Vanessa Selbst

She may be the greatest female poker player of all time. In her twelve-year career, Vanessa Selbst has racked up a string of high-flying performances to forge a thundering record of achievements and earn the respect of the entire global poker community. Now retired, the American has amassed nearly $12 million in tournament winnings.

From Yale University to Las Vegas

Vanessa Selbst excels at what she's passionate about. During her youth, the American was a remarkable student, studying law at the prestigious Yale University. At the time, she was considering a career as a lawyer, but her passion for gaming would quickly turn her career around.

As a child, Vanessa spent a lot of time playing Pacman and card games. She took a particular interest in poker, developing a deep understanding of the game even before her 21st birthday. Once she had reached the age of majority, the New Yorker embarked on her first WSOP and brought home her first final table, in a $2,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament, for $101,285. The following year, she repeated the feat in the $5,000 heads-up tournament for another six-figure win, in just her second appearance at the world championships.

2008, the revelation

These two attempts would be transformed the very next year. In 2018, Vanessa Selbst had a fantastic year that would reveal her to the world and change her playing career forever. It all began with a victory in the Laides tournament at the 2008 WPT. An appetizer before a magnificent spring in Vegas, where Vanessa picked up her first WSOP bracelet. Vanessa Selbst's first WSOP bracelet was won in Vegas.

Highly comfortable in Pot Lait Omaha, Vanessa defeated a field of 759 players to take the title and $227,933. In the same week, she took 3rd place in the $10,000 Heads-Up Tournament to add $108,288 to her haul for the week. This double success shone a spotlight on the young American. She earned the respect of the community, the media sought her out for interviews and sponsors from all over the world took an interest in the new poker prodigy. Pokerstars then approached the player, who signed a sponsorship contract in 2010 to join Team Pro.

Serial player

Vanessa began traveling and robbing casinos around the world. In Cannes in 2010, she won the prestigious Partouche Poker Tour for €1,300,000. She also became the first person to win the North American Poker Tour Main Event in Uncasville twice in a row, for $750,000 and $450,000 in winnings.

In 2012, she adds a second WSOP bracelet to her collection. Already a finalist in the festival-opening $1,500 No Limit Hold'em, Vanessa showed her talent in variants by winning the $2,500 10-game for $244,259 in winnings. Six months later, the Team Pro Pokerstars player scored one of the biggest wins of her career at the 2013 PCA in the Bahamas. Vanessa Selbst finished 1st in the $25,000 High Roller in front of a stellar cast to take home $1,424,420, the 2nd biggest win of her career. She then became the biggest winner in the history of tournament poker and gradually widened the gap with her pursuers, until reaching almost $12 million in gross winnings.

The American would land her 3rd bracelet at the 2014 WSOP, on a new variant tournament, the 25,000 Mixed Max, for $871,148. From that point onwards, Vanessa's big wins became rarer, and she gradually left poker's upper echelons, until bowing out in 2017. After a twelve-year career, she's stepping aside on the recreational side to devote herself to a career in finance.