The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the high media event of any year, but the induction of two new players into the poker hall of fame is also something that people look forward to as a matter of course. The poker hall of fame is one of the most stringent when it comes to accepting new players, but now that there is a whole media scrum surrounding the poker events that take place each year, there is more media attention around for the poker hall of fame.

The way the nomination procedure works is actually quite egalitarian. Anyone that has any kind of passing interest in poker can simply head over to the World Series of Poker website and then submit a name for nomination. Then, once people have submitted the names that they want to induct into the poker hall of fame, the nominations are cut off on July 2nd and the votes are tallied. The ten people that have received the most votes for nominees are made the official nominees and then a panel votes on whether each player should be included into the hall of fame. Any poker player that gets more than 75% of the votes to them as yes by the inductee panel will be in the poker hall of fame in 2009. It is a very tough road to hoe and that explains why the numbers of people that have actually gotten into poker’s hallowed hall are actually quite small.

There are many names that are being thrown around as potential inductees into the poker hall of fame in 2009. Chris Ferguson is a name that has come up for his accomplishments and Barry Greenstein is another. However, the one that everyone is tapping as potentially being a hall of famer this year would be Mike Sexton, the celebrity sponsor for Party Poker as well as the main voice of the World Poker Tour. Mike Sexton has done a lot for the advancement of poker and has a number of impressive credentials of his own, making him an ideal candidate for inclusion on the 40th anniversary of the World Series of Poker (WSOP).