Vanessa Selbst Wins PCA $25k High Roller
Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst became the highest-earning female poker player of all time today when she won the $25k High Roller tournament at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $1,424,420.
Selbst won the three-day event after beating Russian player Vladimir Troyanovskiy heads-up. Afterwards, she said it was the toughest final table she had ever played.
Selbst, already considered one of the world’s best live tournament players, now overtakes fellow American Kathy Liebert to lead the Women’s All Time Money List, and also jumps up 22 places to 40th place in the All Time Money List. Liebert, a legend in the poker world, has built up her $5.8 million in total live tournament winnings over two decades while 28-year-old Selbst has achieved her astonishing $7 million in just seven years.
“It feels really, really great to win a High Roller. It was the toughest final table I have ever played at, so to be able to come out on top is just a really special amazing feeling. It’s a huge accomplishment. It shows that plenty of women are succeeding at the same rate as men are. There is plenty of room for women to get involved in this game, and to get really good at it and to beat all the guys” said Selbst.
Troyanovskiy, who also came seventh in the first event of PCA10, the $100k Super High Roller, last Monday snagged another $792,180 today, bringing his total winnings for the festival to more than $1 million.
The three-day High Roller tourney attracted 161 players. With an additional 43 re-entries, this created a staggering $4,998,000 prize pool with 24 players paid. Here are the $25k High Roller final table payouts: 1. Vanessa Selbst, USA, Team PokerStars Pro – $1,424,420 2. Vladimir Troyanovsky, Russia – $792,180 3. Mike Watson, Canada – $462,320 4. Ole Schemion, Germany – $354,860 5. Shaun Deeb, USA – $289,880 6. Bryn Kenney, USA – $229,900 7. Tobias Reinkemeier, Germany – $174,940 8. Micah Raskin, USA – $129,940
The High Roller tournament was one of 40 events that took place during the PCA festival which ran from January 5-14. As part of her first-place prize, Vanessa Selbst also wins a ‘Rose Gold’ design watch from Official Watch Sponsor Slyde, worth €11,990.
John Caldwell, Director of Pro & Celebrity Marketing said: “I couldn’t be more pleased for Vanessa who has worked so hard for this throughout her career. Win, win, Yale Law School, win, win - she’s made it look so easy in such a short period of time. To hit this milestone at the PCA is a fitting start to her 2013.”
A lifelong fan of games, Vanessa started playing poker seriously while studying Political Science at Yale. Her first recorded live tournament cash came at the World Series of Poker in 2006 when she finished seventh in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event. Two years later she won her first World Series of Poker bracelet in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. Just days later she came close to winning her second, when she finished third in the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship event.
After a string of other impressive cash finishes at events across the US, Vanessa scored a huge $750,000 payday after taking down the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun Main Event in 2010. Six months later, her biggest cash to date came when she took down the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event for a first prize of €1,300,000.
Another trip to the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event in 2011 saw her become the first-ever player to win the same PokerStars live event two years in a row and confirmed her status as one of the most talented players on the scene today. Last June she won her second WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 10-Game event. As well as her 27 final tables in live events, Vanessa also finished sixth in the PokerStars Sunday Million in January 2011.
- Source: www.pokerstars.com
