This week, the 10 people who have been nominated for a 2025 Poker Hall of Fame induction were confirmed. Among the poker luminaries to get the nomination nod were three players who turned 40 in the past year, along with a late, great WSOP legend and  PokerStake player and six-time WSOP champion Jeremy Ausmus.

Who are the 2025 Poker Hall of Fame Nominees?

This year’s Poker Hall of Fame inductee will be announced during the 92^nd event of the 56^th annual World Series of Poker. The $1,979-entry Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em tournament starts on Friday, July 11 and as part of the celebrations, a new name will make it into the hallowed Hall of Fame alongside poker legends such as Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and the late Doyle Brunson.

Controversially, only one inductee will make the cut, a stance that seems outdated and yet is stoically stuck to by the powers that be. With 10 poker legends being considered, who is your favorite to make the cut from the 2025 nominees, as voted for by the living Hall of Fame members via ballot?

• Jeremy Ausmus – the six-time WSOP winner and PokerStake legend
• ‘Miami’ John Cernuto – only just overtaken by Ari Engel for recorded live results
• Ted Forrest – six-time WSOP bracelet winner and Seven Card Stud expert
• Kathy Liebert – limit hold’em bracelet winner and Women’s HoF member
• Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow – four-time WSOP winner and Las Vegas legend
• Matt Savage – legendary tournament director and a face of the World Poker Tour
• Isai Scheinberg – famously private PokerStars founder and poker pioneer
• Phil Galfond – one of three players to turn 40 ahead of this year, PLO end-boss
• Nick Schulman – seven-time WSOP bracelet winner and PokerGO commentator
• Scott Seiver – the reigning WSOP Player of the Year and a seven-time winner

Who Didn’t Make the Cut?

While there were nominations for players such as Phil Galfond, Scott Seiver and Nick Schulman, there was no place in the 10-strong list this year for EPT and double WSOP bracelet winner Barny Boatman, the six-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Arieh or the WSOP commentary team Norman Chad and Lon McEachern.  While all three nominations are sure to return, the field gets tougher every year and with a raft of poker greats turning 40 in the coming years, getting into the Poker Hall of Fame has never been tougher.

The growing calls for there to be more than one person (or duo) being inducted each year are often because players who are of a certain age have missed out on their rightful place in a seat at poker’s top table then gone on to leave us. ‘Miami’ John Cernuto is a good example of this, having not been inducted while his life could have been celebrated with him still being around.

The Hendon Mob would never have come about if it wasn’t for the efforts of Barny Boatman, the WSOP wouldn’t sound the same without Lon and Norm and Josh Arieh’s split-generational talent and dedication to the industry shouldn’t go unnoticed. It’s this reporter’s opinion that all three of the 2024 nominees who have missed out this year should have been inducted long ago.

When Will We Find Out the Winner?

In just over a fortnight, we’ll know who the latest Hall of Fame inductee is, following stars such as Patrik Antonius (2024), Brian Rast (2023) and the late Layne Flack (2022) into the poker history books. With two inductees between 2015 and 2019, ten inductees made it into the Hall of Fame between those years, but again just one will get the nod in 2025.

The announcement is expected to be made just before Event #92, the $1,979 buy-in Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em event begins at the Horseshoe Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip.

With each of the living Poker Hall of Fame members allowed to play the event for free, each one of them will have a bounty on their heads that are accordant with the year they were inducted. For example, if Phil Hellmuth is busted, then because The Poker Brat was inducted in 2007, the player who eliminates Big Phil would win $2,007.

While each Hall of Famer’s bounty corresponds to the year of their induction, in terms of the new inductee, they’ll get something money really can’t buy – their photograph will adorn the wall of the WSOP Hall of Fame Poker Room at Horseshoe Las Vegas.