The Women in Poker Hall of Fame [WiPHoF] has announced its 11 finalists for possible induction into the hall this June.
Every two years, the WiPHoF’s ranks swell by two new members, chosen from the finalist list by the WiPHoF Selection Committee. That committee is comprised of the 19 previously elected WiPHoF members, plus an approximately-the-same number of industry media and professionals. (One of those voters, yours truly, was named as a finalist and is therefore not eligible to vote this time around.)
Via the WiPHoF site, here are the 11 finalists — meaning there was a tie for tenth place in the nominating process — along with their brief bios. In alphabetical order:
Hermance Blum – Hermance joined PokerStars in 2008 for a PR and Marketing position. Her role evolved into a wider range of responsibilities to operate as their Country Manager France. In June 2010, PartyGaming approached her to launch their French platform when market regulated. In 2011, she made the change to WPT when offered a marketing role in their European division. She moved to London 7 years ago to start this amazing journey under the mentorship of WPT CEO Adam Pliska. In 2014, Hermance was appointed General Manager WPT Europe to look after the Tour Management and Strategy. Her responsibilities include financial P&L and Operations as well as the contractual partnerships with WPT casinos and sponsors.
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Mandy Glogow – As the show runner of the World Poker Tour, Mandy believes the key to promoting poker is ingrained in both the strategy of the game and the personal stories of the individuals who play it. She is unwavering in her commitment to produce television programming that exhibits these qualities to the show’s 140 million viewers. Having found her love for poker after graduating college, Mandy discovered she had a talent for the game. In 2005 an opportunity arose to mix her passion for poker with a TV career. Mandy accepted a position with the WPT, where she has risen through the ranks to become the show’s Supervising Producer. Incredibly, Mandy balances her professional responsibilities while managing a household and raising her young son—all without skipping a beat. – Photo Credit – Joe Giron
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Angelica Hael – Angelica Hael leads Global Tour Management for the World Poker Tour (WPT) and is a long-serving VP of WPT Enterprises, Inc.’s alliance of companies. Ms. Hael’s gaming career began at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, where she began work on the world-renowned Aussie Millions. Ms. Hael’s successful track record led to her recruitment by partypoker, and she was brought in to oversee and execute more than 30 global events for the partypoker brand. Ms. Hael founded her own consulting company and was successful in providing advisement and business solutions to online and offline gaming companies and international brands, such as Asian Logic’s Asian Poker Tour (APT). Ms. Hael was a driving force behind the APT reaching historic highs in both entries and prize pool figures. In 2010, Ms. Hael joined the World Poker Tour and set forth a plan to greatly expand the company’s international footprint. She championed the WPT’s expansion to Asia, Africa, and South America. With events in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, South Africa and Uruguay, the WPT currently holds approximately half of its industry-leading events beyond the borders of North America.
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Haley Hintze – Veteran writer and editor Haley Hintze has covered poker for numerous publications and online outlets for nearly two decades. Haley is perhaps best known for her work in helping to uncover the inner workings of two major insider-cheating scandals that rocked online poker several years ago, but she’s also amassed thousands of byline credits while covering many of the harder news stories involving the poker and gambling worlds. While Haley can be found working behind the scenes at an occasional live poker series, she’s more often found at her home computer, catching up on the latest in the poker world.
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Maria Ho – Maria Ho is a record-breaking professional poker player, TV personality , Ambassador and host/commentator. She’s currently ranked fourth on the GPI among female poker players in the world, and is 10th on the female all-time money list with over 2.7 million dollars in earnings. She was the first female in history to be hired to a poker television broadcast (HPT) as the resident strategic commentator. She has also been seen on the Emmy Winning 15th season of The Amazing Race, as well as on ESPN as part of the broadcast team for the WSOP Main Event in 2017, and currently co-hosts WPT’s King of The Club on Fox Sports Net.
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Karina Jett – Karina started her professional poker career in 1997 playing Seven-Card Stud, but soon picked up No-Limit Hold ’em as the game became more popular and tournament prize pools grew in size. With lifetime tournament winnings of close to half a million dollars, Karina has booked final table finishes four times WSOP $1K Ladies Championship tournaments. She also made the final table in Poker Royale: Battle of the Sexes, and took part in a history-making finish at The London Open when she and Chip became the first husband and wife to make the final table in a major tournament. In 2010, Karina won the Poker After Dark VI episode of He Said She Said for the winner take all prize of $120,000. Karina continues to support the industry and is the coordinator of the annual, highly popular, Charity event Ante Up for Austism.
