Female Poker players: Top 5
While women might not match men in number when it comes to poker professionals in the industry, there are many women making impressive moves at the felt, and making even more impressive sums of money that deserve your attention.
Joanne “JJ” Liu :
Joanne Jishung “JJ” Liu, a Taiwanese poker player ranked 2nd on the Taiwan All Time Money List. JJ hadn’t played poker until she moved to Silicon Valley to work as a software engineer in 1996. From then on, she began playing in live tournaments and has collected over $3.2 million in winnings since.
In 2007, JJ was the highest placing female in a World Poker Tour Championship event, finishing as the runner-up at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event.
Maria Constanza Lamprópulos:
Greek-born but representing Argentina, Maria started playing poker after she started dating Iván Lucá, an Argentinian professional poker player. Although she has only been playing in live tournaments since 2014, her total career winnings exceed $3.3 million.
Liv Boeree:
She is a WSOP champion and a European Poker Tour champion and is the first and only female poker player in history to win a WSOP bracelet and an EPT event. In 2019 she announced that she was quitting professional poker with her total winnings clocking in at $3.8 million.
Maria Ho:
She was inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame in 2018 and was introduced by poker pro and her close pal, Daniel Negreanu, who said “I think poker is actually very lucky to have someone like Maria in it because she’s the best ambassador you could ask for.”
Maria has made it to five WSOP final tables, four WPT final tables, and a WPT win at the LA Poker Classic $25,000 High Roller Tournament. She also won the Global Poker Award for Broadcaster of the Year in 2019.
Vanessa Selbst:
Other noteworthy wins include the 2010 North American Poker Tour $5,000 Mohegan Sun Main Event for $750,000, and successfully defended her title in 2011, winning $450,000. She is the first – and only – person to win two back-to-back NAPT Main Events. She is also the first woman to play in a Super High Roller event and placed 3rd in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 buy-in tournament in January 2014.
Vanessa is now retired from professional poker and works as a hedge fund manager for Bridgewater Associates. She still gambles for fun from time to time and encourages her coworkers to buy-in to bets around the office.
