WSOP Poker Hall of Fame finalists announced, Negreanu nominated

As we have previously reported, the nomination for the next two players to be inducted in the Poker Hall of Fame opened not long ago. Now the public nomination process on WSOP.com is done, and the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council has decided this years final 10 players who have the chance to be a part of poker history. In the following you can learn a bit more about the nomination criteria and the about the finalists.

For a player to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, they have to meet certain criteria:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Be a minimum of 40 years old at time of nomination
• Played for high stakes
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results

The 2014 Class of the Poker Hall of Fame will be inducted as a part of the WSOP Main Event final table festivities, on November 9. 

The 10 finalists this year are:

Chris Bjorin

Bjorin is a 66-year-old Swedish poker player who has more than $5.5 million in lifetime earnings, as well as two WSOP bracelets. He has cashed at the WSOP 68 times (good for 6th place overall) and 7 of these were WSOP Main Event cashes. Bjorin is an extremely consistent player, he has cashed for six-figures in 19 different calendar years, 13 of these consecutively! He is the leader on the Swedish all-time money list as well as the WSOP Europe all-time list.

Humberto Brenes

Brenes is a Costa-Rican poker legend who currently sits in third place of all-time WSOP cashes list with 82 cashes, 10 of those coming from the 2014 WSOP. Humberto has finished 9 times in the money in the WSOP Main Event (second only behind Berry Johnston), and finished in 4th place at the 1988 Main Event. He has $6 million in live tournament winnings, and has been one of the most consistent players of the WSOP for 25 years, while also being a hugely influential promoter of the game in Latin America.

Bruno Fitoussi

Fitoussi, 55, is perhaps the most influential player in France, having opened the Aviation Club de France (Paris' most famous gaming club) in 1995 and introducing Texas Hold'em to France. He has more than $2.7 million in career earnings (which is good for 8th on the French all-time money list) and has been cashing in tournaments since 1991. He finished runner up in the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship in 2007 for almost $1.3 million. He also got poker on television in France and participated and commentated several poker shows and in general played a huge role in promoting the game in his country.

Ted Forrest

Ted Forrest has 6 WSOP bracelets (the last one as recent as 2014, in a Seven Card Razz event against Phil Hellmuth) and $6 million in lifetime winnings. He has one of craziest achievements in poker history, one that has never been contested since. He won three WSOP gold bracelets in three consecutive events in three different variants of poker in 1993. He has World Poker Tour and National Heads Up Championship titles and has taken part in the legendary high stakes heads-up cash games against billionaire Andy Beal.

Jennifer Harman

Harman has more than $2.7 million in career earnings, two World Poker Tour final tables, 12 WSOP final tables and was the first woman to win multiple WSOP bracelets in open events. She has been a regular at the Las Vegas high stakes cash games for more than a decade and is one of the only women who has competed at such huge stakes. She has two children and has raised a lot of money for charities with the help of poker, for example for the National Kidney Foundation and the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Bob Hooks

Hooks, 85, is the oldest nominee on this year's list, and he used to be part of the Texas Rounders team, which included players like Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts. The gang travelled around Texas and Arkansas looking for poker games. Hooks, originally from Dallas, learned poker at SMU college where he was playing football. In 1970, the first year of the WSOP, Benny Binion hired him to be the card room manager of the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, and was later hired by Steve Wynn to work at the Golden Nugget. Bob returned to Dallas in the late 1970's, but not before finishing runner up to his friend Brian "Sailor" Roberts in the WSOP Main Event in 1975. Hooks played poker every day for almost six decades (by the end of his career mostly at the AmVets club in Dallas) and retired in 2013.

Bob Hooks (left) and Jack Binion

Mike Matusow

Mike "The Mouth" Matusow is one of the most recognizable characters in the poker world, the 46-year-old poker pro has appeared on countless televised tournaments and cash games, and has amassed lifetime tournament earnings of $9 million. He has four WSOP bracelets and final tabled the WSOP Main Event twice (2001 and 2005), as well as making 11 other WSOP final tables. Matusow started out as a poker dealer and became a player himself, besides his WSOP achievements he has also made five World Poker Tour final tables. Matusow has become famous for his table talk, and managed to stay relevant in today's game also, he won the NBC Heads Up Championship for $750,000 in 2013 and recently it was announced that his life story is going to be turned into a movie.

 Jack McClelland

Jack McClelland started out as a semi-pro bowler, who eventually moved to Las Vegas to help his mother. McClelland played poker full-time for a little while, but he is much more famous for his involvement for various poker events. He started out as a dealer, but has since worked with Poker Hall of Famers like Eric Drache, Jack Binion and Bobby Baldwin, and is considered one of the most successful tournament directors. He directed the WSOP in the 80's and then ran the Bellagio poker room from 2002 to 2013, and was involved in the first World Poker Tour event ever held at the Bellagio as well as countless other tournaments across the globe, from Aruba to Vienna.

Daniel Negreanu

When the nominations opened, much of the poker world thought that Daniel Negreanu, who just turned 40 and is now eligible for the first time, is one of the most likely candidates to be inducted. Daniel has met and surpassed every requirement on the list. He is the leader on the all-time money list with almost $30 million in winnings, he is second on the all-time WPT money list and third on the WSOP all-time money list. Negreanu moved to Las Vegas when he was 22, and has been crushing the game for the last 18 years. He has captured six WSOP bracelets and is the only one to win two WSOP Player of the Year awards (2004 and 2013), and has two World Poker Tour titles. Negreanu has been very vocal about wanting to be a good ambassador for the game, and has been the face of PokerStars for the 7 years. He is one of the most recognizable faces in the business, has a huge social media following and has shared his opinion on issues like tournament structures, tournament rules and more. Negreanu has also been a regular at the high-stakes mix games held at Bobby's Room in the Bellagio and has also appeared on televised poker shows such as High Stakes Poker.

Huckleberry Seed

Huck Seed won the WSOP Main Event in 1996 and has gathered $7.6 million in career tournament earnings throught the years, as well as four WSOP bracelets. He plays all the games, he has bracelets in Razz and Pot Limit Omaha and has two final tables at the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. He has been playing for almost 25 years and besides his impressive WSOP results he also won the NBC Heads Up Championship in 2010.

The two players who are inducted into the Hall of Fame are decided by the current Hall of Fame members as well as a panel of media members.