Seven ladies have been nominated for the Women in Poker Hall of Fame in 2022 and with stars of the felt such as Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree and Kristen Foxen up against poker legends such as Jennifer Tilly and Kara Scott, the battle to be inducted looks set to go to the river.
Who are the Seven Nominations?
With fan nominations now confirmed, voting is all that is left to decide the winner. Who will become this year’s Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee? It looks a very tight call. Poker players of yesteryear and today are included, as well as genuine broadcasting legends and Hollywood royalty.
Let’s start with the current cream of the crop. There can be no doubt that over the past few years, Kristen Foxen has been the best female poker player in the world. A former partypoker Pro for four years, Foxen has won multiple WSOP bracelets and proved her chops in high rollers too. It’s hard not to see her as the bookies’ favorite.
Players who perhaps have their glory years behind them, such as EPT winner Liv Boeree and WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst are also nominated. Both have left poker behind as their main source of income now, but while Selbst plays with money in the more corporate world of hedge funds and Boeree has struck out as a presenter and scientific inspiration to women around the globe, both deserve recognition for their extraordinary skills at the poker felt over the years.
Others to be nominated include the successful poker player turned broadcasting legend Kara Scott, Terry King, Angelica Hael and Holly wood acting legend and WSOP bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly, who has been playing High Stakes Poker in recent years. It’s a very hard year to call a winner.
When Will We Find Out Who Wins?
It won’t be long before we know who is the 2022 inductee into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. With the public voting period running from October 6th to 14th, just three ladies will be announced as on the final shortlist very soon. Industry votes will then determine which superstar female player makes the crop of Poker Hall of Famers.
A total of 54 nominees made it to the first ballot this year, with players such as Maria Lampropulos, Gaelle Baumann, Jen Shahade and Global Poker Award winner Jamie Kerstetter. There were 54 women nominated to be on the 2022 ballot, including Jamie Kerstetter, Maria Lampropulos, Gaelle Baumann and Jennifer Shahade. The Women in Poker Hall of Fame hasn’t inducted a new member since 2018, so it might seem a little stingy that only one lady will join the list, but those are the rules and this year’s is all the more intense for it.
On the player front, it’s hard to see Vanessa Selbst missing out on the final three. With almost $12 million in live earnings alone, Selbst was an absolute powerhouse a few years ago and thoroughly earned the right to sit at any table and now be hailed as a legend. With three WSOP bracelets and many WPT final tables in her history, she’s sat with the best and got them to fold.
Liv Boeree also deserves plenty of kudos for a career which has seen her win almost $4 million at the felt. With an EPT San Remo Main Event title in her back catalogue, the science boffin turned presenter represented PokerStars with flair during a period when many women entered the game.
Foxen is the favorite from the current crop of players who are crushing events and with over $5.5 million in earnings, could well go past Selbst in the next few years if she continues to play in the biggest events. An ever-present at the WSOP in Las Vegas, Foxen surely has more gold to come and is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner as well as scooping GPI Female Poker Player of the Year three years on the trot too.
Who’ll Win the Award?
It’s easy to try to pick a winner from that talented trio, but if Kara Scott makes the final cut, then we’d nominate her as a sleeper pick. In an age of poker when making the game as accessible to as many people as possible has been so important, Kara Scott’s contribution is often overlooked.
A constant during the WSOP years that immediately followed Black Friday, Scott’s effortless style and consummate professionalism have long been a staple for whoever she’s worked for, but in particular on ESPN where poker has grown a whole new post-boom audience. Representing 888poker, Scott has helped poker stay the fun game we all love and we’d put her in the Hall of Fame for her work on and off the felt.
With any candidates needing to have been active as a poker player or industry leader for at least 10 years and be 35 years old or above, next year could see plenty more talented ladies enter the fray and join players such as Barbara Enright, Jan Fisher, Maria Ho, Kathy Liebert, JJ Liu, Victoria Coren Mitchell, and Marsha Waggoner in the Women in Poker Hall of Fame.
With recent initiatives such as Americas Cardroom’s Breast Cancer Charity Event benefitting not only female players but helping those most in need too, the Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductees will be announced on November 14th, with an induction ceremony taking place on December 14th in Las Vegas at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA.
