BY TOM SOMACH

There are halls of fame in the U.S. for everything from cowboys to chess players, so why not a Poker Hall of Fame?

Indeed, there is a Poker Hall of Fame–in Las Vegas, of course–and two more top poker pros have just been added.

The latest inductees are Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. and Barbara Enright, increasing the hall’s roster to 35 members.

Hellmuth, of Palo Alto, Calif., USA, is the all-time leader in World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelets won, having earned his 11th this year.

That put him one ahead of Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson and Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan, two previous Hall inductees who each have 10 bracelets.

Hellmuth’s biggest win was the 1989 WSOP main event.

Enright, of Los Angeles, Calif., USA, the first woman ever inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, is the only woman ever to make the final table of the WSOP main event, a feat she accomplished in 1995.

In 1996, she became the first woman to win an “open” or non-women-only WSOP tournament.

All in all, she has won three WSOP championship gold bracelets, including her first, which was for a WSOP women-only tourney in 1986.

One doesn’t have to be a WSOP champ to qualify for the Poker Hall of Fame.

“Wild” Bill Hickok, a professional gambler who was shot to death during a poker game in Deadwood, S.D., USA, in the 1800s, is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

His main contribution to the game, which occurred after his death, is the coining of the cards he held when he was shot–aces and eights–as the “dead man’s hand.”

Here is the complete roster of the Poker Hall of Fame, with year of induction included:

Johnny Moss, 1979; Nick “The Greek” Dandolos, 1979; Felton “Corky” McCorquodale, 1979; Red Winn, 1979; Sid Wyman, 1979; “Wild” Bill Hickok, 1979; Edmond Hoyle, 1979; T. “Blondie” Forbes, 1980; Bill Boyd, 1981; Tom Abdo, 1982; Joe Bernstein, 1983; Murph Harrold, 1984; Red Hodges, 1985; Henry Green, 1986; Walter “Puggy” Pearson, 1987; Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, 1988; Jack “Treetop” Straus, 1988; Fred “Sarge” Ferris, 1989; Benny Binion, 1990; “Chip” Reese, 1991; Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston, 1992; Jack Keller, 1993; “Little Man” Popwell, 1996; Roger Moore, 1997; Stu “The Kid” Ungar, 2001; Lyle Berman, 2002; Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan, 2002; Bobby Baldwin, 2003; Berry Johnston, 2004; Jack Binion, 2005; Crandell Addington, 2005; T.J. Cloutier, 2006; Billy Baxter, 2006; Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr., 2007; Barbara Enright, 2007.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)