For some time now, women have been reaching more and more places, achieving excellence in all kinds of sciences, disciplines, sports, and poker is no exception to this. But who are the best female poker players?
In 1978 it was the first time that a woman could be accepted to participate in the main event of the World Series of Poker.
The person in charge was none other than the American Barbara Freer. It was only in 1982 that Vera Richmond, also from the United States, managed to be crowned the first female WSOP champion.
Nowadays it is much more common to see women participating (and winning) in the WSOP as well as in other poker competitions.
Whether in professional or amateur format. Not only did the number of women participating increase, but there was also a rise in the number of nations they represent.
It broke with the hegemony of the United States and currently, there are poker superstars from all over the world, such as Argentina, China, Great Britain, and Denmark, among others.
That is why we bring you this article covering the top 50 best female poker players.
50 Best Female Poker Players
According to the Global Poker Index, and based on the total winnings of each player, the best female poker players are:
1. Vanessa Selbst πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $885,613
WSOP Winnings: $2,201,322
Total Winnings: $10,899,027
2. Kathy Liebert πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $1,947,662
WSOP Winnings: $1,210,220
Total Winnings: $6,480,178
3. Kristen Bicknell “Krissyb24” π¨π¦
WPT Winnings: $253,667
WSOP Winnings: $1,184,503
Total Winnings: $5,745,203
4. Maria Ho πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $753,184
WSOP Winnings: $1,496,157
Total Winnings: $3,974,417
5. Liv Boeree π¬π§
WPT Winnings: $101,769
WSOP Winnings: $367,661
Total Winnings: $3,682,480
6. Annette Obrestad π³π΄
WPT Winnings: $49,233
WSOP Winnings: $2,166,725
Total Winnings: $3,633,693
7. Vanessa Rousso πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $786,086
WSOP Winnings: $358,894
Total Winnings: $3,551,265
8. Joanne “JJ” Liu πΉπΌ
WPT Winnings: $1,192,624
WSOP Winnings: $621,503
Total Winnings: $3,458,881
9. Loni Harwood πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $192,355
WSOP Winnings: $1,212,783
Total Winnings: $3,412,975
10. Maria Constanza Lampropulos π¦π·
WPT Winnings: $107,382
WSOP Winnings: $132,563
Total Winnings: $3,288,333
11. Hui Chen “Kitty” Kuo πΉπΌ
WPT Winnings: $713,467
WSOP Winnings: $264,939
Total Winnings: $2,586,871
12. Jennifer Harman πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $917,368
WSOP Winnings: $1,071,258
Total Winnings: $2,565,643
13. Annie Duke πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $240,871
WSOP Winnings: $1,163,077
Total Winnings: $2,264,678
14. Victoria Coren Mitchell π¬π§
WPT Winnings: $1,437,996
WSOP Winnings: $32,573
Total Winnings: $1,957,740
15. Xuan Liu π¨π¦
WPT Winnings: $20,892
WSOP Winnings: $115,559
Total Winnings: $1,842,974
16. Esther Taylor-Brady πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $282,318
WSOP Winnings: $1,070,526
Total Winnings: $1,806,779
17. Sandra Naujoks π©πͺ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $107,409
Total Winnings: $1,781,489
18. Barbara Enright πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $487,847
Total Winnings: $1,675,622
19. Mimi Tran πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $669,969
WSOP Winnings: $423,018
Total Winnings: $1,655,539
20. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $9,630
WSOP Winnings: $850,171
Total Winnings: $1,575,099
21. Leo Margets πͺπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $946,461
Total Winnings: $1,477,775
22. Lucille Cailly π«π·
WPT Winnings: $12,693
WSOP Winnings: $7,711
Total Winnings: $1,475,781
23. Nadya Magnus πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $276,900
WSOP Winnings: $38,861
Total Winnings: $1,317,759
24. Jessica Dawley πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $82,013
WSOP Winnings: $286,975
Total Winnings: $1,143,824
25. Clonie Gowan πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $196,909
WSOP Winnings: $96,308
Total Winnings: $1,133,827
26. Vanessa Kade π¨π¦
WPT Winnings: $21,045
WSOP Winnings: $103,580
Total Winnings: $1,005,279
27. La Sengphet πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $8,211
WSOP Winnings: $42,238
Total Winnings: $900,113
28. Cherish Andrews πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $70,049
WSOP Winnings: $534,984
Total Winnings: $868,453
29. Nancy “Trouble” Birnbaum πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $69,929
WSOP Winnings: $28,988
Total Winnings: $845,236
30. Kyna England πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $448,755
WSOP Winnings: $6,337
Total Winnings: $798,719
31. Katie Lindsay πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $16,685
WSOP Winnings: $110,490
Total Winnings: $781,662
32. Carol Fuchs πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $401,143
Total Winnings: $711,157
33. Louise Francoeur π¨π¦
WPT Winnings: $51,164
WSOP Winnings: $92,370
Total Winnings: $599,287
34. Gloria Jackson πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $25,713
WSOP Winnings: N.A.
