Howard Lederer Speaks Out: Phil Ivey Was Best Player On 2010 Poker Hall of Fame List

Following the inclusion of Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel to this year’s Poker Hall of Fame, Howard “The Professor” Lederer felt compelled to write his first blog post in ages because he believed the  election process was flawed.
As Lederer explains; “Anyone who has even casually followed poker over the last ten years knows that the best and most accomplished poker player on this year’s list was Phil Ivey.”
Although congratulating both Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington on their induction, Howard Lederer highlights the 34 year-old Ivey’s remarkable records, which includes being top of Poker’s All Time Money List with $13,642,275 in tournament winnings and 8 WSOP bracelets, as well as almost $19 million in online cash game winnings.
“You’d have to go back to Doyle Brunson more than thirty years ago to find a player so dominant in both tournaments and cash games,” states Lederer.
At the heart of the Poker Hall of Fame debate is the criteria set that a player should have ‘stood the test of time,’ implying they should have reached a certain age before acceptance. However, this still doesn’t preclude them being put forward as a potential candidate despite having no chance of actually being chosen. As Lederer highlights:
“In Phil Ivey’s case, there is a particular reason why he may not have been chosen in 2010. Chip Reese was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991, at the age of 40. He was the youngest inductee, by a large margin… Can we be sure a player has stood the test of time before the age of 40? I’d say no. By formalizing that requirement, we can avoid this issue.”
As the Hall of Fame mulls over the food for thought, Phil Ivey even suggested he would have probably declined the honour of being inducted at this year’s Poker Hall of Fame anyway, as he was a great admirer of Chip Reese and knew how much it meant to him to be the youngest inductee into the Hall of Fame. He also said he believed his own career was only just getting started.