Vanessa Selbst has Long Outgrown the Female Poker Rankings

It is high time we all dropped the 'female' qualifying adjective when talking about one of the top poker players in the world - @Vanessa Selbst is simply one of the best. In the words of Phil Hellmuth, 'possibly the best No-Limit Tournament player on the planet – man or woman'.

She was born on July 9, 1984 in Brooklyn, New York (where she recently moved back from Vegas). Unlike many others from her generation whose passion for poker came up against fierce opposition from family and friends, Vanessa was actually encouraged by her mother to play and progress in the game.

Vanessa started playing online in college - learning a lot from 2+2 forum discussions - and was soon successful in the live tournament field, as well. By the time she decided to go back to school and pursue law studies at Yale University she had hundreds of thousands in live poker winnings.

I realised I wouldn’t be able to balance the two because when you’re playing poker it’s hard not to get completely wrapped up in it. I took out all the money I had online because I knew that if I had money in an account I’d just be tempted to play. So the first few years of law school, I didn’t really play that much poker. I played the Aussie Millions on winter break and a few World Series events on summer break, but I had summer jobs as well. So I played maybe a total of 15 tournaments over the course of those two years, which isn’t very much at all when you think about it – but I was fortunate enough to do extremely well in those tournaments.

In 2010, Vanessa decided she couldn't stay away from poker anymore, took a break from her studies, signed on with PokerStars and went on to earn close to $3 million in live tournaments:

The next big year in her personal and professional poker life was 2013. Vanessa and her partner Miranda got engaged on January 4th, just before she scored the second biggest cash in her career at the 2013 PCA High Roller event - $1,424,420.

"I feel much more responsibility as a gay poker player. I think being a woman in the spotlight who is succeeding at what she does is great, but personally it’s more important that I’m a gay woman in the spotlight – particularly a woman who is non-gender-conforming. People joke that I look like a boy and I’m fine with that. I know how I come across and I’m totally comfortable with who I am. Being someone who has received a lot of media attention despite not looking traditionally feminine is something that’s very important to me because there are a lot of kids out there who are struggling with their sexual identity or their gender identity, and to see someone like me receive positive attention in the media is very important because they often don’t know there are people out there who are like them. There are so few people like me in the spotlight that I just feel it’s really important to be honest and open about who I am whenever I can."

Meanwhile, Vanessa has never given up her commitment to social justice and civil rights and her wish to use her own privileged place in the media spotlight to benefit others. Probably the only world class pro with a special social justice section on her website, Vanessa has helped fund many non-profit organizations and projects. One issue she feels strongly about is police violence and abuse of authority and the need to raise awareness, notably by promoting video taping and sharing documented instances of abusive practices.

"Even as an upper middle class white woman, I’ve been in situations where I’ve felt disempowered while trying to assert my rights. There are people who are harassed on a daily basis with no recourse. My law degree gives me the framework to address police misconduct and government abuse of authority, and to fight for racial justice and economic equality."

Last night Vanessa Selbst played a charity heads-up with tennis legend and fellow PokerStars ambassador @Rafael Nadal. She will be playing EPT Sanremo and Monte Carlo next and we send her our heartfelt GL wishes!