Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst (born July 9, 1984) is an American former professional poker player known for her hyper-aggressive style and remarkable tournament achievements. She is the only woman ever to reach the number one ranking in the world on the Global Poker Index and the only female player to win three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets in open-field events. With over $11.9 million in live tournament earnings, Selbst is consistently ranked among the highest-earning female poker players of all time. She retired from full-time poker in 2018 to join the hedge fund Jane Street Capital as a trader, and later started a family.

Selbst was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family. She initially attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for one year before transferring to Yale University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. During her time at Yale, she served as the president of the Yale Queer-Straight Alliance, reflecting her early commitment to LGBTQ+ advocacy. After graduating, she spent a year in Spain on a Fulbright scholarship. Upon returning to the United States, she worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company before eventually returning to Yale Law School, where she received her Juris Doctor degree in 2012.

Selbst began playing poker during her college years, starting with home games before moving on to cash games at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. In 2006, she traveled to Las Vegas for her first World Series of Poker, where she made an immediate impact by reaching the final table of the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. This early success fueled her passion for tournament poker, and she quickly became a regular on the global circuit.

Selbst’s first WSOP bracelet came in 2008 when she won the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $227,933. She added a second bracelet in 2012, winning the $2,500 10-Game Mix (Six-Handed) for $244,259. Her third and largest bracelet victory came in 2014 when she took down the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed Max event for $871,148. In addition to her bracelets, Selbst made numerous deep runs at the WSOP, including a third-place finish in the $5,000 Heads-Up World Championship in 2007 and a 73rd-place finish in the 2012 WSOP Main Event. As of 2026, she has 20 WSOP money finishes and 8 final tables.

Beyond the WSOP, Selbst dominated other major tours. She is the only player to win the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Main Event back-to-back, taking down the Mohegan Sun Main Event in 2010 for $750,000 and successfully defending her title in 2011 for $450,000. Her largest live cash came in 2010 when she won the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event in Cannes, France, earning €1,300,000 (approximately $1,823,430). In January 2013, she won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100,000 High Roller for $1.4 million, making her the highest-earning woman in poker history at that time. She was also the first woman to play in the prestigious Big One for One Drop event in 2014, and in 2015 she won the Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout for $1,000,000.

Selbst was renowned for her ultra-aggressive approach, characterized by frequent three-betting and four-betting pre-flop, and relentless pressure on opponents. She excelled at using position and stack sizes to leverage her aggression, often putting her adversaries in tough spots. Her style combined mathematical precision with expert reads, allowing her to exploit weaknesses in opponents’ ranges. She was particularly dangerous in deep-stacked tournaments, where her ability to apply constant pressure often forced errors from even the most seasoned players.

Selbst is openly gay and has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and social justice. She married her wife, Miranda Foster, in 2013, and the couple has two children. Throughout her career, she served as a coach and executive producer for DeucesCracked, an online poker training site, and was a member of Team PokerStars Pro. She also authored strategy content and mentored aspiring players. In January 2018, she announced her retirement from professional poker to join Jane Street Capital, a global trading firm. She cited the intellectual challenges of trading as a natural next step. Despite her retirement, she has occasionally returned to the felt, including a 14th-place finish in the 2019 WPT Borgata Poker Open and a 10th-place finish in the 2025 WSOP $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship. As of 2026, her total live tournament earnings exceed $11,928,000, solidifying her legacy as one of the most accomplished and influential poker players of all time.