Women in Poker Hall of Fame To Induct Gazes, Heintz, Caro

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 02 September 2011 / Leave a Comment

The Women in Poker Hall of Fame will be adding three new members tonight with the inductions of Kristy Gazes, Margie Heintz, and Phyllis Caro. Tonight's ceremony and dinner will take place in the Grand Ballroom at the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas.

Gazes is the best known of this year's inductees to most poker fans for her frequent television appearances, including most recently coverage from this summer's World Series of Poker Main Event on ESPN in which she managed to score a 609th-place finish and cash. Gazes is also the most accomplished player among the trio being honored tonight. While she is better known as a mixed-games cash player, she's nonetheless accumulated more than $1 million in tourney earnings since the late 1990s. That puts her in the top 20 all-time among women.

Heintz, meanwhile, is being recognized for her contributions to the poker industry. The former dealer currently serves as Director of Poker Operations for the El Dorado Casino in Reno, Nevada. Heintz is known as the first woman ever to deal at the WSOP in 1977, a moment regarded as historically significant insofar as it helped introduce women into poker.

Caro also is primarily being recognized for her contributions to the industry as a whole. Wife of Mike Caro, a.k.a. "Mad Genius" of poker, Phyllis has been part of the poker world since the late 1970s, working with numerous casinos in a variety of positions. Like Heintz, her involvement in poker began as a dealer. She currently serves as Director of Poker Operations for the Hollywood Park Casino in California. She also assisted her husband in the writing of several of his books, including the highly influential Mike Caro's Book of Tells and Poker for Women: A Course in Destroying Male Opponents at Poker and Beyond.

The Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF) was founded in 2007 by the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS). Each year candidates for the WiPHoF are voted upon by a board comprised of players and industry leaders. Previous inductees into the Hall are also invited to vote.

Criteria for election to the WiPHoF includes three primary requirements: (a) the candidate must have been active as a player or industry leader for at least 15 years; (b) the candidate must have "contributed to the world of poker" significantly, either by winning major tourneys or as an industry leader; and (c) the candidate has to be a proponent of women's poker, including the specific requirement that the candidate "support" ladies-only events even if she does not participate in them.

Some have surmised that the latter item regarding ladies-only tournaments perhaps ensures that Annie Duke -- who more than meets all of the other eligibility criteria -- cannot be elected to the WiPHoF thanks to her opposition to ladies-only events. In any event, the Epic Poker Commissioner will be at tonight's ceremony as a special guest, as will U.S. House of Representative member Shelley Berkley of Nevada.

The induction of Gazes, Heintz, and Caro brings the total number of Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductees to 13. In 2008, Barbara Enright, Linda Johnson, Susie Isaacs, and Marsha Waggoner formed the inaugural WiPHoF class. In 2009, June Field, Jan Fisher, and Cyndy Violette were voted in. And the 2010 class was comprised of Billie Brown, Jennifer Harman, and Kathy Liebert.

Enright, winner of three WSOP bracelets and the only woman ever to make the WSOP Main Event final table (finishing fifth in 1995), is also the only female member of the Poker Hall of Fame. Johnson was nominated to the Poker Hall of Fame last year, but did not receive enough votes to be elected.

Those nominated to the WiPHoF but failing to make the cut this year included Nani Dollison and J.J. Liu, both of whom are likely to be voted into the WiPHoF soon. Like Enright, Dollison has the rare distinction among women of having won three WSOP bracelets -- two in the Ladies event (2000, 2001) and one in a $2,000 limit hold'em event (2001). And Liu's $2.5 million in tourney winnings over the last two decades puts her in the top 10 on the women's all-time list.

Admission to tonight's dinner and ceremony is $75, and a silent auction of various items will be held to raise additional funds. All proceeds from tonight's event go to PokerGives.org, a charity organization established by Johnson, Fisher, Mike Sexton, and Lisa Tenner dedicated to finding ways for the poker industry to provide financial aid and humanitarian assistance to mainstream charities.

For more about the Women in Poker Hall of Fame and tonight's induction ceremony, see the WiPHoF website.

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