Once upon a time poker was a game strictly meant for the lads. They would enter the room wearing their cowboy hats and compete against each other to win competition titles one after the other, along with a truckload of prize money.
Those days, however, are long gone. Now the tables belong to the women and the ladies of poker are getting out there to win titles and money aplenty.
How is “Best” Qualified?
In order to make a list of the best female poker players of all time, certain parameters need to be met. These include their live tournament earnings, their online poker table earnings as well as the titles and accomplishments that they earn in their poker lifetime. Accomplishments also include sponsorship deals, rankings in the world of poker and their enthusiasm and support in helping other female poker players reach higher levels in the game.
The following are the top 12 female poker players for now. The list will change over time, but for the time-being, the women in the list below will have to do.
Top 12 Female Poker Players
1. Vanessa Selbst
Born in Brooklyn, Vanessa Selbst is now the World #1 when it comes to the list of female poker players in terms of money. She is also #41 in the all-time poker players list. Selbst has won three WSOP bracelets and has played in eight final tables. She also has 20 money finishes and 2 WPT final tables under her belt. In 2012, she won her highest ever WSOP Main Event Money Finish with 73rd position.
Selbst is also the only woman to have won 3 WSOP open round bracelets. You go, girl!
2. Kathy Liebert
Kathy Liebert has been a part of the professional poker industry since the early 1990s. She started off with low-limit competitions and soon upped her game to Las Vegas and Los Angeles tournaments. Her earnings have crossed over $6.6 million in just live poker tournaments.
In 2002, she won the PartyPoker Million Cruise for $1 million. She also has plenty of WSOP bracelets to her name and has been nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame this year.
3. Kristen Foxen
Kristen Foxen (earlier Bicknell) is one of the newer entrants into the women poker masters list. She won the Global Poker Index standings for three straight years from 2017 to 2019.
In 2019, Bicknell finished as runner up in the Poker Masters NLHE event for $408,000.
4. Annie Duke
Annie Duke is the ‘Duchess of Poker’. Often touted as one of the great masters of the game alongside her brother Howard Lederer, Duke won the WSOP Tournament of Champions in 2004 and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010. She also has 38 WSOP and 4 WPT money finishes.
5. Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Harman has made appearances in Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker so she is popular in the poker circuit. She has 12 WSOP table finishes and 2 WPT final table finishes to her name.
She is the only woman to have a regular gameplay reserved in the Bellagio’s high stakes cash game called the ‘Big Game’.
6. Annette Obrestad
From Norway, Obrestad is a prodigy who began her poker career at the age of 15. Before she turned 19 she won the first WSOP Europe Main Event for £1 million.
7. Barbara Enright
Enright was the first woman to make it to the final table in the WSOP Main Event. In 1996, she became the first woman to get to the final table in an open WSOP event. She beat 180 players to get there. most of whom were men. In 2007, she was given a place in the Poker Hall of Fame and has won $1.75 million in just live games.
8. Liv Boeree
Boeree has actually done it all. She has a First Class Honours degree in Physics, has dabbled in modelling and even played the guitar in a heavy metal music band. But, she found her calling in poker and has not looked back since. In 2010, she got her highest win of £1.25 million in the European Poker Tour Main Event.
9. Vanessa Rousso
Also called “Lady Maverick” and “Pokerness”, Vanessa Rousso has 17 WSOP money finishes and several sponsorship deals with GoDaddy and PokerStars to her name. She even caused Tony G. to be spellbound after she beat him in a hand. Go beat that!
10. Joanne Liu
Liu is the only woman to complete in the money at the Asian Poker Tour’s first event. She has 1 WSOP and 5 WPT cash wins to her name as well.
11. Victoria Coren Mitchell
Mitchell won 2 European Poker Tour Main Event tournaments (in 2006 and 2014) and the EPT London televised event in 2006. She also has a poker column where she writes regularly.
12. Loni Harwood
Harwood has 2 WSOP bracelets in No Limit Hold’em tournaments. She also has 5 WSOP final tables to her credit.
F.A.Q.s
Who is the number one female poker player in the world?
The number one female poker player in the world today is Vanessa Selbst.
Has any woman won the WSOP?
No, WSOP has never been won by a woman. However, Barbara Enright did make it to the final table of the WSOP in 1995.