A look at the 40 Poker Hall of Fame members Part 1 of 5

The Poker Hall of Fame was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, who also created the World Series of Poker. The Hall of Fame was like anything else Binion decided to do, aimed at bringing tourists to the Horseshoe Casino.

The inaugural class of the Poker Hall of Fame contained seven inductees including posthumous inductees “Wild Bill” Hickock and Sir Edmund Hoyle. Since 1979 the Poker Hall of Fame has been one of the hardest nuts to crack, with no more than two players being honored with induction in any single year (sometimes zero).

While many of the early players inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame are almost completely unknown their contributions to the game when poker was in its infancy helped blaze the trail for what poker has become today.

This 5-Part series will take a quick look at the 40 members of the Poker Hall of Fame starting with the inaugural class of 1979:

Johnny Moss -1979: Moss, one of the most legendary road gamblers, won the first two World Series of Poker Championships and three of the first five on his way to accumulating 8 WSOP bracelets. Moss is still considered one of the greatest poker players to have ever lived.

Nick “Nick the Greek” Dandalos -1979: Dandalos was a gambler more than a poker player, and is rumored to have won and lost $500 million in his career which spanned the 40’s to the 60’s. Dandalos who estimated he went from Rags-to-Riches-to-Rags some 73 times in his life and died nearly broke in 1966. Spotted in $5 Limit Draw Poker games in the 60’s people wondered why a man who bet millions in his lifetime would play in a $5 game, Dandalos was said to have replied, “Its action isn’t it.”

Sid Wyman -1979: A poker player and early casino mogul in Las Vegas, Wyman owned the Sands, Riviera, Royal Nevada and The Dunes.

Red Winn -1979: Little is known about Red Winn other than he was an early road gambler. You would think Doyle Brunson or the other remaining road gamblers could shed some light on Winn’s exploits.

James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickock -1979: “Wild Bill’s” inclusion is pure Binion marketing, considering little is known about Hickock’s poker skills other than he loved the game along with his involvement in the most notorious poker story of all-time: Ace’s and Eight’s.

Sir Edmund Hoyle -1979: Hoyle was famous for writing rules for card games, which the phrase “according to Hoyle” comes down to us from. Astonishingly, Hoyle mostly wrote about Whist and other card-games, not poker.

Felton “Corky” McCorquadale -1979: “Corky” is credited with introducing Texas Holdem to Las Vegas in 1963 -originally calling it Texas Hold Me-before this Stud and Draw poker had been the main poker variants played throughout the US.