The Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF) nominated eight candidates in October for the 2024 class of inductions. The candidates were Liv Boeree, Jamie Kerstetter, Kara Scott, Rebecca McAdam Willetts, Annette Obrestad, Jennifer Shahade, Kristen Foxen, and Jeanne David.
The eight candidates were all strong contenders, with each having a very solid case to be made for induction. In fact, some of the nominees are some of the biggest names in the game of poker.
After a couple of weeks of discussion and voting, the suspense is now over. At the end, two of the eight nominees were selected as the 26th and 27th members of the WiPHoF.
Kristen Foxen
One of the two women inducted is perhaps the most well-known name among women in poker right now: Kristen Foxen. Her resume speaks for itself. She has $8.4 million in career earnings, much of that coming in the last few years as her results continue to accumulate.
Foxen is currently the second-highest ranked woman in career live tournament earnings, and will more than likely overtake the top spot in the coming years with Vanessa Selbst largely retired from poker. She also boasts the most WSOP bracelets for any woman with five, which in itself makes her a slam-dunk inductee.
Having women in the top levels of poker is important for promoting the game and Foxen has been instrumental in recent years in this aspect as well. Her continued presence on poker streams in the top tournaments in the world and high roller cash games has been unbelievably valuable. Foxen has proven that women can compete at the top level of the game.
What was likely one of the key factors to Foxen being inducted this year was her 2024 WSOP Main Event run, which was fresh on the minds of the voters. Her 13th-place finish in the largest Main Event in history was memorable as she made a charge to become the first woman to make the final table in the poker boom era.
Foxen played in the spotlight of the poker world and had many memorable hands at the feature table before ultimately coming up just short of the final table. But it was still the highest finish for any woman at the WSOP Main Event since 2012.
Jeanna David
Perhaps a lesser known name was also inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame with the induction of Jeanna David. She is not as well known as Foxen, but that does not mean she is any less important to women in poker, which can be seen by the decision to put her in as an industry induction.
After working most of her career with PokerStars as the head of responsible gaming, David has been a critical behind-the-scenes figure and has made efforts to get online poker legalized again in the USA, as well as across the whole of Europe. She has been instrumental in getting online poker regulated in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
As a player, she is known as a strong mixed games player with most of her career winnings coming in mixed games.
The six nominees who were not chosen for induction this year into the WiPHoF will all still be strong candidates in 2025 when the debate will pick up once again.