Michael Mizrachi is a deserving nominee to the Poker Hall of Fame, but he is a bookies long shot for admittance this year.
Mizrachi is undoubtedly a player who meets the Hall of Fame's criteria. These criteria are that a player must have played poker against the best in the game, have played at high stakes, and acquitted themselves well. They also need to be at least 40 years old, be respected by their peers, and have "stood the test of time."
A different criterion is applied to non-players, namely that they have worked effectively to grow the game over a long period of time.
The subjective nature of most of these criteria allows for a wide variety of players to make the cut, and that is what we have got this year.
Mizrachi's problem here will not be a lack of poker acumen or dedication to the game. More likely it will be the vicissitudes of celebrity. There's a ton of megawatts on the shortlist of nominees. Mizrachi has to beat big personalities like Mike Matusow and the late Layne Flack, industry collosi like Isai Scheinberg and Matt Savage, and artillery calibre pros like Kathy Liebert and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
In order to take this title down, Mizrachi will have to collect more votes than these other nominees.
The votes will be cast by the 32 living members of the Poker Hall of Fame, with each voter getting ten votes and splitting them up among the nominees however the member sees fit.
This means that the voters can be (and probably will be) a bit strategic in how they use their votes. But it will take a lot to get Mizrachi into the race.
Featured image source: Haley Hintze
