Huck seed has always had a presence in a poker room, and we are being literal. At 6 feet 7 inches, he is one of the tallest poker players in poker history. The 1996 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion has added another great achievement to his catalog. The 51-year-old is the lone 2020 Poker Hall of Fame inductee.
The duty of choosing inductees in past years has fallen to the living Hall of Famers and a select number of media personnel that are familiar with the poker industry. Huck has been among finalists’ lists in the past but has never made it into the Hall of Fame. For the 2020 induction, the duty of selecting a suitable inductee fell strictly to the hands of the thirty-one living Hall of Fame members. Fortunately, Huck had the most votes and is the newest member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
Huckleberry started his career back in 1990 and has since then racked up over $7 million in live tournament earnings. When the result was announced, Huck could not contain his excitement as he expressed his gratitude for the honor. In a statement, he said, “Hearing the news that I am being inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame this year brought back memories of my early poker days, walking into the Binion’s Horsehoe, about to start a poker session, admiring all the Poker Hall of Famers on the wall. It feels good to be included with all the poker legends that I once idolized and competed against over the years. Thank you, everyone.”
As earlier stated, the votes of the 31 living members were what was required to induct the newest member. Each member had ten votes and could share it however they wanted amongst all ten finalists. It was not so much of a close contest, but Huch also did not run away from other finalists. As one member was absent, only 300 votes were cast. Here is how the members voted:
- Huckleberry Seed – 76 Votes
- Matt Savage – 51 Votes
- Isai Scheinberg – 45 Votes
- Eli Elezra – 30 Votes
- Antonio Esfandiari – 23 Votes
- Lon McEachern and Norman Chad – 20 Votes
- Ted Forrest – 20 Votes
- Mike Matusow – 17 Votes
- Patrik Antonius – 15 Votes
- Chris Ferguson – 3 Votes
As a result, Huck is the 59th member of the Poker Hall of Fame, following the two inductees of 2019 – Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim.
Prop Bet Master
Seed is an amazing player in the high-stakes community, but more importantly, is well renowned for his prop bets away from the table. He has lost a few, most notably the $10,000 and $50,000 bet against Phil Hellmuth. The bet was on whether he could float in the ocean for 24 hours or not. Another note-worthy bet was against Howard Lederer where he said he could learn a standing backflip in two days despite having never done it before. He won the bet and went home with $10,000.
During a break in the 2015 WSOP Main Event, he challenged former professional poker play and MMA fighter, Terrence Chan to a fight. It was reported that the fight was for $50,000, but no money was exchanged as it was broken up by security.
