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.

Read More
15 years ago7,342

Published 15 years ago

Vanessa Selbst

Tiffany Michelle catches up with Vanessa whos currently the last remaining female and chip leader in\nthe $1500 Pot Limit Omaha. ...

15 years ago5,271

Published 15 years ago

Vanessa Selbst - Winner $1500 PLO

Vanessa Selbst - Winner $1500 PLO

13 years ago10,193

Published 13 years ago

NAPT Mohegan Sun 2010: Champion Vanessa Selbst

Congratulations to Vanessa Selbst, the newest PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Champion after taking down a field of 716 p...

13 years ago6,237

Published 13 years ago

NAPT Mohegan Sun: Vanessa Selbst

NAPT Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT, April 2010. Highlights from Vanessa Selbts dominating performance at the Main Event final table.

11 years ago9,293PokerTube,

Published 11 years ago

Vanessa Selbst 3rd after Day 1B, featuring Scotty Seiver

Vanessa Selbst is one of the best players overall in the world right now. She won a very impressive bracelet in the 10-game and ha...

11 years ago7,309Arnas1254,

Published 11 years ago

PStv Top 5: Vanessa Selbst

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is a force to be reckoned with at the felt. Check out this countdown of highlights from PStv.

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

11 years ago5,449LaoTze,

Published 11 years ago

Vanessa Selbst slowrolls Peter Eastgate

Vanessa Selbst slowrolls Peter Eastgate

11 years ago7,108

Published 11 years ago

PCA10: Vanessa Selbst Gets Engaged!

Sarah talks to Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst about playing the PCA Super High Roller for the first time and getting engaged!

11 years ago4,075

Published 11 years ago

PCA10: Switching from No Limit to Mixed Games with Selbst and Greenstein

PokerStars hosted a Q & A with Vanessa Selbst and Barry Greenstein.

Live Poker Events, 9 years ago

Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure Winners Through History - Part 2

The 2009 PCA saw a $25,000 High Roller event added to the schedule. A record 1,347 players came out to the beautiful Atlantis to attend the biggest festival of poker aside from the WSOP. The Main

Live Poker Events, 9 years ago

"All In" for Kids: WPT Charity Poker Tournament Raises $910,000

By Alexandru PetrovanuBig:G;iving back at least a little bit is important, so we’re happy to report today on a charity event that took place recently, the All In for Kids WPT tournament. Those

Introducing the Most Successfull Women in Poker

Some years ago, a woman at the poker table may have been somewhat rare occurrence, but in today’s time not only that it is perfectly normal to see a woman at the table, but there is quite a number

Live Poker Events, 9 years ago

Vanessa Selbst Tops the GPI300 Rankings

On Wednesday, June 18, Vanessa Selbst surged on top of the Global Poker Index 300 Rankings. In doing so, she has become the first woman to ever achieve this and joins the elite group of only eight

WSOP 2014: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not

With nearly one third of World Series of Poker behind us, it is time to stop and see what has happened so far. What players are hot, and who is not having such a great time so far? Most of them have

Live Poker Events, 9 years ago

​WSOP 2014: Player Plans

Every World Series is primarily about making money and winning titles. But during every Series, many players set their own personal goals and aims of different nature. We bring you couple of