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Vanessa Selbst has an incredibly interesting background. While she worked her way through Yale Law School, Vanessa continued to dominate the poker industry and won major titles. She already had a World Series of Poker bracelet to her name. In 2010, Selbst won the Partouche Poker Tour main event and won two straight NAPT Mohegan main events in 2010 and 2011. Selbst then acquired an endorsement deal with PokerStars.
Selbst won her first WSOP bracelet back in 2008 but struggled after the bracelet win to only have four cashes from 2009 to 2011. Selbst finished fourth in her first WSOP 2012 event and then cashed twice more over the past couple of weeks. Selbst won her second WSOP bracelet when she defeated the toughest field of competitors in Event 52, which was a $2,500 six-handed 10-game mixed event.
“I’m so happy, I have no words for once in my life,” Selbst said. “Normally when I bulldoze a table, it’s in like big bet events when I could bully people, this one I just ran like god. … I just hit every hand. It’s a pretty surreal experience.”
“Thanks to everyone for the support and congratulations,” Selbst said on Twitter. “I am so happy right now and having such amazing friends & fans means the world to me!”
Selbst is now second on the all-time money list for women at the WSOP and is 59th overall with $5.3 million in career winnings. Selbst is the sixth woman to win two WSOP bracelets along with Jennifer Harman, Nani Dollison, Barbara Enright, Starla Brodie and Susie Isaacs. Selbst is ranked fifth on the poker rankings from ESPN.
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Selbst still holds the dream of practicing public interest law at some point during her career. When Selbst finishes the WSOP she is planning to volunteer at a law firm in Los Angeles this summer to obtain first-hand legal experience. Selbst said she plans to take the bar exam sometime next year either in California or somewhere else. Selbst graduated from law school in January and said, “When you’re in poker, you’re really into it and you want to play all the time,” Selbst said. “I tried to force poker from my mind. I pretty much had to remove myself from that while I was in New Haven (Conn.)”
Selbst said that she did not hide the fact that she was a poker player when she was in school, saying, “Honestly, it was an intensive experience,” Selbst said. “Whenever I was traveling, if I was done playing, I’d be studying. If I busted out (of a game), I’d read for class. It was just a year and it’s done now.”
