Vanessa Selbst Finishes Fourth in POY Race

Despite spending a lot of time away from poker in 2009 to focus on her studies at Yale Law School, Vanessa Selbst showed little rust in 2010. The 26-year-old had the best poker year of her life, winning $2.8 million and 4,608 Card Player Player of the Year points, good enough for fourth place in the 2010 POY rankings.

Selbst burst on the poker scene at the 2006 WSOP where she made her way through a field of 1,919 players to final table a $2,000 no-limit hold’em event. She finished in seventh place for $101,285 and got some TV time on ESPN. But her competitive attitude left her wanting more. In 2007, she was even better. She made yet another WSOP final table, this time in the ladies event, and finished in eighth place. A week later she showed off what she considers to be one of her best games — heads-up no-limit hold’em. She rolled through the field of the $5,000 heads-up championship and nearly won her first bracelet, taking third place for $128,968.

In 2008, she got it. She entered a $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event, and 758 opponents later she was holding her first WSOP bracelet along with the $227,933 top prize. Still riding the high of such a monumental victory a few days later, she repeated her performance from the previous year by once again finishing 3rd in the WSOP heads up championship, this time for $108,288.

One of the top performers in all of 2008, Selbst had the poker community anxious to see what she could accomplish in 2009. But to the surprise of many, she instead went home and enrolled in Yale Law School.

2010: A Year To Remember

Selbst spent much of 2009 with her nose in the law books, but in 2010 she resurfaced to show that she was still a force on the felt.

She recorded her first big win of the year when she bested 715 players to win the PokerStars NAPT Mohegan Sun main event in April for $750,000. She rolled through a final table featuring tough pros like Jonathan Aguiar, Cliff Josephy and Scott Seiver.

Selbst joined Team PokerStars in the Summer, and a few months later she was in London for October’s PokerStars EPT High Roller event. She finished fourth to add another $229,583 to her 2010 winnings.

But the highlight of her year came in November, when she won the France-based Partouche Poker Tour grand final event for $1.8 million and 2,400 POY points.

In 2010, the former WSOP bracelet winner showed that she can not only balance her law studies with her poker playing, but she can be successful at both. The only players who earned more money in 2010 tournaments were the top five finishers in the WSOP main event. But none of those five finished higher than Selbst did in the POY race. Selbst also made more money in 2010 tournaments than Card Player Player of the Year Thomas Marchese and all of the other players ahead of her in the POY rankings. She now has $3.7 million in tournament winnings in her young career.

Here is a look at the final standings in the Card Player Player of the Year Race:

1: Thomas Marchese — 6,738
2: Dwyte Pilgrim — 5,576
3: Sorel Mizzi — 4,851
4: Vanessa Selbst — 4,608
5: John Racener — 4,493
6: Harrison Gimbel — 4,080
7: Andy Frankenberger — 4,010
8: Jeffrey Papola — 3,870
9: John Juanda — 3,717
10: Jonathan Duhamel — 3,600

Related Articles

WATCH: Selbst Appears On SHOWTIME's 'Billions'

Tilly, Selbst, Hael, King Added To Women's PHOF

Voting Now Open For Women Poker HOF

Most Viewed Articles