{"id":10942,"date":"2026-06-29T04:10:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/wsop-names-eight-poker-hall-of-fame-finalists\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T04:10:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:10:02","slug":"wsop-names-eight-poker-hall-of-fame-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/wsop-names-eight-poker-hall-of-fame-finalists\/","title":{"rendered":"WSOP Names Eight Poker Hall Of Fame Finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The 2026 Poker Hall of Fame vote could look very different from recent years. WSOP announced eight finalists Wednesday, and a <strong>new voting model<\/strong> means more than one nominee can enter in the same year.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em><strong>Good to know<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>The eight finalists are Shaun Deeb, Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton, Justin Bonomo, Scott Seiver, Chris Moorman, Mike Matusow, and Isai Scheinberg.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>The 33 living Poker Hall of Fame members will vote on the finalists.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>A nominee needs 22 votes to secure induction, unless no finalist reaches that number.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong>New Voting Rules Change The Race<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>For several years, the Poker Hall of Fame added one person per year. That cap has now gone. Each living Hall of Fame member can vote for up to four finalists, and any nominee who receives support from two-thirds of the voters enters the Hall.<\/p>\n<p>With 33 voters, 22 votes is the key number. If nobody reaches it, the finalist with the most votes still gets in. The format looks closer to the Baseball Hall of Fame process, where voters can support multiple names.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOne of, if not the highest honor in the poker industry, the eight finalists have earned a chance at poker immortality for their achievements on the felt, presence in the poker world, and their overwhelming impact on the game,\u201d<\/em> WSOP said.<\/p>\n<p>That change may matter most for Mike Matusow and Isai Scheinberg. Both have returned to the ballot many times, but neither has made it through member voting.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Moneymaker Era Players Dominate The Ballot<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Six finalists built much of their reputations during or after the poker boom that followed Chris Moneymaker 2003 WSOP Main Event win. Deeb, Koon, Haxton, Bonomo, Seiver, and Moorman all fit that modern online and live tournament era.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Seiver<\/strong> returns after a 2025 nomination. <strong>Deeb<\/strong>, <strong>Koon<\/strong>, <strong>Haxton<\/strong>, <strong>Bonomo<\/strong>, and <strong>Moorman<\/strong> all receive first nominations after reaching the age 40 requirement.<\/p>\n<p>That age rule will keep feeding this category for years. Many major online-era names are now reaching eligibility, which means the Hall will face more crowded ballots with players who have huge live results, online reputations, high-stakes experience, and peer respect.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/poker-news\/nick-schulman-joins-poker-hall-of-fame-in-first-year-eligible\/\"><strong>Nick Schulman<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/poker-news\/mizrachi-goes-from-two-big-blinds-to-main-event-champion\/\"><strong>Michael Mizrach<\/strong><\/a>i already added more weight to that generation in 2025. Schulman entered through the regular process, while Mizrachi received a special exemption after his huge WSOP Main Event and Poker Players Championship run.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scheinberg<\/strong> gives the ballot its only non-player finalist. The PokerStars founder has now received seven nominations. Supporters point to his role in online poker growth and the Full Tilt Poker player repayment deal after Black Friday. Critics still connect his name to the 2011 US online poker case, when PokerStars continued serving US players after the 2006 UIGEA law. In 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/poker-news\/pokerstar-founder-plead-guilty-to-illegal-gambling-charges-faces-up-to-5-years-behind-bars-2222\/\">Scheinberg<\/a> received a $30,000 fine and no jail time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matusow<\/strong> gives the ballot an older-school TV poker name. The four-time bracelet winner has now been nominated 12 times, the most nominations without induction. His case rests on high-stakes cash games, two WSOP Main Event final tables, four bracelets, and years as one of poker most recognizable personalities.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/poker-news\/wsop-names-eight-poker-hall-of-fame-finalists\/\">WSOP Names Eight Poker Hall Of Fame Finalists<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/\">iGaming.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 Poker Hall of Fame vote could look very different from recent years. WSOP announced eight finalists Wednesday, and a new voting model means more than one nominee can enter in the same year. Good to know The eight finalists are Shaun Deeb, Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton, Justin Bonomo, Scott Seiver, Chris Moorman, Mike [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poker"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}