WSOP Announces 2015 Poker Hall of Fame Finalists

The World Series of Poker has announced its ten finalists for the 2015 Poker Hall of Fame, and while six of the players had been nominated in previous years, four of the nominees are making their debut on the list, namely Max Pescatori, Terry Rogers, Matt Savage and David “Devilfish” Ulliott. The full list of finalists is as follows:
Chris Bjorin (Sweden)
David Chiu (Chinese American)
Bruno Fitoussi (France)
Jennifer Harman (USA)
John Juanda (Indonesian American)
Carlos Mortensen (Spain)
Max Pescatori (Italy)
Terry Rogers (Ireland)
Matt Savage (USA)
David Ulliott (UK)
Unlike in previous years, just two of the players on this year’s list are native-born Americans, Jennifer Harman and Matt Savage, while the rest are foreign-born industry workers and players. This interesting development addresses past concerns that the Poker Hall of Fame had become an insular award body, almost entirely drawing on US-based, Las Vegas-centric nominees.
While all 10 players would certainly make worthy additions to the Poker Hall of Fame, David “Devilfish” Ulliott has attracted a great deal of support from the public after the 61 year-old pro died from cancer this year. The larger than life character is certainly acknowledged as a player who brought poker to a new generation of players in the early days of TV hole card technology, and as mentioned on his WSOP.com bio:
“What was clear by this public nomination process, David Ulliott was a beloved figure in poker whom was taken too soon, but not before he left an indelible impact on the game and all those he came in contact with.”
A 39-person panel will begin the process of choosing two HOF inductees later this month, who will subsequently be inducted in November, just as the 2015 WSOP Main Event final table gets underway.  One person not mentioned on the list, however, was PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg, whose name was originally proposed by poker author and online poker executive, Lee Jones. While the poker world acknowledges the huge impact PokerStars has had in growing the industry over the  past 20 years, Scheinberg remains a controversial character, not least because the Israeli-Canadian still has an outstanding warrant issued against him by the US Department of Justice.