Jen Harman and John Juanda have made it into the 2015 Poker Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held at Binion’s Gambling Hall, Friday, November 6 at 7 pm.
The names of Jennifer Harman and John Juanda will be forever synonymous with poker after their peers inducted them into the 2015 Poker Hall of Fame.
The pair rose to the top a short list containing the likes of Chris Bjorin, David Chiu, Bruno Fitoussi, Carlos Mortensen, Max Pescatori, Terry Rogers, Matt Savage and the late David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott to become members 49 and 50 of a rather exclusive club.
The induction ceremony will take place where it all began. On Friday, November 6 at 7 pm, poker’s most famous faces will gather in the Longhorn Room (formerly Benny’s Bullpen) in Binion’s Gambling Hall in Downtown Las Vegas.
Benny’s Bullpen was the scene for the first World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Final Table in 1970. Both of Harman’s WSOP bracelets were won in this venue, as were three of Juanda’s five.
The pair made it through a stringent voting process that consisted of members of the public, and then a 39-person panel made up of existing Poker Hall of Famers, and a Blue Ribbon Media Panel.
News that Harman and Juanda made the cut means that there is still no berth in the Poker Hall of Fame for anyone of European descent. There was a strong rallying cry for the late Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, but it seems the 39-person panel and the media invitees didn’t share that view.
I was fortunate enough to be interviewing Harman moments after the news was announced, and this is what she had to say.
“I have been nominated many times and have not gotten in. I have never felt bad about it. The people who are in, deserve to be in. The list is always full of people deserving to be in the Poker Hall of Fame.
“To finally make it, has made me extremely happy. It means I have the support of my peers and people around me. They feel that I am good enough to be in the Poker Hall of Fame, and that’s a pat on the back.”
The first people to discover Harman had made it was her children.
“When I told them that I was inducted, and they were both running around screaming, ‘Mommy is the best.’ I want to be in their Hall of Fame when they grow up. I want them to think that I am the best Mommy ever.” Said Harman.
