Walk through the Hall of Fame Poker Room at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas and you’ll see the photographs of the legends staring back at you. The names most long-time poker players know by heart. The pioneers. The champions. The characters who helped shape the game we love. But if you stand there long enough — especially if you’ve spent years around poker tables — another thought slowly creeps in. Who’s missing? Because for every player on that wall, there are others whose names still come up whenever poker players start talking about the Poker Hall of Fame. And in poker circles, the debate over Hall of Fame “snubs” can get just as lively as arguing over a bad beat. Maybe even more so.
The Simple Math Problem
For years, the biggest obstacle wasn’t identifying worthy candidates—it was simple math. The Poker Hall of Fame generally inducted only one player each year, creating an ever-growing backlog of deserving candidates. Beginning this year however, the WSOP dramatically expanded the process, allowing as many as six inductees in a single year. Whether that change finally eases the backlog remains to be seen, but (as mentioned in part 2 of this series) it represents the most significant overhaul in Poker Hall of Fame history.
While the Moneymaker Boom generation of players continues getting older, with more turning 40 years old each year, there are a number of “old school” legends who haven’t (yet?) been enshrined. Two of the four mentioned below have been shortlisted for candidacy this year.
Isai Scheinberg
Few names appear more often in Hall of Fame “snub” conversations than Isai Scheinberg. If that name isn’t immediately familiar to every casual poker fan, his company certainly is. Scheinberg founded PokerStars — the online poker platform that helped fuel the global poker explosion of the early 2000s. Without PokerStars, it’s difficult to imagine the massive wave of new players who discovered the game during the online boom years. Millions learned poker there. Thousands of professionals launched their careers there. And countless players earned their first seat in the World Series of Poker through PokerStars satellites.
Moreover, when Full Tilt Poker went down, PokerStars ended up buying out the company and assuming its debt to players. Put plainly, Scheinberg quite literally saved the bankrolls of tens of thousands of poker players, paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in monies seized.
For years, Scheinberg’s candidacy was complicated by legal issues tied to the U.S. government’s crackdown on online poker. But many within the poker community argue that if the Hall of Fame is meant to honor those who changed the game, Scheinberg’s influence is undeniable. Even today, his absence from the Hall remains one of the most frequently mentioned omissions.
Matt Savage
Ask tournament players who deserves more recognition for shaping modern poker, and the name Matt Savage almost universally comes up. Savage has been a tournament director for decades and helped create many of the standardized rules used in poker tournaments today. He also co-founded the Tournament Directors Association (TDA), which brought consistency to tournament rules across casinos around the world. Before the TDA, tournament rules varied wildly from casino to casino. Savage helped bring order to the chaos. He’s also been instrumental in promoting the game globally, working with events across multiple continents. In many ways, Savage helped create the modern structure of tournament poker. And yet, his name hasn’t appeared among the Hall of Fame inductees. For many in the industry, that omission remains puzzling to say the least.
Tough year with @JasonKoon turning 40 and many others so already deserving, just hoping to get nominated for the 11th time, second only to @themouthmatusow’s 12. #Vote https://t.co/s9ydqQFYX9
— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) June 12, 2026
Mike Matusow
If the Poker Hall of Fame were based purely on personality and table presence, Mike Matusow could have been inducted years ago. “The Mouth,” as he’s known around poker circles, has been one of the game’s most recognizable characters for decades. Four WSOP bracelets. Major tournament victories, and a personality that helped make televised poker unforgettable during the poker boom. Matusow was part of a generation that brought poker to television audiences around the world. His emotional swings — sometimes humorous, sometimes painful — made him one of the most entertaining players the game has produced. But entertainment alone doesn’t guarantee Hall of Fame entry. While he certainly fulfills the criteria, some critics argue his career results fall short compared to other candidates. Others believe his impact on poker culture and television more than justifies a place. Either way, his name continues to surface in Hall of Fame conversations every year.
