This is deeply touching. I’ve always admired Scott. When I first stepped up to the biggest tournaments, I watched him, with fanboy eyes, dismantle every table he sat at. He is one of the true hybrid online/live poker superstars. I’ll be there celebrating him next year when he’s inducted.
I want to start this off by saying how obviously deserving Jason is of the hall of fame, and am deeply touched by the words people have reached out to me last night, specifically Jason himself and Schulman and Negreanu, which has really helped temper my emotions so far. Having gotten to watch Jason's incredible career every step of the way has been an honor and witnessing what he's created and the amount of pure work and dedication to carving it out is something I hold in the highest esteem, and am certain there is no one else on earth that could have done what he has done and traveled the path he has, and he is the exact type of player and also person that exemplifies what the poker hall of fame should represent.
Doyle once told me at the table, something I always held close to my heart because of how much him and I played together, maybe the most of literally anyone on the planet other than David Oppenheim in the last 20 years, he told me there are 8-10 voters that don't follow the current poker world anymore and ask him who to vote for the hall every year, and I should be praying for his good health such that when I'm 40 I can be the one who gets in. When a full 30% of the electorate has moved on from poker it makes the system they chose without clear personalized explanations and that every ballot had to be filled online and with lots of ambiguity in the instructions, made it nearly impossible for anyone mathematically to even be able to clear the 2/3 vote even if receiving near unanimous support from people that are up to date and knowledgeable.
I think going forwards I would love to see all nominees get to write a couple paragraph blurb detailing their accomplishments and how it fits into the wider realm of the poker world in an attempt to get to make their own case to the panel of voters, and I think this will humanize the process far more than seeing 8 names and a yes or no checkbox with no further information.
I'm glad that despite these changes I would want to see, that the hall absolutely succeeded in electing a generational talent and has succeeded in correctly finding someone as deserving as one can be.