The BLUFF Power 20

This morning the 2011 Bluff Power 20 list was released on the BLUFF Magazine website. The list is supposed to represent a snapshot, as of December 2010, of the 20 most influential people in poker. After some criticism of the list last year the process was opened up this year. 101 voters received ballots, "consisting of online operators, land-based operators, agents and media".

I put a fair deal of thought into my ballot and was curious to see how it measured up against the final list. Such lists, after all, are ready-made for debate. In fact that's probably their main purpose -- to get people talking. I was pleased to see that nine of my top 10 choices made the final list, and that overall 13 of my choices were there.

The names that appeared on my ballot but not on the final list I ranked 8th, 11th, 15th, and 17th-20th. No real surprise on 17th-20th as those were the slots I found the most difficult. They're also the slots where there should be the least amount of consensus. My #8 and #11 were "outside the box" choices. I stand by them but I'm not surprised they didn't make the final cut.

I debated the idea of sharing my ballot and the thought process that went into it but I don't think it would accomplish much. Different people view the concepts of "power" and "influence" in different ways. My view is neither right nor wrong. It's merely mine.

Still, I have to wonder what some of the other voters were thinking in order to produce this final list. I find the inclusion of one particular person in the Top 10 to be appalling. In other cases I feel like voters may have used last year's list as a starting post for casting this year's ballot without thinking, "Are these people influential and/or powerful in poker in December 2010?"

That's all part of the process when you ask a wide cross-section of 101 people to produce an arbitrary list. At least it was a fun exercise for me. Thanks to BLUFF Magazine for asking me to cast a ballot.

A footnote: no women appeared on the final list. I'm not sure a woman has ever made the list. I had two women on my ballot this year but I ranked them #15 and #19.