Kathy Liebert
Another name often mentioned in Hall of Fame discussions is Kathy Liebert. Liebert has been one of the most consistent tournament players in poker for decades. She was the first woman to win a $1 million tournament prize and has accumulated millions in tournament winnings over a long, steady career. Quiet, focused, and highly respected by her peers, Liebert represents a different kind of poker greatness. She’s not flashy. She’s not controversial. She’s just been a consistent winner for decades. And sometimes that quiet consistency doesn’t generate the headlines that help push candidates into the Hall of Fame spotlight. But among serious poker players, her resume is widely respected. Which is why her absence continues to surprise many observers.
The Backlog Problem
Beyond the four aforementioned poker legends, there are a number of others who’ve had exceptional careers in the game, players and industry veterans alike, who certainly merit consideration. Their names didn’t appear shortlisted this year either. Some names you’re likely familiar with, for instance, are Gus Hansen, Norman Chad & Lon McEachern, Ted Forrest, Josh Arieh, Jack Effel, and Bruno Fitoussi.
For years, the Hall of Fame simply couldn’t keep pace with poker’s growth. One annual inductee wasn’t enough to recognize the ever-expanding list of deserving players and contributors. The new six-person maximum adopted for 2026 is an attempt to address that backlog. Whether it succeeds will likely depend on how consistently the larger classes continue in future years.
Plus, there will be plenty of additional, deserving candidates turning 40 in the coming years, too.
Benny Glaser 🇬🇧 has built one of the greatest mixed game resumes the @WSOP has ever seen.
With his ninth bracelet in the $50k Poker Players Championship, @BennyGlaser continues to separate himself from the field.
✨ Fastest to 8⃣ bracelets (40 days quicker than Phil Ivey)
— Tim Duckworth (@Tim__Duckworth) June 26, 2026
Poker’s Unique Challenge
Most sports Halls of Fame evaluate players based on statistics. Home runs. Touchdowns. Championship rings. Poker is different. Much of poker’s history happened in private games where no records were kept. Some of the greatest cash game players in history have little or no tournament resumes. Others helped shape the industry in ways that can’t easily be measured. And some players simply influenced the culture of poker itself. Trying to compare those different types of contributions can be like trying to rank musicians, actors, and novelists on the same list. There’s no perfect formula. Which means the debates will never fully go away.
The Real Meaning of a “Snub”
Here’s the funny thing about poker players. Even most of those who argue about Hall of Fame snubs understand the game’s history is complicated. And that recognition eventually finds its way to many deserving people. Sometimes it just takes time. In fact, several players who were once considered major snubs eventually found their way into the Hall years later. Poker history tends to correct itself. Eventually. This expanded induction class may finally shorten the waiting list, but it probably won’t eliminate the debates altogether.
The Conversation Will Never End
Spend enough time around poker tables in Las Vegas and you’ll hear the same discussions come up again and again. Who deserves to be inducted next? Who should already be in? Who’s been overlooked? Those conversations are part of the game’s culture. Poker players analyze everything — hands, opponents, decisions, and history itself. And the Poker Hall of Fame is simply another puzzle for the community to debate.
One Last Thought
Stand among those photos of poker’s Hall of Famers. Look at the photographs. Those faces represent decades of poker history. Some of those faces built the game to new heights. Some conquered it. Some simply survived it long enough to leave their mark. But every one of them represents a chapter in poker’s long, colorful story.
But the story of poker isn’t finished, far from it. Poker history is still being written. New legends are still being created. New contributions are still shaping the game.
Thanks to the Hall’s newly expanded induction process, some of those names may arrive sooner than many expected. Others may still have to wait. Either way, the debates aren’t going anywhere—and honestly, that’s exactly the kind of conversation poker players have always loved.
Over the course of this series we’ve looked at the Hall’s history, the controversies surrounding some of its members, and the deserving names still waiting outside. The Poker Hall of Fame has never been perfect—and perhaps it never will be. But the recent changes suggest the people guiding it recognize that poker’s history deserves to be told more completely. That’s good news for the game and for the generations of players whose contributions helped build it.
