Vanessa Selbst has formally announced that she is parting ways with PokerStars and reducing her poker playing overall.
One of the world’s most successful female poker players, she has been a member of Team PokerStars Pro for a number of years. Selbst broke into the pro poker limelight back in 2006, when she finished in seventh place at the 2006 WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event. That was just the first step in a career that has been studded with quite a few highlights.
She managed to win her first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2008 in a WSOP $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. She would go on to win two more WSOP bracelets, making her the only female player who has won three bracelets in open events.
In total, she has cashed in over 84 tournaments worldwide and has a made more than $11.8 million in career prize money according to the Hendon Mob.
Selbst’s competitive poker playing has been recognized by the Global Poker Index. She managed to gain the #1 position on that global ranking of poker players back in June 2014, the only female player to have ever gained that position. The 33 year old successful poker pro has decided to take a break from the game and pursue a career in finance.
Selbst’s announcement of semi-retirement comes as no surprise. Though an active poker player in her 20s, she has started to slow down in recent years. Selbst has been pretty open with her plans on social media and has stated in the past that U.S poker players who wanted to earn a living playing poker had to be willing to move out of America or be willing to travel 90% of the time. Considering that this sort of lifestyle is not conducive to starting a family or a stable home life, she decided that retiring would be a good idea.
Another reason why Selbst decided to move on from poker is because she felt that poker had become really hard work, with the increased need for dedication and discipline. This was counter to her usual light approach to playing poker. She will now look at pursuing a career as a hedge-fund trader.
Vanessa Selbst is not formally retiring, unlike other players who have made high-profile announcements of their retirement. She still plans to play but more of a hobby than an actual job. She will most likely still be a presence on the poker scene, but not as prevalent as she once was.
