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10 Nominees for the 2025 Poker Hall of Fame

10 Nominees for the 2025 Poker Hall of Fame

Three of them have made the shortlist for the first time. There are certainly no random names on this list. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Jeremy Ausmus

Jeremy Ausmus was born on September 22, 1979, in the small town of Lamar, Colorado, which has a population of just over 7,000. Ausmus is a true jack-of-all-trades. As a teenager, he worked in a woodworking shop, and during college, he was a cabinetmaker.

Jeremy Ausmus
Jeremy Ausmus

He studied economics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. In his final year, he became fascinated with poker. According to Ausmus, choosing a career wasn’t a real dilemma. An entry-level economist would earn him $11 an hour, while at local $1-2 and $2-5 games in Fort Collins, he was already making $30 an hour during college.

Ausmus built a $6,500 bankroll and moved to Las Vegas with friends in 2005. In 2012, he made the final table of the WSOP $10K Main Event and finished in 5th place for $2.15 million — this marked the beginning of his successful MTT career.

Ausmus has over $26.6M in live tournament winnings. Here are some of his biggest scores:

YearTournamentPlacePayout
2012WSOP $10K Main Event5th$2,155,313
2024WSOP $100K High Roller2nd$1,892,260
2025Triton Jeju $25K NLHE 8-handed1st$1,892,000

John “Miami” Cernuto

If you told people in the 1980s you wanted to become a professional poker player, they’d probably think you were crazy. But John “Miami” Cernuto actually did it — he moved to Vegas in the ’80s to make a living playing poker.

John Miami Cernuto
John Miami Cernuto

And he succeeded: he earned $6.47M in lifetime winnings, including 3 WSOP bracelets:

YearTournamentPayout
1996$1.5K Limit Stud8$147,000
1997$2K NLHE$259,100
2002$1.5K Limit Omaha$73,300

John Cernuto’s life is one long and fascinating story. Before poker, he worked as an air traffic controller but was fired by President Reagan. After losing his pension savings at the tables in Vegas, he returned to Florida, rebuilt his bankroll, and came back to Vegas — working at the Las Vegas Hilton while playing on the side to avoid going broke again. He finally quit his job in 1988 after winning $58K at Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker.

Sadly, John “Miami” Cernuto passed away on February 10, 2025. This article is dedicated to his memory — it’s worth your time:

Ted Forrest

Some names are regulars on the Poker Hall of Fame ballot — Ted Forrest is one of them. This is his seventh time making the shortlist.

Ted Forrest
Ted Forrest

Born on December 30, 1954, Forrest worked as a hotel housekeeper before discovering poker. At age 20, he moved to Las Vegas and enrolled at Le Moyne College, funding his tuition through poker. He never got his degree — and according to him, dropping out of school, where he would’ve earned $36K a year, was the best decision of his life.

Ted Forrest has 6 WSOP bracelets:

YearTournamentPayout
1993$5K Stud$114,000
1993$1.5K Razz$77,400
1993$1.5K LO8$120,000
2004$1.5K Stud$111,400
2004$1.5K NLHE$300,300
2014$1.5K Razz$121,200

Phil Galfond

A first-time Poker Hall of Fame nominee, having just turned 40 this year. Widely regarded as one of the most skilled Omaha players in the world — especially online, under the nickname “OMGClayAiken” (with over $10M in Full Tilt Poker earnings).

Phil Galfond tips
Phil Galfond

He excels in both cash games and tournaments, with more than $2.9M in live earnings and three WSOP bracelets:

YearTournamentPayout
2008$5K PLO$817,800
2015$10K NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship$224,400
2018$10K PLO8 Championship$567,800

There’s a lot to say about Phil Galfond. In 2012, he launched the training site Run It Once and still regularly publishes coaching content. In 2020, he captivated the poker world with his heads-up series “The Galfond Challenge,” taking on top PLO players.

For a deeper look at Galfond, check out the YouTube docuseries GALFOND:

Kathy Liebert

Another regular on the Poker Hall of Fame shortlist, Kathy Liebert has been nominated four years in a row. She’s been one of poker’s most active female players and advocates for over 30 years.

Kathleen H. Liebert was born on October 1, 1967, in Nashville, Tennessee. After earning a degree in business and finance, she worked as a business analyst for one year before turning to poker — a bold move for a woman in the early 1990s.

Liebert has $7M in tournament earnings. In 2002, she won the $8K Limit Hold’em Party Poker Million for $1 million — becoming the first woman to win a $1M poker prize.

Mike Matusow

No one has appeared on the Poker Hall of Fame shortlist more times than Mike Matusow — every year since 2013.

Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow

Matusow moved to Las Vegas at age 10 and was immediately hooked on slot machines. He even went through treatment for gambling addiction. After turning 18, he worked as a casino dealer.

