The 2021 World Series of Poker kicked off Thursday afternoon and with it became the first step to determining the next inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame.
The WSOP announced that it was accepting nominations for the 2021 class. Poker fans will be able to submit their picks online for who they believe should be selected up until Thursday, Oct. 14. Once the nomination process is closed, the top 10 vote-getters will be reviewed by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council to make sure all of 10 fit the criteria for the honor.
The criteria for being inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame are as follows:
• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high stakes
• Be a minimum of 40 years old at the time of nomination
• 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 incredible positive and lasting results.
On Friday, Oct. 15, Caesars Entertainment will reveal the list of 10 finalists. Those 10 people will be voted on by the 32 living members of the Hall of Fame. The person who gets the most votes will become the 60th member of the group.
The official announcement will come on Wednesday, Nov. 17 during the WSOP Hall of Fame Bounty tournament.
Last year, 1996 WSOP main event champion Huck Seed was voted the 2020 inductee. Before 2020, there were typically two inductees each year. In 2019, it was 2003 WSOP main event winner Chris Moneymaker and high-stakes cash game legend David Oppenheim were chosen as the 57th and 58th members of the club.
Here is a look at everyone inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame since it was founded in 1979:
| Name | Year Inducted |
| Johnny Moss | 1979 |
| Nick “The Greek” Dandolos | 1979 |
| Felton “Corky” McCorquodale | 1979 |
| Red Winn | 1979 |
| Sid Wyman | 1979 |
| James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok | 1979 |
| Edmond Hoyle | 1979 |
| Blondie Forbes | 1980 |
| Bill Boyd | 1981 |
| Tom Abdo | 1982 |
| Joe Bernstein | 1983 |
| Murph Harrold | 1984 |
| Red Hodges | 1985 |
| Henry Green | 1986 |
| Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson | 1987 |
| Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson | 1988 |
| Jack “Treetop” Straus | 1988 |
| Fred “Sarge” Ferris | 1989 |
| Benny Binion | 1990 |
| David “Chip” Reese | 1991 |
| Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston | 1992 |
| Jack Keller | 1993 |
| Julius Oral Popwell | 1996 |
| Roger Moore | 1997 |
| Stu “The Kid” Ungar | 2001 |
| Lyle Berman | 2002 |
| Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan | 2002 |
| Bobby “The Owl” Baldwin | 2003 |
| Berry Johnston | 2004 |
| Jack Binion | 2005 |
| Crandell Addington | 2005 |
| T.J. Cloutier | 2006 |
| Billy Baxter | 2006 |
| Barbara Enright | 2007 |
| Phil Hellmuth | 2007 |
| Dewey Tomko | 2008 |
| Henry Orenstein | 2008 |
| Mike Sexton | 2009 |
| Dan Harrington | 2010 |
| Erik Seidel | 2010 |
| Linda Johnson | 2011 |
| Barry Greenstein | 2011 |
| Eric Drache | 2012 |
| Brian “Sailor” Roberts | 2012 |
| Scotty Nguyen | 2013 |
| Tom McEvoy | 2013 |
| Daniel Negreanu | 2014 |
| Jack McClelland | 2014 |
| Jennifer Harman | 2015 |
| John Juanda | 2015 |
| Carlos Mortensen | 2016 |
| Todd Brunson | 2016 |
| David “Devilfish” Ulliott | 2017 |
| Phil Ivey | 2017 |
| John Hennigan | 2018 |
| Mori Eskandani | 2018 |
| Chris Moneymaker | 2019 |
| David Oppenheim | 2019 |
| Huck Seed | 2020 |