The Biggest Winning Female Poker Players Of All-Time

Vanessa Selbst: $11,891,332 – the most of any female poker player

Former Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is number one in the female all-time money listings with $11,891,332 in cashes. Selbst is one of the best poker players period, never mind best of the female players.

Although now retired from poker so she can concentrate on her legal career, Selbst still plays occasionally. She came out of retirement in September and finished 14th in the WPT Borgata Main Event for $39,950.

Selbst won three World Series of Poker bracelets during her career. The first came in a $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2008 for $227,933. Bracelet number two came in 2012 when Selbst won the $2,500 10-Game Six-Handed event for $244,259. She completed her hat-trick with victory in the $25,000 Mixed Max NL Hold’em event in 2014 for $871,148.

That last score was the fourth-largest of Selbst’s career. The largest weighed in at $1,823,430 which she collected for victory in the 2019 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event.

Kathy Liebert: $6,285,165

Tennessee’s Kathy Liebert is a true live poker tournament grinder. The first of her $6,285,165 worth of cashes came in 1994 in a $120 Omaha Hi/Lo event. Liebert has since cashed in 345 other tournaments and is eighth in the all-time number of cashes rankings.

“PokerKat” has one WSOP bracelet to her name having won a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout in 2004 for $110,180.

Kristen Bicknell: $4,583,329

Canada’s Kristen Bicknell is one of the new breeds of female poker players in she’s fearless and aggressive. Bicknell used to play 24 tables at once online before switching from cash games to tournaments. She has won over $4 million from online tournaments and almost $4.6 million from live events.

Bicknell has two WSOP bracelets, one in the $1,000 Ladies Championship in 2013. The second came in 2016 when she triumphed in the $1,500 NL Hold’em Bounty. Just last week, Bicknell won a $25,000 NLHE Poker Masters event for $408,000, the largest cash of her career.

Annie Duke: $4,270,548

The name Annie Duke is not popular with the poker community despite her being one of the winningest female players. Duke managed to win a WSOP bracelet in 2004 when she won the $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event. She won $2 million for taking down the WSOP Tournament of Champions a few months later.

Duke’s problem stems from her being a shill for Ultimate Bet even when it was obvious the site had been cheating its players. She was also the co-founder of the ill-fated Epic Poker League which went bankrupt after a year in operation. It also does not help that she is the sister of Howard Lederer who was a key figure in the demise of Full Tilt Poker.

Maria Ho: $3,956,406

Born in Taiwan but raised in California, Maria Ho has grown into a top female poker player. Ho is less than $45,000 away from breaking through the $4 million winnings barrier. This is most impressive when one considers her largest cash is for $540,020.

She may not have a WSOP or World Poker Tour title to her name, but it is only a matter of time before she does.

Ho’s sister is media personality and psychologist Dr. Judy Ho from CBS syndicated talk show Face The Truth.

Annette Obrestad: $3,942,232

Norway’s Annette Obrestad is unlikely to add to her $3,942,232 winnings because she has retired. Obrestad became the youngest-ever winner of a WSOP bracelet in 2007 aged 18-years, 364 days. This was made possible by her winning the WSOP Europe Main Event where the legal gambling age was 18.

Obrestad faded away in the live and online poker worlds despite being considered a great female player. She finally retired from the game and now has her own YouTube channel showcasing make-up tips.

Liv Boeree: $3,852,966

British starlet Liv Boeree was the third woman to win a European Poker Tour Main Event. Only fellow Brit Victoria Coren and Germany’s Sandra Naujoks beat her to it. Boeree won the EPT San Remo Main Event in 2010 for $1,698,300. She also has a WSOP bracelet having triumphed in a $10,000 Tag Team event with boyfriend Igor Kurganov.

Boeree does not play as much poker these days but is still active. Now she prefers her philanthropic work and TED talks about poker and astrophysics.

Vanessa Rousso: $3,554,327

There must be something about the name Vanessa because Vanessa Rousso is another great female player. Rousso was a member of Team PokerStars where she played as “LadyMaverick.” She was once married to the late Chad Brown but is now engaged to long-term girlfriend Melissa Oullet.

Rousso’s last live cash came in 2017 as she is concentrating on her DJ career. She also finished third in the 2015 edition of Big Brother in the United States.

Joanne “JJ” Liu: $3,525,208

JJ Liu, like Maria Ho, was born in Taiwan and lives in California. The former software engineer worked in Silicon Valley where she discovered poker. She has since gone on to earn almost $3.3 million from live poker tournaments. Liu is still a force to be reckoned with despite being active for more than two decades.

Maria Lampropulos: $3,199,986

Argentina’s Maria Lampropulos may have only been playing live poker seriously for less than five years but boy does she have talent. Already considered one of the best female player, Lampropulos could become an all-time great.

She already has two seven-figure scores on her resume. She banked $1,255,004 by winning the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK event in September 2017. Lampropulos then scooped $1,081,100 by winning the last-ever PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. A huge future awaits this female star.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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