The World Series of Poker announced this year’s finalists for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.
The living Hall of Fame members will vote and the top vote-getter will be this year’s inductee into poker’s elite group.
Here are the 10 finalists:
- Jeremy Ausmus
- “Miami” John Cernuto
- Ted Forrest
- Phil Galfond
- Kathy Liebert
- Mike Matusow
- Matt Savage
- Isai Scheinberg
- Nick Schulman
- Scott Seiver
Poker fans submitted their nominations earlier this month. These 10 finalists got the most votes during the week-long nomination process.
The finalist who receives the most votes from the living Hall of Fame members will be this year’s inductee.
Three 40-Year-Olds On The Ballot
There are six criteria to become a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. One of the six is that the nominee must be 40 years old at the time of nomination.
Only four players were inducted into the Hall of Fame at 40 years old. David “Chip” Reese became the first to do so when he was inducted in 1991. Then, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Brian Rast achieved the feat when they were chosen in 2014, 2017 and 2023, respectively.
Phil Galfond, Nick Schulman and Scott Seiver could become the fifth if one of the three 40-year-olds becomes the 2025 inductee.
Phil Galfond Combined Poker & Business Acumen
Galfond is an online poker legend and has won millions playing high-stakes on both the virtual and live felt. The Maryland native was one of the most feared cash game players on the planet. However, he also found plenty of success in tournaments, grossing earnings north of $3 million and three WSOP bracelets.
Additionally, he created multiple poker-centric businesses, influential in shaping the poker landscape. He founded the popular training website Run It Once and then started an online poker room with the same name.
His online poker room was available to players outside the U.S., but failed to gain much market share. But in 2022, Rush Street Interactive bought the site from Galfond and used the software for its own online poker client.
Rush Street used the software to launch BetRivers Poker, which is available in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan and West Virginia.
Schulman And Seiver Round Out 40-Year-Old Hopefuls
As impressive as Galfond’s poker resume is, Schulman and Seiver have arguably better ones. Both are known to play nosebleed-stakes cash games and have incredible tournament results as well.
Schulman grossed more than $24 million in tournament earnings and won seven WSOP bracelets. He grabbed his seventh just last weekend in the coveted $10,000 no-limit 2-7 single draw championship. In 2005, at just 21 years old, Schulman snagged a World Poker Tour title and more than $2.1 million in the $10,000 World Poker Finals at Foxwoods.
The native New Yorker has also become one of the game’s beloved commentators. Schulman began providing color commentary during the 2015 Super High Roller Cash Game. Then, in 2019, he was paired with Ali Nejad for WSOP main event coverage on PokerGO and ESPN broadcasts.
Since then, he has been in the booth for several of poker’s most popular broadcasts. In 2023, PokerGO named Schulman the replacement for the retired Gabe Kaplan on High Stakes Poker.
Of the three 40-year-old nominees, Seiver’s candidacy is the only one that doesn’t have an off-the-felt component. He’s just been consistently one of the best poker players on the planet for about two decades.
The Las Vegas resident is a regular in high-stakes mixed games and amassed more than $28 million in career tournament earnings. Those winnings come with seven WSOP bracelets, a WPT title and the 2024 WSOP Player of the Year award.
At 45 years old, Jeremy Ausmus isn’t the youngest on the list, but isn’t far off either. Over the last several years, Ausmus began having success in the highest-stakes tournaments and cemented himself as one of the best on the planet.
He has $27.8 million in career tournament earnings, six WSOP bracelets and a Triton Poker victory.
Poker’s Old School Well Represented
Despite the abundance of young talent on the ballot this year, poker’s old guard is still making waves.
Ted Forrest, “Miami” John Cernuto, Kathy Liebert and Mike Matusow all had massive success during poker’s boom era in the early and mid-2000’s.
Matusow is the most well-known of the group. He has $10.2 million in career tournament earnings and four WSOP bracelets. The 57-year-old was a Full Tilt Poker pro during the online poker boom and recently released a documentary highlighting the ups and downs of his life as a gambler.
Cernuto was a longtime grinder who passed away in February after a battle with colon cancer. Cernuto held the record for lifetime tournament cashes with nearly 600 in-the-money finishes and grossed $6.3 million in tournament earnings.
Liebert is the lone female on the list and is already a member of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. She made her mark on the poker world in 2002 when she won the Party Poker Million limit hold’em event for $1 million. She went on to cash for north of $7 million in career earnings and won a bracelet in the $1,500 limit hold’em shootout at the 2004 WSOP.
Forrest was a high-stakes cash game player who also won $6.4 million in tournaments and six WSOP bracelets.
Matt Savage And Isai Scheinberg Represent “Non-Player” Category
The two non-player nominations for 2025 include WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage and PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg.
As part of the criteria for induction, non-players must “have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.”
Savage worked for the largest poker tournaments in poker, founded the Tournament Directors Association and is the inaugural member of the Poker Room Managers’ Hall of Fame.
Scheinberg might be the most controversial figure on the list based on the criminal charges he faced in the fallout of online poker’s Black Friday.
However, he is typically revered by those in the online poker community for PokerStars’ quick repayment to American players and for brokering the deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker. The acquisition ultimately led to American players receiving their Full Tilt Poker balances.
