Quote:
Originally Posted by NickMPK
Has anyone been inducted in the HOF whose accomplishments are purely in the realm of online poker? Is it possible that the HOF just doesn't consider online poker to be real poker? It's not like there's anyone in the football HOF based on their accomplishments at Madden NFL.
(To be fair, this excuse is undercut by the fact that the WSOP now has online bracelet events.)
Interesting.
Bear in mind that the age minimum of 40 also prevents most of the online whizzes – regardless of what they've done in the live environment – from being considered for HOF induction.
As for a person being inducted 100% for their contributions to online poker, it's quite unlikely for any player, as anyone who crushed online poker eventually will make the transition to the brick-and-mortar game. And those who didn't make that transition probably would not yet qualify for the "test of time" criterion for the HOF. However, I suppose there's a chance that – 20 years from now – the HOF inducts someone who crushed the online poker world for decades but never really ventured into the live scene in any substantial way. (Offhand, I'm envisioning if the Dang brothers were still playing online.)
By the way, the Madden video game analogy fails in a couple of places:
a) Scheinberg's association with poker is not the equivalent of someone who is really good at playing Madden NFL but rather for being the head honcho. So at best, I'd say Scheinberg is to poker what Electronic Arts Tiburon is to American football.
b) with (a) in mind, if someone could demonstrate that the Madden NFL game inspired thousands of young kids to later put on the pads and helmet; and that many of the top players (or coaches) in The League succeeded because they first mastered the console game, then yes... perhaps EA founder Trip Hawkins could have a bust in Canton as a contributor.
EDIT: if/when Isai goes into the Poker Hall of Fame, can a similar case then be made for, say, Anurag Dik****.