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Terry King – Terry moved to Vegas at 18 yrs old in 1972 where friends taught her to play poker. She soon quit her legal secretary job and played poker professionally until she turned 21 and began dealing, running tournaments and flooring. In 1978 she won a WSOP bracelet and was also one of the first women to deal the main event. In 1979, Chip Reese asked her to play in the mixed doubles event. Not long after that, Chip took over the poker room at the Dunes and asked Terry to play for him to keep games going. They enjoyed a 5-year relationship and was introduced to a lot of Vegas she hadn’t experienced before. Including surviving a mob hit! Terry has worked as a floorperson at the Bicycle Casino and helped open Hollywood Park Casino as well. She continues to promote poker today as an admin on the large poker community site RealGrinders on Facebook.
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Shirley Rosario – Shirley Rosario has been involved in the poker industry for more than 25 years. Her poker accomplishments include 12 wins in five different tournament styles including back to back Cal State Poker Championship HORSE titles in 2009 and 2010. She has over $500,000 in tournament earnings. She’s been a successful live cash game player for more than 20 years. Rosario was an independent entrepreneur of a multi-million dollar poker website group. Her website was the first to feature extensive player bios and also featured her poker blog from 2004 to 2011. Rosario was a longtime consultant with PokerStars and helped co-write the company’s search engine optimization guidelines. She was one of original hosts of Live at the Bike and also appeared in Poker for Dummies.
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Kara Scott – A figure in the poker world as a journalist and player. At 42, Kara is a TV personality, broadcaster, commentator, ambassador & poker player, working exclusively in poker & gaming since 2005. She is an enthusiastic recreational player with $660k+ in live cashes, including televised wins. She has regularly fronted top poker television like the EPT, WPT, High Stakes Poker, WSOPE & SHRB, and has anchored ESPN’s broadcast of the WSOP for many years. She is a multiple award winner, is widely published, hosted both the European & American Poker Awards, and is an outspoken advocate for recognising, supporting and mentoring women in poker and promoting the variety of our experiences. She is also an 888 Poker Ambassador for the past 2.5 years.
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Lupe Soto – Entered the industry in 1999 through the development of an online poker group called Victory Poker Players. It soon became evident there were significantly more women playing online than land based casinos. In 2002, she created the first online poker forum for women called Poker Chix. It was quickly apparent women were interested in poker in greater numbers so she founded Ladies International Poker Series – LIPS Tour in 2004 to bring more women to the tables. LIPS is responsible for countless women entering the game. Later in 2008, she founded the Women in Poker Hall of Fame to recognize the amazing women who paved the way both as players and industry leaders. She expanded her industry role in 2013 to include senior players by creating the Senior Poker Tour. And to unite women globally, the launch of Women’s Poker Association (WPA) takes place this Spring. Lupe still holds true to her non-profit roots as the CEO of Poker Gives, a Charity Nonprofit serving military families.
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Jennifer Tilly – In 2005 Jennifer Tilly stunned the poker world when she bested a field of over 600 women to win a gold bracelet in the Ladies Event at the World Series of Poker. She followed that up with a first-place finish in the WPT Ladies Night. Since then she has amassed nearly a million dollars in tournament winnings (992,501) with many deep finishes and wins (including winning the 5k Bellagio Cup in 2010). She is currently number 35 on the Women’s All Time Money list. (Hendon Mob) She is a staple on Poker television, having appeared on many shows including “PokerStars The Big Game,” the prestigious “Premiere League,” the “Party Poker Big Game”, “NBC Heads Up Tournament,” ”Poker Night In America,” and most recently “Poker After Dark cash game.” She wrote a column for Bluff magazine for ten years, and just had a poker short story published in the Simon and Shuster anthology “He Played for his Wife, (and other stories) Jennifer is passionate about the game, and both “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” have referenced her love of poker in episodes where she voiced herself. Her significant other: Phil Laak is also a professional poker player.
Here are the selection criteria, noting that a couple of big names in women’s poker aren’t quite old enough to be considered for induction:
a) A candidate must have been active as a player or industry leader for a minimum of 10 years prior to nomination and 35 yrs of age or older.
b) Player/industry leader must have contributed to the world of poker in some significant way. For example, a candidate may qualify by either winning major poker tournaments, gained prominence through their poker success, or by making significant contributions to the industry of poker.
c) Player/industry leader candidate must be a proponent of women in poker- i.e.: refrain from publically criticizing women’s tournaments.
d) All nominees must be approved by the Organization Committee and current Hall Members.
2018’s two inductees will be honored this summer, at a June 26th banquet at Las Vegas’s Orleans casino.