Todd Brunson and Carlos Mortensen inducted into Poker Hall of Fame

Although most people expected Chris Moneymaker and Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott to be inducted this year, it was high stakes cash game regular Todd Brunson and 2001 WSOP Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen who came out on top in the voting process.

In September, Caesars Entertainment and the World Series of Poker announced this year's 10 nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame. The living members of the HOF and selected media members cast their votes and on October 13 the WSOP announced that according to the results, the new HOF members are Todd Brunson and Carlos Mortensen.

Todd Brunson is the son of Poker Hall of Fame member and poker legend Doyle Brunson. He dropped out from Texas Tech University to focus all his attention on poker and it's safe to say that this decision worked out well for him. He has $4,291,671 in live tournament earnings and a WSOP bracelet ($2,500 Omaha High-Low Split in 2005) and has won fortunes in the high stakes mixed cash games in Las Vegas. As a part of a group of elite poker players, he played $50,000/$100,000 Limit Hold'em against billionaire Andy Beal, winning $12,500,000 in just two days. This epic heads-up battle has been documented in the book "The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King".

Carlos "Matador" Mortensen won the WSOP Main Event in 2001 for $1,500,000 and is the biggest winner in the history of the World Poker Tour, he collected almost $7 million in WPT tournaments. The 44-year old Spanish player has $11,976,160 in live tournament earnings and has been considered an elite player for a long time.

Both players were very emotional regarding their induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.

"It's a huge honor to be inducted, I literally grew up watching the induction ceremonies and always felt great respect and admiration for the players who earned their spot." - said Brunson.

"I have been a poker professional for more than 20 years. Poker gave me a lot and I always tried to promote the game. I always wanted to be a part of the elite group that made it to the Poker Hall of Fame. It makes me very happy that I can join them and would like to thank all my friends, fans and voters for their support, this is a huge honor!" - said Mortensen.

Poker Hall of Fame inductees by year:

1979: Felton "Corky" McCorquodale, Johnny Moss, Red Winn, Sid Wyman, "Nick the Greek" Dandalos, Edmond Hoyle, "Wild Bill" Hickok
1980: T. "Blondie" Forbes
1981: Bill Boyd
1982: Tom Abdo
1983: Joe Bernstein
1984: Murph Harrold
1985: Red Hodges
1986: Henry Green
1987: Puggy Pearson
1988: Doyle Brunson, Jack Straus
1989: Fred "Sarge" Ferris
1990: Benny Binion
1991: David “Chip” Reese
1992: Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston
1993: Jack Keller
1996: Julius Oral "Little Man" Popwell
1997: Roger Moore
2001: Stu Ungar
2002: Lyle Berman, Johnny Chan
2003: Bobby Baldwin
2004: Berry Johnston
2005: Jack Binion, Crandell Addington
2006: T.J. Cloutier, Billy Baxter
2007: Phil Hellmuth Jr.
2008: Duane "Dewey" Tomko, Henry Orenstein
2009: Mike Sexton
2010: Dan Harrington, Erik Seidel
2011: Barry Greenstein, Linda Johnson
2012: Eric Drache, Bryan Roberts
2013: Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen
2014: Jack McClelland, Daniel Negreanu
2015: Jennifer Harman, John Juanda
2016: Todd Brunson, Carlos Mortensen