His big break came in 1998 when he staked Scotty Nguyen for $500 in a $1,100 Main Event satellite. Nguyen won the satellite — and then won the Main Event itself. Matusow’s cut was $333K.

Matusow has over $10M in live earnings and 4 WSOP bracelets:

YearTournamentPayout
1999$3.5K NLHE$265,500
2002$5K PLO8$148,500
2008$5K NL 2-7 Lowball$537,900
2013$5K Stud8$266,500

For more on his life, watch the documentary Matusow:

Matt Savage

The next two candidates would likely already be in the Hall of Fame if the system still inducted two people per year — one player and one industry figure — as it did before 2014.

Matt Savage has been nominated 10 times over the last 11 years. His contributions to the game are immense — after all, we all play “by his rules”.

Matt Savage
Matt Savage

In 1991, Savage was working as a security systems technician in the San Jose Bay Area. In 1992, he took a job as a chip runner at Garden City casino, then became a dealer at Bay 101 in 1994. After burning out and developing carpal tunnel, he moved into floor work. When the tournament director took time off, Savage would fill in. In 1998, he became a full-time TD at Lucky Chances.

Having seen tournament rules vary wildly across venues, he had an idea: standardization. In 2001, the first Tournament Directors Association (TDA) summit took place — with 24 poker industry professionals in attendance. Together, they created a set of rules and encouraged directors to adopt them widely.

Thus, TDA was born. Year after year, summits grew in size. Today, the TDA includes more than 4,000 members from 65 countries.

Isai Scheinberg

This is the sixth straight year Isai Scheinberg has been nominated. He is the founding father of online poker and the creator of PokerStars. Under his leadership, Stars offered unmatched software, fast support, and the legendary SuperNova Elite loyalty program. Though much has changed, many players still dream of the days when PokerStars was run by Isai and Mark Scheinberg.

Isai Scheinberg
Isai Scheinberg

From 2011 to 2020, Scheinberg stayed out of the spotlight and avoided traveling to the U.S. In 2020, he flew to the States, resolved his legal issues, and paid a $30,000 fine.

In 2024, he returned to live poker after a 10-year break and finished 7th in the $50K WSOP High Roller for $278.5K.

Nick Schulman

A first-time nominee who just turned 40 last year. Schulman owns 7 WSOP bracelets:

YearTournamentPayout
2009$10K NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship$279,000
2012$10K NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship$294,000
2019$10K PLO8 Championship$463,000
2023$1.5K Seven Card Stud$110,000
2024$25K NLHE High Roller$1,660,000
2024$5K The Closer WSOP Paradise$145,000
2025$10K NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship$542,500

Born September 18, 1984, in New York City, Schulman’s first passion was pool. He began playing at Amsterdam Billiards at age 11, entered the U.S. Open, and started gambling on pool by 14. He dropped out of high school and got his GED.

Nick Schulman WSOP 2025
Nick Schulman

He discovered poker by accident at a pool tournament in Scranton at age 16, joined a Sit & Go, won, and was instantly hooked. From 16 to 18, he played online under the name “The Takeover.” From 18 to 21, he played poker 15 hours a day.

More about Schulman’s story here:

Scott Seiver

Another first-time nominee, having just turned 40 this year.

Scott Seiver
Scott Seiver

Scott Seiver was born on April 14, 1985, in Columbus, Ohio. As a kid, he was lazy, a poor student, and did everything half-heartedly. But after enrolling at Brown University (an Ivy League school), four events changed his life:

  1. As a freshman, he met Isaac Haxton — already a high-stakes poker pro.
  2. One night, Seiver joined Haxton and friends in a $20 home game — and won $100.
  3. In 2004, Bill Gazes (former Full Tilt Pro) visited Brown to give a lecture.
  4. Gazes was so thrilled to be recognized that he invited Seiver and his friends to dinner — and later became their first backer.

Seiver started in online heads-up cash. On Full Tilt, he played as “mastrblastr”; on PokerStars — “Gunning4you.”

In 2007, he played $500/$1,000 NLHE on Full Tilt, lost his $1M bankroll to Guy Laliberté, and the next day was back at $0.25/0.50. Within two months, he returned to $25/50. In 2008, he wiped out Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies in $500/1000 NLHU and left with $800K. By 2010, “mastrblastr” ranked among the top 100 on HSDB with $896K profit over 83,902 hands.

Seiver has over $27M in live tournament earnings and 7 WSOP bracelets:

YearTournamentPayout
2008$5K NLHE$755,900
2018$10K Limit Hold’em$296,200
2019$10K Razz$301,000
2022$2.5K Freezeout NLHE$320,000
2024$10K PLO8 Championship$426,700
2024$1.5K Razz$141,000
2024$10K NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship$411,000

The new Hall of Fame inductee will be officially announced just before the start of WSOP Event #92: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty NLHE on July 11.

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Written By: Alex Sakuta Content Editor