For over a decade, you couldn’t open a poker publication without seeing Venessa Selbst ranking on the top of leaderboards everywhere. Like many players, she discovered poker during her teenage years and started off playing in home games.

Her climb to stardom started in the 2006 World Series of Poker, where she managed to make the final table of the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament, finishing in 7th place and banking $101,285 for her performance. In 2008 Vanessa won her first WSOP bracelet in a $1,500 PLO event, netting over a quarter of a million. Then in 2010, Selbst took down the North American Poker Tour Main Event, winning the prestigious title and the $750,000 first-place prize. She then went back to back, winning the same event the next year, this time around to the tune of $450,000. She also won the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event in September of 2010 for her biggest career win of over $1.8 million. And in 2012 and 2014, Vanessa won two more WSOP bracelets, becoming the only female player with three bracelets from open events.

Although Vanessa has left poker professionally to pursue her career as an options trader, she still plays on occasion since it allows her to enjoy the game more than following the professional circuit.

Vanessa has close to $12 Million in tournament winnings which is double than the second ranking person in the GPI Women’s All Time Money List.