Going out of his way to credit Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer made the case for Phil Ivey in a recent blog post about the 2010 Poker Hall of Fame inductions. Lederer wrote: “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…“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…”

Lederer makes the case that if the only knock against Ivey was his game than the Hall of Fame should consider revising the wording it uses from, “A player must stand the test of time” to, “a player must be xxx years-old”.

This is of course in regards to Chip Reese being the youngest person ever inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame at age 40. Lederer’s reasoning makes a whole lot of sense, since if Ivey has no chance to get in before his 40th birthday why are other players like Daniel Negreanu also nominated as finalists? It would be akin to making Alex Rodriguez a Baseball Hall of Fame finalist while he was still playing and has ZERO chance of being inducted.

To go a bit further, there are poker players that would consider being nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame an honor, even though they have little chance of induction, so why are we denying these players there moment in the sun?

I think Lederer’s complaint will actually see a change brought to the Hall of Fame nomination process.

Read more about the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 from WSOP.

Tags: 2010 Poker Hall of Fame, 40th Birthday, Alex Rodriguez, Baseball Hall Of Fame, Cash Games, Dan Harrington, Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, Fame Nomination, Hall Of Fame, Hall Of Fame Inductions, Howard Lederer, Last Ten Years, Little Chance, Moment In The Sun, More Than Thirty Years, Phil Ivey, Poker Hall, Poker Player, poker players, Test Of Time

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