Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst has an academic background that’s second to none, and she’s fast forging a poker career in the same vein. She holds a degree in Political Science from Yale, and an additional degree from Yale Law School. She’s always played games like Boggle and Pacman, and her love of poker grew from those interests. While at university she started taking poker more seriously, and she’s now a successful poker pro with more than $7,000,000 in live tournament winnings to her name.

Starting in 2006, Vanessa has built a solid set of live results with some stand-out tournament victories. It all began with a World Series of Poker* final table appearance, finishing 7th in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $101,285. A year later she went a couple of places better, finishing 3rd in the $5,000 Championship Heads-Up event for $128,968, and in 2008 she returned and got the win she was looking for. Her bracelet victory came in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, and she beat an elite field of 759 players to scoop the $227,993 in first place prize money. That result brought her the success her game deserved, not to mention the respect of the poker world. She followed up the WSOP* win with a string of decent cashes at events across the US, before notching another big tournament win at the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) event at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. She took down the Main Event, claiming a huge cash of $750,000. It was a win that underlined her talent, and it wasn’t long before more titles and accolades followed. She came 4th at the EPT London High Roller event for $226,910, before scoring the biggest cash of her career so far with victory at the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event for an incredible $1,648,470. Vanessa then returned to NAPT Mohegan Sun in 2011 and won again, this time for $450,000, rounding off a perfect 12 month run and becoming the first player ever to win the same PokerStars event back-to-back. Into 2012 and Vanessa was back crushing the World Series, winning her second bracelet for taking down a $2,500 10 Game event for $244,259. Another huge score came when Vanessa triumphed in the $25,000 High Roller at the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for $1,424,420, followed a few months later by a 4th place in another High Roller event, this time at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final.

Away from poker, Vanessa studies hard at Law School and also likes to get involved in social justice issues. She’s also big on sports, playing basketball and tennis, and also games like pool and darts. Vanessa Selbst is proud to be a member of Team PokerStars Pro, and resides in Toronto (Canada), where she plays online using the screen name ‘V. Selbst’ (formerly known as ‘suckoutqueen’).

Career Highlights

Event	Date	Position	Prize
2006 WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold’em	July 2006	7th	$101,285
2007 WSOP $5,000 Championship Heads-Up	June 2007	3rd	$128,968
2008 WSOP $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha	June 2008	1st	$227,933
2008 WSOP $10,000 Championship Heads-Up	June 2008	3rd	$108,288
World Poker Finals $1,850 No Limit Hold’em	November 2008	1st	$115,000
NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event	April 2010	1st	$750,000
EPT London £20,000 High Roller	October 2010	4th	$226,910
Partouche Poker Tour Main Event	November 2010	1st	$1,648,470
NAPT Mohegan Sun	April 2011	1st	$450,000
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic	December 2011	3rd	$338,351
L.A. Poker Classic $5,100 No Limit Hold’em	February 2012	1st	$140,295
2012 WSOP $2,500 10 Game	July 2012	1st	$244,259
PCA $25,000 High Roller	January 2013	1st	$1,424,420
PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller	May 2013	4th	$380,656

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