Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa K. Selbst (born July 9, 1984) is a poker player, the only woman to ever reach the number one ranking in the world on the Global Poker Index. She has over US$11.8 million in live poker tournament earnings and used to be a member of Team Pokerstars Pro, where she plays under the username "V. Selbst". Selbst has three World Series of Poker bracelets and is the only woman to win three WSOP bracelets in open field events. She is also the only poker player to win the same North American Poker Tour Main Event back-to-back. In January 2013 Selbst won the PCA high roller for $1.4 million, which made her the highest-earning woman in poker history. Her results put her in the top 100 of the overall All Time Money List, with career tournament winnings just shy of $12 million. Selbst was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family. She attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a year before transferring to Yale University, where she graduated with a degree in political science. After Yale, on a Fulbright scholarship, she spent a year in Spain. On her return to the United States, she worked for consulting firm McKinsey & Company. She later returned to Yale Law School and received her J.D. degree in 2012. During her time at Yale University, she was head of the Yale Queer-Straight Alliance. Selbst was a coach and executive producer for DeucesCracked, an online poker training site.