Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst is a professional poker player who made her first live-event cash in 2006 at the WSOP. In the first 5 years of her career, Vanessa cashed 37 times, made 19 final tables, won 7 events (including a pair of NAPT titles), cashed in 11 WSOP events, won a gold bracelet, and earned over 4.7 million.

Born on July 9, 1984 in Montclair, New Jersey, Vanessa attended Yale University in New York where she earned a BA in Political Science in 2005. While earning her undergraduate degree, she was head of the Yale Queer-Straight Alliance, and was introduced to poker.

Vanessa started playing poker with friends in her junior year of college, and in 2004, she started taking the game seriously. By her senior year, she was making the hour drive to Foxwoods several times a week where she started playing in $5/$5 NLHE cash games. As she started winning and building her bankroll, she moved up to $5/$10 and $10/$25 stakes.

Although her life is full of commitments, Vanessa has proven she knows how to balance her poker and school time well. She has won a WSOP bracelet, a pair of NAPT titles, and became one of the top female poker players in the business – all while going to school full-time to earn her law degree.

In 2006, Vanessa decided to move to Las Vegas for the summer in order to play in cash games. Although she had little tournament experience, she decided to enter some events at the 2006 WSOP, and made her first live event cash when finished 7th to earn $101,285 in the $2,000 NLHE. She also made the money in the $2,000 NLHE Shootout event, in between playing in the cash games at the Rio.

During the summer of 2007, Vanessa returned to the WSOP where she final tabled twice. She finished 8th for $20,480 in the $1,000 NLHE Ladies World Championship, and took 3rd in the $5,000 NLHE Heads-up Championship to collect $128,968.

In 2008 Vanessa cashed 8 times, won 3 events, and collected her first gold bracelet. She started the year by cashing 3 times at the L.A. Poker Classic where she won the $1,000 NLHE World Poker Tour Ladies event, beating Erica Schoenberg to win $26,500. Two months later, she was runner-up in the $1,500 Ladies Championship at the Five Star World Poker Classic, to earn $40,815.

At the 2008 WSOP, Vanessa cashed 3 times and won her first bracelet. She cashed in the $2,500 NLHE, and then took down the $1,500 PLO event for the bracelet and $227,933. Next, she had a repeat performance in the NLHE Championship Heads-up event, finishing 3rd for the second year in a row – this time earning $108,288. To end her year, Vanessa was at the World Poker Finals in Mashantucket where she won the $1,850 NLHE event for $115,000.

All 3 of Vanessa’s cashes in 2009 took place at the World Poker Finals Mashantucket. She started by winning the $1,375 NLHE to earn $74,224. After cashing in the $350 NLHE Ladies event, she went on to finish 3rd in the $2,325 NLHE for $28,624.

In January 2010, Vanessa was in Australia where she cashed twice at the Aussie Millions. Three months later, she was at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun, to win the $4,700 NLHE Main Event for which she took home $750,000 and her first NAPT title.

After cashing in the 2010 WSOP in the Main Event and at the EPT Tallinn, Vanessa was in France for the Partouche Poker Tour. In Cannes, she made the biggest score of her career when she won the €7,750 NLHE Main Event to collect €1,300,000. The next month, she was in London at the EPT, where she finished the year by taking 4th in the £20,000 NLHE High Roller Event to earn £145,000.

Vanessa cashed 15 times in 2011, made 6 final tables, and won her 2nd NAPT tile. She started by cashing in the World Cup of Poker event at the PCA, then finished 8th in the $25,000 NLHE NBC National Heads-up Championship for $75,000. In April, she returned to the NAPT Mohegan Sun, where she defended her title and won the $5,000 Main Event for the 2nd year in a row, this time earning $450,000. The same month, she cashed at the EPT San Remo, before heading to Vegas to cash once at the WSOP.

In August, Vanessa finished 12th in the Epic Poker League’s $1,500 NLHE Pro-Am Event, and later the same month, made the money in the Main Event at the EPT Barcelona. At the Borgata Poker Open, she earned $18,868 when she finished 23rd in the $3,300 NLHE Championship Event.

In October Vanessa was back in Europe, where she cashed at the EPT/UK & Ireland Poker Tour London, cashed twice at the 2011 WSOP Europe Cannes, made the money in the Main Event at the EPT San Remo, and took 6th in both the Nations Cup London, and the Coral Late Night Poker Cardiff. To end her amazing year, Vanessa finished 3rd in the $10,000 NLHE Championship Event at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic to earn $338,351.

Although she loves poker, after she graduates from Yale Law School in 2012, Vanessa hopes to pursue a career in the field of civil rights law to fight for racial justice, economic equality, and stand up against police misconduct and government abuse of authority. Her goal is to earn enough money in poker to eventually fund a foundation dedicated to the creation of national civil rights projects.

Even though she has had great success as a professional poker player, she never allowed herself to leave school, as so many young players do. In an interview with CardPlayer, Vanessa said, “I’ve really enjoyed law school during some points, but in the recent past it’s felt like a weight pulling me down, distracting me from doing all of the things I want to do.  I realized recently that it is not that difficult to balance law school with poker playing, but it seems to be incredibly challenging to balance law school with a career as a professional poker player.”

Dividing her time between New York, Las Vegas and Toronto, Canada, Vanessa is a member of Team PokerStars Pro, where she plays under the alias “V. Selbst.” She is also an executive producer and a private poker coach at DeucesCracked, where she has made dozens of instructional videos.

When she takes a break from poker, Vanessa likes playing basketball, tennis, and shooting pool and darts.