Poker as a gambling game is still considered to be something usual for a man to play, but many women are also successful in this card game. For a long period, only the man was playing this game, but since the 70s, there are more and more women involved in Poker tournaments and the gambling world in general.
The first tournament where a woman was playing this game was in the year 1977 when Jackie McDaniel’s won in the tournament. After that, during the 80s, there was a great rise in the popularity of this game is a woman’s world. Some of the most popular female poker players at that time were Barbara Enright, who has won three World Series of Poker Bracelets, and Vera Richmond, who won 38,500 dollars at a World Series of Poker tournament in 1982.
From the year 2005, it is legal to play the game in pubs in the United Kingdom, which makes this game more popular for females. There was first Women`s World Open Tournament in poker and today, we can see a lot of women in all kinds of tournaments.
Today, with technology advancements and online apps, it is easy for everyone to try out their luck and see if maybe they have such a talent to become the next champion in some tournaments. If this all creates an appetite for some cards you could try visiting BetFirst.
Now everyone can try to play the game in both simulation games, or ones where you can win real money. But, in the past century, when this game started to gain its worldwide popularity, it was reserved exclusively for the man, but that changes during the 20th century. And in this article, we are going to introduce you to the Top Five Female Poker Players in the history of this game.
Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Rousso has won around 3.5 millions of dollars as a professional player. She is also popular on television, besides the poker, she was very successful in chess and Rubik’s cube arrangement. Also, she was an active softball athlete and swimmer. She is also well-known under her nickname, the Pokerness, and represents one of the most popular players that are active today.
Vanessa Rousso has a status of Team PokerStars Pro because they were sponsoring her through her career since 2015. She was playing professional tournaments until the year 2013. But there are also some rumors that she is still active, only though now she is playing at some private tournaments.
Liv Boeree
Olivia, a 34-year old woman from Kent, is well-known as the owner of two very important titles in poker. The champion of the European Poker Tour in 2010, and a champion in World Series of Poker. Besides being a very successful player, she is also known as a live reporter at World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour.
She won more than 3.8 million dollars in her career and had a lot of winnings. One of her greatest achievements was winning a tournament in Sanremo in 2010, along with winnings in Cannes and Las Vegas in the same year. Her latest great achievement is 10th place at PokerStars tournament in London in 2017. Along with Vanessa Rousso, she is one the best active female poker players today, her nickname on the tournaments is Iron Maiden.
Annie Duke
Another American female pro, Annie Duke, is also one of the best in the history of poker. She was very successful in her studying of psychology, and she was even rewarded with a scholarship of the National Science Foundation, but one year before getting her Ph.D., she left the school and started playing poker.
Annie Duke started to starts her poker career in her 20s, and she represents one of the youngest professional players of all time. Also, she has a nickname The Duchess of Poker, and she was very popular under that name in the playing circles. In the year 1994, she was playing her first World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas and won 70,000 dollars. After that, in 2004 she won against the champion and won 2 million dollars. In her rich career, she won more than 4 million dollars in tournaments.
Kathy Liebert
Kathy has one of the longest-lasting careers at the World Series of Poker tournaments since she is playing as a professional for more than 20 years. She also has a nickname PokerCat, and many people who are watching or playing professionally know her story very well.
One of Kathy’s` greatest achievements are her great games at Party Poker Cruise in 2002, and the World Tour in the same year. After that, she won a prize at the World Tour in San Jose, where she won 550,000 dollars. She was number 17 out of the top 50 poker players in 2017. Her total winnings are more than 6 million dollars.
Vanessa Selbst
Vanessa Selbst is, we can freely say, the best female player in the history of this game. In her rich career, she managed to win more than 11 million dollars in tournaments, and also, she has three World Series of Poker bracelets, which represent a champion award at these tournaments.
Most of the people who are watching or playing poker know Vanessa as V. Selbst. She comes from Brooklyn, and she finished college at Yale Law School. Before Yale, she was attending MIT, but only for a year, when she decided to learn about the law. In the past 12 years, she is very popular in the world of poker.
Last year, she decided to finish her career as a professional player. She stated that the main reason for her ending of career is because she wants to live a quiet life and doesn`t want any kind of popularity anymore. Even though she stopped playing professional tournaments may be too early, she still managed to become the most successful female poker player in history.
