- 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Huckleberry ‘Huck’ Seed is the lone 2020 inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame.
- He was the top choice in a vote of 30 of the 31 living members of the Hall of Fame.
- Seed is a four time WSOP bracelet winner with over $7.6 million in career earnings.
Huckleberry ‘Huck’ Seed, the 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, is the only player voted into the 2020 Poker Hall of Fame class. Seed was chosen from among 10 nominees in a vote of the 31 living Poker Hall of Fame members. 30 ballots were cast with one abstention with Seed receiving 76 of a possible 300 votes. Seed becomes the 59th member of the Poker Hall of Fame joining 2019 inductees Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim.
Seed grew up in Corvallis, Montana and was an excellent athlete during his youth. At 6’7″ he was a natural for basketball and would eventually play on the Cal Tech hoop team where he majored in electrical engineering. In 1989, he took a leave of absence from his scholarly pursuits and started playing poker full time. He first cashed in a tournament in 1990 and won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1994, winning the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event and pocketing $167,000. Two years later he won the WSOP Main Event and what was then a $1 million top price. He has also won bracelets in $1,500 Limit Razz (2000) and $5,000 Limit Razz (2003).
In addition to his poker prowess, Seed is known for his fondness for proposition bets as PokerNews.com details:
In addition to his poker accomplishments, Seed is also well-known for his “prop bets,” such as the time he bet (it’s been reported both $10,000 and $50,000 against Phil Hellmuth) he could float in the ocean for either 18 or 24 hours (he lost that one), when he booked a six-figure bet he could break 100 four times in a single day playing on a desert golf course using a five iron, sand wedge, and putter (he won), and that he could go a year without shaving (a funeral obligation forced him to give up).
He also once bet he could do a standing backflip against Howard Lederer despite having never done one. He had two days to learn and won the $10,000 bet. Speaking of Lederer, Seed once bet him he could beat him in a 50-yard dash while hopping on one leg. Lederer’s two-legged test run went so well that Seed conceded and paid out $5,000.
Needless to say, Seed was thrilled at his induction into the honor roll of poker luminaries:
“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 Horseshoe, 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.”
Other nominees with vote counts:
— Eli Elezra: 30
— Antonio Esfandiari: 23
— Lon McEachern and Norman Chad: 20
— Ted Forrest: 20
— Mike Matusow: 17
— Patrik Antonius: 15
— Chris Ferguson: 3
