Founded in 2008, the Women in Poker Hall of Fame has grown to include 10 of the most successful women in poker history, some high-level pros, some industry insiders, and some that can be considered true pioneers for women in poker.

In 2008, the inaugural class of four women was announced with Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner, Susie Isaacs, and Barbara Enright receiving the honor of being the first inductees into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame.

In 2009 Enright, Johnson, Isaacs, and Waggoner were joined by Cyndi Violette, Jan Fisher, and June Field. In 2010 another trio were inducted, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Billie Brown. Here is a look at the final five nominees who may join the Women in Poker Hall of Fame in 2011:

Phyllis Caro: Caro is the wife of Mike Caro, and has been working inside the poker industry for decades in a number of different roles beginning as a poker dealer, and eventually going through the titles of tournament director, director of dealer operations, consultant, and Vice President of casino operations; she now works as the director of poker operations at Hollywood Gardens.

Ku Nan “Nani” Dollison: Dollison is a longtime pro with one of the most impressive WSOP resumes of any woman. Dollison has won a WSOP bracelet in a $2,000 Limit Holdem tournament, as well as capturing TWO WSOP Women’s Championship bracelets. If you were to ask any old-time player who the best female players were back in the day you would surely hear Dollison’s name mentioned.

Kristy Gazes: Gazes was a high-stakes pro in California before turning her attention to tournament poker where she has accrued over $1 million in career earnings. Gazes now splits her time between poker and the stock market, but remains one of the most feared female poker players in the game.

Margie Heintz: After some heavy lobbying, Margie was the first woman to ever deal at the World Series of Poker in 1977 and was bestowed the honor of dealing the final table which was aired on CBS’s Wide World of Sports –which may not seem like a big deal today, but in the 70’s this was a serious shock to the status quo. A true trailblazer in every sense of the word Margie is now the poker room manager at the El Dorado in Reno, Nevada.

JJ Liu: JJ Liu is another longtime poker pro and is still a fixture on the live tournament scene with over $2.5 million in career tournament earnings. If JJ’s name doesn’t ring a bell you have probably seen Liu at a final table or two –she has three WSOP final tables, a WPT final table, and won the WPT Ladies Night Out– where she can be easily spotted for her ornate outfits and hats.

To vote on the Women in Poker Hall of Fame you can go to the Women in Poker website

Tags: Barbara Enright, Career Earnings, Casino Operations, Cyndi Violette, Dealer Operations, Inaugural Class, Industry Insiders, Jan Fisher, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner, Mike Caro, Nani Dollison, Poker Dealer, Poker Hall, poker players, Tournament Poker, True Pioneers, World Series of Poker

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 at 9:52 am and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.