Poker's Most Influential Players

Tonight on Keep Flopping Aces on http://www.roundersradio.com/ at 6:00 PM PDT, Lou Krieger and I will be joined by my friend and former co-worker, poker blogger James Guill, aka Compncards.  I first met James via Skype when I was the shadow editor for Poker News' daily tournament coverage of the World Series of Poker in 2008.  James was one of many bloggers working on site, reporting on the tournaments, and was one of the few who did not mind having an editor or dealing with a woman which made him A-OK in my book.

Since then, James has written for dozens of poker sites on a variety of topics and has kept his finger on the pulse of what's going on in the poker world.  One of his current gigs is writing for Poker Junkie and he has recently started a series on the top 20 most influential people in poker.  It's an intriguing topic and one likely to provide as much disagreement as accord, because everyone has their own idea of who has influenced poker and who is merely famous for being famous.

I mentioned his series to Lou Krieger, my co-host on Keep Flopping Aces and my editor at Poker Player Newspaper, and he agreed that it is an interesting exercise trying to come up with a list of who has had the biggest influence on poker.  Does someone qualify for merely winning the biggest WSOP Main Event ever (Jamie Gold), or is that confusing flash-in-the-pan with actual influence?  And whose influence may have been for the worse (Russ Hamilton?) and not for the better.

Tonight, we will dissect each other's list and hopefully get some input from the listeners and the chat room.  Come join us to weigh in with your own suggestions.   I hope you join us!