The names of this years entries into the Poker Hall of Fame have been announced. Dewey Tomko and Henry Orenstein were honored with this distinction on November 9 at the Rio All-Suites in Las Vegas.

Poker Hall of Fame

Just like the WSOP final table this year, the induction of beneficiaries to the poker Hall of Fame was also postponed. But because there had been no announcement to that effect everyone thought that the organizers had given the event a skip. But the announcement has now been made. Dewey Tomko and Henry Orenstein will be enshrined into the Poker Hall of Fame on November 9 at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas alongside the resumption of the WSOP Main Event. The ceremony is open the public.

The Hall of Fame was started in 1979 with the induction of seven charter members. The list included James Butler Hickok, popularly known as “Wild Bill” Hickok. Hickok was a nineteenth-century gambler and lawman who was killed while playing poker. His contribution to poker was that he was killed while playing poker in a saloon at Deadwood in South Dakota in 1876. “Crooked Nose” McCall shot him in the back. At that time he held a hand with a pair of aces and eights, which is now known as the Dead Man’s Hand. The fifth card is shrouded in mystery. Since then there have been inductees almost every year.

Five criteria have been laid down for the selection of the inductees. They are the player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition, played for high stakes, played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers, stood the test of time or (for non-players) contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results. Tomko has definitely stood the test of time. For the last 35 years he has played in the WSOP Main Event without a break. This is a record for the longest continuous participation. Tomko has never won the Main Event, though he has finished as runner-up twice. He has however won three WSOP bracelets in side events. Tomko has made more than $4.8 million in tournament cashes.

Orenstein, though a poker player with one WSOP bracelet to his name, has been inducted in the non-player category. He has contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker with indelible positive and lasting results by inventing the “hole card cam”. Though Orenstein holds more than 100 patents, none have worked for him as much as the hole card cam. Prior to this invention watching poker on television was dry because the viewers could not see the players’ hole cards. But with the hole card cam they can do so and this has changed everything. Poker shows on television are multiplying faster than rabbits and the credit goes to Orenstein.

If one looks at the members of the Hall of Fame one will be hard pressed to find names familiar on the current poker circuit. Doyle Brunson was inducted in 1988, Johnny Chan in 2002 and Phil Hellmuth last year. Some may recall that Barbara Enright was the only woman to make the WSOP Main Event but the rest of the names are a mystery.