It’s taken over a decade, but Huck Seed is finally a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
Just a few weeks ago, when the list if potential inductees was released, we ourselves favoured the induction of Las Vegas poker superstar, Main Event champion and prop bet legend Huckleberry Seed. Despite that, it didn’t seem likely to happen. Others threw their weight behind the considerable talents of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, for example. Plenty of other big names were up for nominations, too, such as Antonio Esfandiari and Mike Matusow. Sure, Chris Ferguson looked like an empty slot, but many other had high hopes.
In the end, however, Huck Seed made it into the Poker Hall of Fame during this strangest of years with an overwhelming voting advantage. Here’s how the final vote stood, as confirmed by the World Series of Poker’s announcement of Seed’s induction.
Huck Seed (winner) – 76 votes
Matt Savage – 51 Votes
Isai Scheinberg – 45 Votes
Eli Elezra – 30 Votes
Antonio Esfandiari – 23 Votes
Lon McEachern and Norman Chad – 20 Votes
Ted Forrest – 20 Votes
Mike Matusow – 17 Votes
Patrik Antonius – 15 Votes
Chris Ferguson – 3 Votes
Without focusing too much on the lowest-ranked player on that list, which three voters thought that 2020 should be the year Chris Ferguson enters the Hall of Fame is beyond us. Haven’t poker fans and players suffered enough?
There are plenty of other surprises in that run-down. Matt Savage’s well-deserved votes that put him in second place were not foreseen from this side of the pond, but it is hugely encouraging that a man who has given so much to the industry will soon enter the Poker Hall of Fame, perhaps in 2021 if the committee decree that two players will enter. We can hope.
Elswhere, it was a shock that Patrik Antonius only received 15 votes, and Mike Matusow (17 votes) and Antonio Esfandiari (23 votes) can only feel marginally better about those numbers on hearing the news. With some mixed headlines in the past couple of years, strong showings for Isai Scheinberg (45 votes) and Eli Elezra (30 votes) confirm poker as one of the most generous and positive outlook industries.
Seed had this to say when asked for his thoughts on the award by the WSOP:
“Hearing the news that I am being inducted into the poker hall of fame this year brought back memories of my early poker days, walking into the Binions Horseshoe, about to start a poker session, admiring all the poker hall of famers on the wall. It feels good to be included with all the poker legends that I once idolized and competed against over the years. Thank you everyone.”
There’s no doubt that Seed is a truly worthy winner of the award, having not only won the 1996 WSOP Main Event, but dominated cash games and tournaments for many years. With four WSOP bracelets, a Tournament of Champions win and an NBC Heads-Up Championship victory all in his resumé, the man with over $7.6 million in live winnings is a fitting addition to the 58 legends already ennobled with the honour.
With 30 of the 31 voters allocating their 10 votes each across the players and industry professionals, the voting system has again found the right member of poker history to enter the Hall of Fame.
We just hope this award comes ahead of a welcome return to the felt for one of poker’s true legends in Huck Seed. After many years of spectacular performances, we’ve not seen him at the live felt for very much time in years. If that changes, 2021 really could be quite the year in prospect, as an in-form Huck Seed is television and poker box-office gold.
