Vanessa Selbst

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Vanessa Selbst has gone on to establish herself as one of the world’s most formidable tournament players.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Vanessa Selbst has gone on to establish herself as one of the world’s most formidable tournament players. Selbst developed her competitive spirit from a young age, as she excelled both academically and on the sports field playing tennis, field hockey and rugby.

After achieving excellent results in school, Selbst attended MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for one year, before transferring to Yale. Although she began playing poker in home games in high school, Selbst has credited much of her poker education to her time at Yale, where she began to discuss the intricacies of the game, and became involved in the 2+2 forum.

While still a student, Selbst began to dedicate her summers away from study to play poker, participating in her first World Series of Poker in 2006. Her first WSOP could be considered a success, as she final-tabled the $2,000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em event finishing 7th for $101,285. Selbst would continue her success at the WSOP in the following years as she finished in 3rd place in the 2007 $5,000 World Championship Heads-Up event for a $128,968 cash, before winning her first bracelet in the 2008 $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. In the heads-up section of the Pot-Limit Omaha event, Selbst’s opponent Jamie Pickering, who had been drinking alcohol throughout the tournament, was shoving all-in blind and Selbst survived the madness to pick up her first WSOP bracelet.

Selbst managed to win her 2nd WSOP bracelet in 2012 when she won the $2,500 10 Game Six Handed event for $244,259. Selbst’s biggest career win to date is her first place finish in the 2010 Main Event of the Partouche Poker Tour, as she took $1,800,000 for her win.

In January of 2013 Selbst took down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller event for $1,424,402. Selbst had proposed to her partner the night before the event began, making the tournament an extra special win for her. Unlike many other professional players who drop out of education after realising they can make money playing poker, Selbst is unique in that she has continued on with her studies.

Selbst returned to Yale after graduation to pursue a law degree, graduating in 2012. She has since stated that she would like to pursue a career in civil rights: economic equality, racial justice and against the government’s abuse of authority.

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7 years ago6,165BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

National Heads-Up Poker Championship - Selbst Vs Galfond

Phil Galfond and Vanessa Selbst play awesome heads-up poker in their third round tie in the 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Champions...

7 years ago4,545BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

PokerStars - Top 5 Poker Bluffs

There's nothing more exciting in poker than the satisfaction of pulling off a huge bluff. From Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst and...

8 years ago8,677BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

10 Most Successful Female Poker Players

10 Most Successful Female Poker PlayersFeaturing: Vanessa Selbst, Maria Ho, Liv Boeree, Annette Obrestad, Vanessa Rousso, Kathy Li...

9 years ago4,496BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Barry Greenstein Picks Bad Time to Get Aggressive

Barry Greenstein picks a bad moment to get aggressive against Vanessa Selbst

6 years ago6,141BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk - Quitting This Stupid Game Forever!

Sometimes enough is enough, and with lots of interests elsewhere, it's best to move on to bigger and more lucrative things, even i...

8 years ago123,081BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT 11 Grand Final Main Event - Episode 2

EPT 11 Grand Final Main Event - Episode 2It's Day 3 and the bubble is approaching in the €10,000 Pokerstars EPT Season 11 Grand ...

11 years ago5,945Arnas1254,

Published 11 years ago

EPT 8 Barcelona - Nikov vs Selbst

Dobromir Nikov (Bulgaria) and Vanessa Selbst (USA) in action at EPT Barcelona, September 2011

8 years ago3,663BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT Barcelona - Selbst Owns Nikov

Team Pokerstars Pro Vanessa Selbst goes for maximum value against Dobromir Nikov in this hand from the feature table of the 2011 E...

8 years ago2,440BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT Prague - Kanit at Risk vs Vanessa Selbst

Mustapha Kanit at risk but ahead against Vanessa Selbst

9 years ago5,022BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

EPT11 Prague - Vanessa Selbst Catches Break

Vanessa Selbst catches a lucky break in a big pot

Vanessa Selbst Is Having Serious Regrets About Her Massive Prop Bet

Selbst made mistakes. Both involved massive prop bets against two poker players and the possibility to win three WSOP bracelets in one summer. And now, having the sweat of her life, she regrets them.

Mercier Sees Chance To Cash In On Huge Prop Bets

The stakes got a lot higher though when Vanessa Selbst joined the sweat party. She gave 180-to-1 odds to win three WSOP bracelets this summer. If Mercier takes down three events, he will get $1.8 million.

Will a Woman Ever Win a WPT?

No woman has ever picked up a WPT title in the history of the event, thus there were absolutely no representatives of the fairer sex in the inaugural WPT champions event.

The Top 3 Female Poker Players

The reality nowadays is that there are many women involved in poker – and the best of them are very, very good players indeed!

The Bike Ride Worth $1.2M

​Once upon a time, the King of Instagram Dan Bilzerian had a dream life spending most of his time alongside countless female friends with no worries whatsoever. Proof you ask? Well, what you’re about to see is only a glimpse of Bilzerian’s boss life.

Vanessa Selbst $2M Prop Bet

Selbst accepted a bet from over-confident poker player Urbanovich. The Polish put on the line $10,000 to his cause: win three World Series of Poker gold-bracelets in his first appearance in Las Vegas.

Vanessa Selbst Wins for Charity

Poker players are often generous to the charity campaigns they support, but Vanessa Selbst stands out as one of the highest contributing poker players around.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

Vanessa Selbst Wins Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout

Vanessa Selbst won $1 million in the Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout, defeating Hollywood star Kevin Pollack heads-up.

Vanessa Selbst Makes Appearance on Steve Harvey Show

Vanessa Selbst appears on the Steve Harvey Show, featured as part of a "Female Ground Breaker" segment that highlights successful women.

Vanessa Selbst Passes Bar Exam

Vanessa Selbst passed the bar exam and looks forward to practicing law in addition to playing poker professionally.