Poker Hall of Fame Needs A Place To Call Home

Was quite exciting when Harrah’s and World Series of Poker officials announced that poker veteran Mike Sexton would be the only person who would be joining the Poker Hall of Fame. After allowing the fans to nominate players, asking the media for their opinion and polling the living Hall members, the decision to allow just Sexton to join will be debated for some time. What shouldn’t be debated, however, is that it is time there was a place for the Poker Hall of Fame to call home.

Prior to Harrah’s purchase of the former Binion’s Horseshoe back in 2004, the Poker Hall of Fame was maintained by the Horseshoe. Alongside the famous wall that honored the champions of the World Series of Poker $10,000 Championship Event was a second wall that memorialized those members who had been elected into the Poker Hall of Fame. Since Harrah’s bought up Binion’s, many pieces have moved into Harrah’s pocket, most notably the WSOP but also the Poker Hall of Fame.

To date, neither Harrah’s nor WSOP officials have created a physical location for the Poker Hall of Fame. Each year, the WSOP rolls out banners of the former World Champions to decorate the walls, but there is no year-round physical display of this or of the Hall of Fame members. The Wall of Champions, which Binion’s used to commemorate the winners of the Main Event, and the photos of previous Poker Hall of Fame inductees are still located in downtown Las Vegas at Binion’s but have not had new photos added since PokerStars Pro Joseph Hachem won in 2005 (the final year the Championship Event was played at Binion’s).

For something that is supposed to represent not only a lifetime of achievement in poker but also the recognition by the people and your peers of being worthy of induction, you would think that Harrah’s and the WSOP would have a physical monument to the Poker Hall of Fame. Imagine a special building built or added onto the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, or on The Strip itself, that contained a plaque or bust of each member of the Hall, with important career information and/or recognition of the contributions that an elected member made to the world of poker.

Imagine such a place that would be the repository for historical pieces from the world of poker, a place that could contain one of Doyle Brunson’s Stetson’s, possibly a pistol from “Wild Bill” Hickok, or even Stu Ungar’s sunglasses that he wore to win the 1997 WSOP Championship Event or Greg Raymer’s “lizard-eyes” sunglasses from 2004. A place for the history of poker to be experienced would be incomplete, though, without an area for poker to be played.

This would be the piece de resistance for the physical location of the Poker Hall of Fame. The Hall would have a ten-table poker room that could be utilized at least once a month for a very special poker tournament. Each time a tournament was played, one or two members of the Poker Hall of Fame could be in attendance to take part in the event. Imagine what people would say about the game of poker if this physical building, this monument to the game, were actually a fact.

Every major sport or entertainment in the world has a Hall of Fame. Those that have built a physical structure to memorialize their Hall are the ones that will last in perpetuity. Thus, Harrah’s needs to consider building a physical location for the Poker Hall of Fame, to give back to not only the players and fans but also to the game itself.