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
9 years ago5,022BestPokerVids,

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EPT11 Prague - Vanessa Selbst Catches Break

Vanessa Selbst catches a lucky break in a big pot

5 years ago5,007BDJB,

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When Female Poker Players TILT!

Move over Mike Matusow, move over Phil Hellmuth! It's not only the men who can have a bit of a mouth on them at the poker tables!I...

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Vanessa Selbst owns Dobromir Nikov

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Vanessa Selbst gets in an ugly spot with Ace-King

11 years ago4,656

Published 11 years ago

EPT9 London: Vanessa Selbst

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is now the highest earning female poker player of all time.

9 years ago4,553welovepoker,

Published 9 years ago

Meet the Pokerstars Proteges 2014

Joe Stapleton introduces the winners of the 2014 WCOOP protege competition who are also joined by the Pokerstars team pros.

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 ago4,515BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Top Women in Poker - 2015 Edition

A feature on the Top 5 most successful female poker players in 2015, including Vanessa Selbst and Liv Boeree amongst others.

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

9 years ago4,431BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Vanessa Selbst Making a Play vs Esfandiari

Antonio Esfandiari facing some serious aggression from Vanessa Selbst

Is This Allowed? Genderswap at the WSOP

A female poker player is willing to risk disqualification and play the next year’s WSOP Main Event disguised as a man.

James Obst Quitting Poker To Play Wimbledon

James Obst went after his childhood dream of going pro, not at poker but tennis.

Jason Mercier Leaves PokerStars

In the second big departure of the week, 5-time WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier has decided to part ways with PokerStars.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Justice is Blinds Returns With Vanessa Selbst, Olivier Busquet and Ingrid Weber

Vanessa Selbst will host the third edition of her Justice is Blinds, a charity poker event benefiting the non-profit advocacy organization Urban Justice Center.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Maria Lampropoulos Wins PCA Main Event for $1,081,100

Maria Lampropulos navigated through a field of over 500 players to take down the 2018 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure.

Matusow Criticised by Selbst Over Weinstein Hollywood Tweets

Mike ‘the Mouth’ Matusow was once again at the centre of controversy when he shared his thoughts on the Harvey Weinstein alleged rape and sexual abuse scandal.

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.

Negreanu Versus Trump: Hurricane Edition

Negreanu had something to say about the Commander in Chief’s wildly solipsistic handling of the Texas hurricane disaster.

Patrick Leonard Responds to Angle Shoot Accusations

A reasonable explanation and much deeper than the simple ‘scummy angle shoot’ claims which were flying all over the internet.

Phil & Farah Galfond Are Expecting A Baby!

Phil Galfond has had every player waiting with baited breath for updates on RunItOnce poker site – and when it came - it was an entirely unexpected one…