Total Winnings: $546,687
35. Alexis Gavin πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $46,855
WSOP Winnings: $154,015
Total Winnings: $513,762
36. Judith Bielan πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $36,464
Total Winnings: $401,300
37. Jessica Vierling π©πͺ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $17,929
Total Winnings: $336,829
38. Lisa Pickell πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $23,772
Total Winnings: $324,215
39. Angelina Rich π¦πΊ
WPT Winnings: $17,371
WSOP Winnings: $48,297
Total Winnings: $308,401
40. Valerie Novak πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $14,009
WSOP Winnings: $12,512
Total Winnings: $297,527
41. Elanit Hasas πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A
WSOP Winnings: $13,999
Total Winnings: $256,426
42. Camille Brown πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $10,460
WSOP Winnings: $37,213
Total Winnings: $209,534
43. Christina Gollins πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $7,419
Total Winnings: $201,337
44. Christina Read πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $22,594
Total Winnings: $180,094
45. Carla Gonzalez πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: N.A.
Total Winnings: $142,769
46. Kristen Nyman πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: N.A
WSOP Winnings: N.A
Total Winnings: $131,730
47. Yulia Lisichkina π·πΊ
WPT Winnings: $6,300
WSOP Winnings: $42,855
Total Winnings: $128,898
48. Marle Cordeiro πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $16,200
WSOP Winnings: $70,126
Total Winnings: $119,913
49. Jessica Cai πΊπΈ
WPT Winnings: $7,465
WSOP Winnings: $39,860
Total Winnings: $119,519
50. Sonia-Veronika Shashikhina π·πΊ
WPT Winnings: N.A.
WSOP Winnings: $56,284
Total Winnings: $104,226
Who is the best female poker player?
The best female poker player in history is considered to be Vanessa Selbst. This is because without a doubt she had one of the most successful careers in the world of poker, even better than that of many men.
Vanessa was the only woman to reach the top 1 of the GPI Ranking (Global Poker Index) and has also managed to win more than 11 million dollars in prizes, which makes her career enviable to many.
From 2011 to 2014 she remained in the top 40 positions in the ranking, becoming one of the most successful women in the history of poker.
In June 2014 she obtained first place in the GPI ranking for the first time. She was able to stay there for several weeks and for several years she remained in the top positions, without leaving the top 200.
Already in 2017, her poker career began to decline, dropping positions in the ranking and currently ranks 88,000th worldwide. This is because she no longer participates in so many professional competitions, and the truth is that nobody can blame her.
At 37 years old, she managed to make a fantastic career in the world of poker, which will be difficult for another woman or even for other men to replicate.
Vanessa is also the first and only woman to have won 3 World Series of Poker bracelets.
Her successes go beyond poker, in fact, she graduated from Yale University and got scholarships to study abroad, which also explains why she declined in poker in recent years.
Having won so many millions of dollars in prize money by the year 2018, the player chose to prioritize her full-time job outside of the poker competitions.
Who is the number one female poker player in the world?
The number 1 female poker player in the world today is Nadya Magnus, as she sits at the top of the Global Poker Index Female Player Rankings.
Magnus is from the United States, she currently lives in Florida, so she is usually seen in every poker competition that is held in that state.
Since 2012 she has been participating in all sorts of professional poker competitions. In fact, from that year she began to obtain high places in the GPI ranking. However, in 2015 due to some defeats, she went on to get her lowest place in the ranking, not even reaching the top 40k.
After playing rock bottom, Nadya Magnus’s career began to rise non-stop, becoming the top 1 female in 2022. In the general table she is ranked number 83 worldwide and 62 nationally, being the best female player in both cases.
Her last participation in an official poker competition was in April 2022 at the World Poker Tour that took place in the city of Hollywood, Florida, in the United States. In that competition, Nadya got the 40th position after a regular performance.
This year she got her best position to date at the 2021/22 WSOP Circuit, finishing as high as eighth. She hasn’t won a WSOP bracelet yet.
Has a woman ever won the World Poker Tour?
In 2008, the organization in charge of carrying out the WPT created the World Poker Tour Ladies, which is a series of tournaments with the same format as the WPT but in which only women can participate.
Although this was seen with good eyes since it allows more women to participate, and become known, thus improving the world of poker, it was also criticized. The critics mainly said that this was a measure that did not work since the ideal would be for more women to participate in the regular WPT and that it even gave less importance to the world of women’s poker.
In any case, the female poker players did not oppose it, in fact, they were in favor of the creation of the WPT Ladies, so the competition continued its course.
Apart from this competition, there are women who participate every year in the WPT, and there are two women who took the top prize, managing to be crowned WPT champions. The first was Van Nguyen in 2008, while the second was Ema Zajmovic, who won a WPT open to the public.
The one that Nguyen won only allowed the participation of those people who had an invitation, so it was an exclusive number of participants, and the best of the best faced each other. This is not to say that Ema’s victory has any less merit, as she faced a greater number of competitors, making both victories iconic for different reasons.
The future of women in poker
Day by day, more women start playing poker professionally. There are already hundreds of thousands who do it as an amateur, and many more who participate in online competitions, but the number of professional players are expected to increase.
In addition, an increase in the number of countries that these women represent is also expected. If you look at the list of the best female poker players, you will notice that many women are from the United States.
However, more and more Asian and Latin American women are beginning to participate. Although they do not rank high in the GPI rankings, this does not mean that they are not being recognized in the world of poker.
They are beating the most powerful men in poker in their own regions, which is no small feat.
Only time will tell how the performance of women in poker will evolve, but an increase in competitiveness can certainly be expected, and women will sweep the sport as well.