Man Power: The BLUFF Power 20

Been looking over this year’s “BLUFF Power 20” that was released a few days ago. Always interesting to see who is being considered the 20 “most influential people in poker.”

Howard Lederer sits atop the list this year, his association with Full Tilt Poker the primary reason for his being handed the crown of “most influential.” The founder of PokerStars, Isai Scheinberg, is runner-up. And Ty Stewart, WSOP Executive Director and Caesars VP, is third. Click here for the full list as it appears over on the BLUFF site.

For more on the list, Dr. Pauly has offered some entertaining and insightful commentary on all 20 names. And F-Train posted recently about the list, too, noting suggestively how his ballot differed from the final one collectively created by the 101 voters. I say “suggestively” because F-Train, being the wise and judicious sort he is, doesn’t give up precise details of where he differed from the final vote.

I offered a few observations as well about the latest Power 20 over on Betfair today. This is the sixth year that BLUFF has published its Power 20 list, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how this year’s list compared the ones from 2006-2010.

By looking back at those earlier lists, I was able to confirm a hunch of F-Train’s, shared in a footnote to his post. “I’m not sure a woman has ever made the list,” F-Train suspects. Indeed, he’s correct -- if you look back at all of the Power 20s, not a single woman has ever been named among the top 20 most influential people in poker.

Was a little surprised not to see Annie Duke’s name pop up at least once on any of those previous lists. (F-Train says he had two women among his Power 20 for this year, and I think it is safe to assume Duke was one of them.) I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how this here “Federated Poker League” experiment goes in 2011, but if it proves even a marginal success in its first year, I imagine Duke would probably have to crack the Power 20 the next time it comes around, wouldn’t you think?

Do any other women spring to mind as possibly having deserved a spot among the Power 20 over the past six years? I can think of a couple, but like F-Train I think I’ll keep ’em to myself and instead give you a chance to ponder how you might answer the question.

Just noticed this is post #1,300. Perhaps another reason to cut it short. As I usually say whenever these milestones come up, that’s a damn lot of scribblin’!