Despite its rise in popularity since the turn of the millennium, it seems poker is still predominantly seen as a man's game. There is no logical reason why this should be the case - just because you have both an X chromosome and a Y chromosome doesn't automatically mean you're more likely to win a game of cards than someone minus the Y. Yet if you were to list the top thirty poker earners of all time, every single one of them would be a man. If you continue the list onwards the first female player slots in at number 31 (more on her later) and the second female player would not appear until you reached the low 70s.
The rise of online poker is beginning to help establish a definite female presence in poker rooms all across the world. There are two excellent female players in the UK; Model and TV presenter Liv Boaree who won the 2010 European Poker Tour, and Victoria Coren, journalist and presenter of the BBCs 'Only Connect', daughter of broadcaster and journalist Alan Coren and wife of comedian David Mitchell. Both Boaree and Coren have amassed over $1.5million each in poker earnings during their careers.
The title of number one female player in the world (and the number 31 on the list of all-time earners as mentioned above) goes to
Brooklyn-born Vanessa Selbst, who since commencing her poker career in 2006 has won a stunning $8million. Her biggest win came in 2010 when she won the Main Event of the 2010 Partouche Poker Tour, swelling her bank account by a cool $1.8million. In 2013 she further cemented her reputation by finishing second in bluff.com's Poker Player of the Year award.
Selbst started her poker career as an online player, but began amassing so much cash that she began to try her luck on the live tournament scene. In 2008 she won the first of her two World Series of Poker bracelets in a $1,500 Pot Limit game. Between 2008 and 2010 Vanessa took two years out of the poker limelight to complete a law degree at Yale University but still managed to find time to win three major poker tournaments.
In addition to having to withstand the pressures of being a rare female player within professional poker, Vanessa is the first out LGBT poker player. She works with clinics devoted to LGBT rights, a role she plans to turn to full time when she's had enough of bluffing and going all-in on the flop. In 2013 she was included within the LGBT lifestyle magazine Advocate's "40-under-40" list, a selection of public figures the journal feels are likely to be architects of the next decade.
Figures recorded in 2012 revealed the somewhat surprising news that around 47% of the world's online poker players are female. If there's one person who's leading the charge of the female player across the expanse of the poker world, it's Vanessa Selbst
