker hall of fame.”
Harman has numerous poker tournament accomplishments under his belt including two world poker tour tables, twelve world poker series final tables, over $2.7 million in poker earnings and the much coveted honor of being the very first woman to win not one but multiple WSOP gold bracelets in open poker events. Her impressive career is notably tied to her lasting success in the biggest cash game globally.
“It’s truly an honor to be selected into the poker hall of fame,” said Harman. “Poker has been an unbelievable journey for me and to have the respect of my peers is truly amazing. I want to thank everyone for their support. I’m so happy.”
The 50 year old mother of two has been a consistent winner at high stakes in Las Vegas poker tournaments for over a decade. Herman has also dedicated her time and love for the game towards raising money for a few charitable causes including Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the National Kidney Foundation.
Indonesian native Juanda is a private person that leads an equally private life but his impressive poker resume is not private. In his career, he has garnered over $17 million in poker winnings including a European Poker Tour Title, a whopping 5 WSOP gold bracelets, PPT, APT, WPT and many other tournaments wins. He has undeniably won tournaments wherever he toured including Asia, North America, Australia and Europe.
“It’s an honor to see my name among the list of the many players I have respected and admired throughout my career: Erick Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, Chip Reese, Dan Harrington. Thank you to all the fans that lifted me this high by nominating me to the HOF and members of the media for voting me in,” said Juanda.
44 year old Juanda has been a long time resident in the US. He came to the US in 1990 when he attended Oklahoma State University before proceeding to Seattle University to receive his master’s degree. However since 1997, Juanda has made a living on playing poker which has secured his position as one of the most successful and consistent poker players within the last two decades of his career.
POH was established in 1979 and currently has 25 living members having a mix of influential poker players and other great contributors to the game.
After what should have been the greatest moments of their careers, John Juanda and Jennifer Harman as well as the inductee panel of players in poker hall of fame are all experiencing the wrath and disappointment of the very massive and vocal international poker community.
The POH announced yesterday the new inductees from a list of deserving nominees including; Carlos Mortensen, Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Bjorin, David Chiu and Max Pescatori. For most of these nominees this was their second or third nomination except for Pescatori who is a newcomer on the list. Other renowned poker players that were nominated for poker’s highest honor were Matt Savage and the late Terry Rogers.
It will however seem that the biggest disappointment to the International poker community was the exclusion of the late David ‘devilfish’ Elliot from the inductee process. The professional player sadly passed away earlier in April this year which sparked a number of poker campaigns all gunning for his inclusion into the 2015 poker hall of fame nominee list and ultimately to win the induction. The campaigns run over social media platforms and even the 2015 World Series of poker to give first time nominee Elliot a big push closer to being one of the selected inductees.
When PHOF announced the names of the new inductees yesterday, a few members of the international poker community took to social media platforms to express their outrage and disapproval. One such person is European Poker Tour founder John Duthie who stated on Facebook, “No non U.S poker player should even consider accepting a nomination to the WSOP hall of fame (note the bastardization of the POKER hall of fame name, which has been in existence since 1979). I have the greatest respect for both Harman and Juanda and their selection are understandable, but the WSOP need to take a serious look at the whole process.”
Ex-Hendon Mobster Joe Beevers took to his blog to express his ire over Elliot’s exclusions with a blog post with the title, “When is a hall of fame not a hall of fame?” In his blog, Beevers stated that there was a possibility that Elliot’s vote was split with Rogers who is the CEO of Irish Poker Open. Beevers then proceeded to state, “There are zero living non-Americans in the Poker Hall of Fame and the only non-American name I can see in the list (now) of 50 is Edmond Hoyle who was inducted in 1980 (he died in 1769). Sounds like they have a fair system here with no bias whatsoever, right?”
Finally Warren Lush, former head of consumer public relations at Bwin Party took to Facebook and said, “The results of the North American Poker Hall of Fame (once again an insult to the institution) are out,”. Lush then proceed to give a link to the WSOP announcement.
To a certain extent majority of the international poker community has a right to be angered with the poker hall of fame processes. For started while the nomination list is put to a public vote, while the actual voting for the inductees is a bit clouded. In the past, an equal number of media representatives and living hall of famers were allowed to vote, however, for this year’s induction process there are claims that the number was a bit tilted in increasing favor of hall of fame members and less media representatives. Then there is the argument that the number of people on the panels carrying out the induction process is too few and need to be expanded. Again there is the issue of lack of transparency in the entire process which explains the lack of international players in the poker hall of fame.
Bottomline, all these perfectly reasonable arguments need to be addressed quickly by the poker hall of fame.
Picture this scenario, I take all the money that is in your pocket, you would probably feel and maybe be furious that I have taken all your money. In other words, you would feel like you have lost something. But what if I took 70% of the money that is in your pocket, would you still feel like you have lost something or feel like you have ‘won’ the remaining 30%? And what if I managed to convince you that you have actually ‘won’ in this case by putting on some happy music laced with fire cracking sounds?
