The Poker Hall of Fame has announced their 10 Finalists for the Class of 2019.

The 10 Finalists are:

Chris Bjornin: From Sweden, Bjornin has earned $5.7 million on the tour winning two WSOP Gold Bracelets.  He is eighth all-time on the cash list and is second all-time among Swedish born players.  Bjornin has none WSOP Main Event cash-ins.

David Chiu: From China, David Chu is a five-time WSOP Gold Bracelet winner.  He has made $8 million over his career, which began in 1996.

Eli Elezra: From Israel, Elezra has won over $3.7 million on the tour and four WSOP Gold Medal Bracelets.  

Antonio Esfandiari: Nicknamed the “Magician”, Esfandiari won the first ever WSOP Big One for One Drop $1,000,000 buy-in tournament and he is ninth all-time in winnings.  He has also won three WSOP Gold Bracelets and two WPT Titles.

Chris Ferguson: Ferguson has 129 WSOP cashes, which ranks him second all-time.  He has made $9 million playing tournament poker.

Ted Forrest: Forrest has won more than $6.3 million over his career and won three WSOP Gold Bracelets.  That accomplishment happened over three different type of poker variances, making him the only one to do so.

Mike Matusow: Dubbed the “Mouth”, Matsuow has won four WSOP Gold Bracelets with $9.5 million in earnings.  He has made the WSOP main event table twice.

Chris Moneymaker: Moneymaker made online poker more popular by winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event after winning his entry in an online satellite for only $39. He has won $3.7 million in tournament winnings.

David Oppenheim: A pro from Los Angeles, Oppenheim has won nearly $2 million in career earnings.

Huck Seed: Seed is a four-time WSOP Bracelet winner with $7.6 million over his career.  

To qualify for the Hall of Fame the inductee must:

1. Have played against acknowledged top competition.

2. Be at least 40 years old at the time of nomination.

3. Played for high stakes.

4. Played well and gained the respect of others.

If the inductee is a non-player, he/she must have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker.  To date there are 56 members of the Hall, which was founded in 1979.

The Class of 2019 would be decided by 30 Hall of Fame members ad 21 poker industry members.  Ballots are due on July 8 and the Class will be announced on July 15 during the WSOP main event final table.

With the exception of Esfandian, all of the Finalists have been nominated before.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive.  As such it is news to us that yesterday the Vancouver Canucks have announced that they will be installing Alex Burrows into their Ring of Honour next season.

This announcement comes at the same time that the team announced that the Sedin Twins will have their numbers retired.  The Canucks have a secondary accolade where they don’t retire numbers but place their name permanently in the arena.  

Burrows would play at Left Wing from 2005-06 to 2016-17 for 822 Games where he was one of the better defensive forwards in the Game.  The native of Quebec received Frank J. Selke Award votes six season in a row and he would score 384 Points as a Canuck. 

Burrows joins Orland Kurtenback, Kirk McLean, Thomas Gradin, Harold Snepts, Pay Quinn and Mattias Ohlund in the Vancouver Canucks Ring of Honour.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive.  As such it is news to us that yesterday the Vancouver Canucks have announced that they will be retiring the numbers of both the Sedin (Daniel & Henrik) in February.

The Sedins were drafted 2^nd(Daniel) and 3^rd(Henrik) respectively in the 1999 Draft and the twins would play all 17 of his seasons with the Canucks and it when it was all said and done the brothers would become the best players in franchise history and they are the only siblings to exceed 1,000 Points each. 

Daniel Sedin is first all-time in Goals (393), and is second in Assists (648), Points (1,041) and Games Played (1,306). He would win the Art Ross Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson Award in the 2010/11 season and was also a First Team All-Star.  The season before he was a Second Team All-Star.

Henrik Sedin is first all-time in Points (1,070), Assists (830) and Games Played (1,330).  He would win the Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy in the 2009/10 season and that year and the one after he would be name a First Team All-Star.

Daniels’s #22 and Henrik’s #33 joins Pavel Bure (#10), Stan Smyl (#12), Trevor Linden and Markus Naslund (#19).

Not only are they having their numbers retired, the Canucks will be celebrating their accomplishments over three home games.   Danieland Henrikare eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2021 and will likely both enter on their first year of eligibility.  

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Daniel and Henrik Sedin for earning this very prestigious honor.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive.  As such it is news to us that the Texas Rangers will be retiring the number 10 of Michael Young.

Debuting for Texas in 2000 and playing there for 12 seasons, Young would become one of the most successful hitters in franchise history.  The infielder would have six 200 Hit Seasons with two of those years being good enough to lead the AL (2005 & 2011). A seven-time All-Star, Young won the Batting Title in 2005 with a .331 Average and had a .301 Batting Average as a Ranger.  He would also smack 177 Home Runs for the squad.

Defensively, he was incredibly versatile as he played at least 400 Games for the franchise at Second Base, Shortstop, and Third Base and was a Gold Glove winner in 2009 (SS).  He was also known for his selfishness and leadership.

As of this writing, he is the franchise leader in Games Played (1,823), Hits (2,230), Doubles (415) and Runs Scored (1,085).

Young’s number will be officially retired on August 31 of this year.

Young’s #10 joins Ivan Rodriguez (#7), Johnny Oates (#26), Adrian Beltre (#29), Nolan Ryan (#34) and the league-mandated (#42) of Jackie Robinson. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Michael Young for earning this very prestigious honor.