25PHOF
The best ‘rookie class’ in PHOF history will result in a lot of split ballots, though it says here that the old-timer-loving Doyle Bloc will again unite and elect a different finalist
It’s that time of year again, when the World Series of Poker announces its 10 finalists for enshrinement into the WSOP-owned Poker Hall of Fame, and when poker lovers far and wide marvel at just how sucky the PHOF induction process has become.
The whole thing has matured far past the point of ridicule, and it’ll still waiting for the years-overdue overhaul to even begin to make things right. The changes made to the PHOF’s induction process ahead of the 2020 cycle have been collectively disastrous for the hall. That’s what happens when a corporate owner — at first Caesars, and now GGPoker — doesn’t give a shit about and goodwill for the game that the hall might provide.
Nothing’s been more disastrous for the PHOF’s ongoing reputation and relevancy than the one-person-per-year rule, which has put a chokehold on the gateway just at the time when many people intrinsic to poker’s immense growth over the past quarter century should be receiving the lifetime honors they deserve.
Haley Hintze produces Raking The Muck, her Substack of thoughts about the poker community, its players, its events and its activities.
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Instead, we get what the 2025 cycle promises: The best ever “rookie class” of players who have just turned 40 and who are eligible for the first time, and the likelihood that none of them will be elected this time around. Nick Schulman, Scott Seiver, and Phil Galfond are all shoo-in Hall of Famers, but so is almost every one of this year’s finalists.
It’s that far out of whack. And who of this year’s 10 final candidates will be named as the 2025 honoree? It says here it’s going to be Ted Forrest.
Another triumph for the Doyle Bloc
It’s not that Forrest isn’t qualified to be a part of the PHOF. He most certainly is, and it’s also an overdue honor. However, this being a prognostication piece and all that, the discussion here veers away from the who being elected (meaning Forrest) to the why, which is the makeup of the PHOF’s voting members and the reality of the mathematics involved.
The informally named Doyle Bloc, in general terms, is comprised of the hall’s older members, those who are still most interested in honoring the best unelected players from their own prime eras and from the Vegas cash-game culture that is also an important component of the poker world.
The more modern players? Like this year’s first-timer trifecta of Schulman, Seiver, and Galfond? There’s likely an attitude among some older PHOF that they can wait their turn, no matter how qualified. The problem is that the waiting line grows longer and longer.
The split ballots are a wasted effort
The trick that the Doyle Bloc has employed for years is to pick an older player or — whisper, whisper — to unite beyond an industry person that Caesars and the WSOP wanted to see enshrined. Gather up eight or nine voters willing to give all ten of their votes to a single individual and there’s virtually no chance that the disorganized remainder can overcome that and elect a different finalist, especially when only one person will be honored.
The reality of the bloc voting has produced some odd results, perhaps none stranger than in 2021, when Eli Elezra was honored after being in the middle of the pack the previous year. 2021, sheerly by coincidence, was also the year that Caesars and the WSOP stopped publishing the full voting totals, lest the bloc’s voting power be put on numerically obvious display.
And again, it’s not that Elezra wasn’t qualified. He was, but so was almost everyone else. That’s another part of the problem, and it’s only gotten worse.
Back to this year, the 2025 cycle. I’d be shocked if Forrest doesn’t get the old timers’ bloc vote, and that will be enough to top each of this year’s deserving first-time finalists. Schulman and Seiver might finish second and third, respectively, but Galfond, whose fame comes mostly from his online career, might take some votes away from Isai Scheinberg, with the result that neither makes the top five.
The Susan Lucci of Poker, Matt Savage, won’t get there again this year. Maybe he’ll be fourth in the voting, though most of us will never know. And fifth, maybe Miami John Cernuto. That’s unless the call goes out to put Miami John in the Hall this time around, in which case Forrest must wait until 2026.
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