It is this kind of notion that has compelled Australian law firm, Maurice Blackburn to propose a legal action suit against poker machine operators. The suit claims that the people operating the machines are deceiving and misleading clueless gamblers into continually using their machines despite the fact that they are ‘losing’.
Section 18 of Australian consumer law prohibits deceptive and misleading conduct. The key way to assess this is to determine whether said conduct is indeed deceptive and misleading bearing in mind all circumstances surrounding said conduct. To test out this theory, you need to identify both the targeted consumer and the conduct. And in this scenario the targeted consumers are the gamblers or more specifically armature gamblers or the more addicted gamblers.
Maurice Blackburn has also identified the misleading conduct in this case which is a technique that has been dubbed ‘losses disguised as wins’. This is a situation whereby the poker player bets on many lines and even a minor win on any one of those lines set off a chorus of happy music and images that indicate a ‘win’ when in actual sense the player has lost more than he or she has won.
Using The Law Against Poker Machines
The beauty of consumer law is that it employs common sense to answer most of the questions. One such common sense question that would be brought up in court is; If there is a minor win and the poker machine responds with chiming music and flashing graphics indicating a win, would an average amateur gambler regard this as a win despite the fact that they have actually lost money?
In further support of this suit, close attention to detail by the poker player and in turn realizing their error the judgment doesn’t apply in this case. Why? Well because humans are known to behave irrationally and most times we tend to make decision based on the opinions that we form around a particular conduct be it good or bad in actual reality. So, in this case for instance, Maurice Blackburn could argue that armature gamblers are distracted by the flashy graphics and happy music so much so that they pay less attention to their credit.
Other cases that have been argued out in court using the same idea include the TPG Internet case of 2013. The court found TPG guilty of misleading its consumers by putting up an advert which offered unlimited ADLS2+ for meager price of $29.95 when in actual sense this offer was only available to clients who had a bundle broadband and a home phone service. TPG had included this detail in their advert but it was displayed less prominently compared to the flashy deal.
The Argument
So how does Maurice Blackburn plan to argue out the losses disguised as win technique in court? Well, their argument might revolve around recent Canadian research which revealed that the music and accompanying flashy images displayed on poker machines often trigger the same arousal levels in armature gamblers as actual wins and it’s no secret that arousal is central in nourishing gambling behavior.
In fact, the Poker Tournament being held in Malta began Tuesday, 20th and is set to end on Saturday, 31st this month. Malta is a fascinating archipelago within the Mediterranean Sea, and the poker tournament just adds to the inflow of visitors into the island this season. Of course, it is not the first time Malta is hosting a poker competition of this magnitude, and the surrounding areas like Sicily in Italy are bound to benefit economically from this tournament.
This repeat hosting of the tournament by Malta goes to show that besides players and fans of poker loving the venue, the state laws are also appealing. It means that Malta is a place where betting enthusiasts can engage in poker without worrying about breaking any state poker law or other related poker law.
For yet another time, Malta is working closely with the Italian Poker Tour to ensure effective promotion of the event, successful hosting, and generally great experience for the poker fraternity. The specific town hosting the tournament is St. Julian’s, which is popularly known for its vibrant nightlife, actually beating even Malta’s official capital, Valletta. So, after enjoying Malta’s beautiful greenery in the day, poker players and fans can take time off to relax in St. Julian’s’ many clubs, some of which may have facilities for online poker and other gambling activities. There is also no shortage of restaurants as well as cafes in the town and that makes the place great for hosting a big function intended to attract throngs of poker lovers. There are a good number of bars too.
What Makes This Year’s Venue Suitable?
First of all, the venue happens to be the Portomaso Casino – all modern and elegant. Nobody in the poker fraternity can doubt the suitability of this casino considering it is one of the renowned places in the world and has been known to successfully host events of equal magnitude before. Another factor that puts the Portomaso ahead of others in suitability is its proximity to the Hilton, Malta; the place considered the official EPT hotel.
Gladly, there are no state laws restricting entry into Malta, and as for the poker tournament itself, any visitor who has attained the maturity age of 18yrs is welcome. When it comes to locals – the Maltese – the law of the land allows them entry into such venues when they have attained the age of 25yrs. Any person trying to gain entry into the Portomaso for the poker tournament is required to show valid identity first. And as for the dress code, it is liberally casual as sportswear is also acceptable.
Convenience of Transactions
The Portomaso Casino is providing currency exchange services at rates issued by the Forex Exchange Bureau. As such, participants in the poker tournament need not worry about buying Euros, Malta’s official currency, beforehand. The currencies well catered for in this regard include the Australian dollar; the Canadian dollar; the US dollar; the British pound; the Danish Krone; the Swiss Franc; the Japanese yen; the Israeli New Shequel; the Norwegian Krone; and the Swedish Krona.
And as a mark of further friendliness within the poker fraternity, if there is need for a patron to receive a cash refund at the casino, it is possible to get it in the original currency and at the same rate initially used. Of course, this is possible if the refund is being made within a period before banking is done. Understandably, the recipient of the cash, whether a poker player or poker fan, will need to show the original receipt.
