Vanessa Selbst has been playing poker for the past seven years, though it wasn’t until the summer of 2007 that she first started making headlines. Selbst finished eighth in the WSOP ladies event that summer, and nine days later took home third place money ($128,968) in the $5,000 buy-in World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP, mowing over the likes of Doyle Brunson, Layne Flack, Peter Jetten, Paul Wasicka and Shannon Shorr in the process. Since then, Selbst has established herself as one of the top female poker players in the business, winning a WSOP bracelet in 2008 and climbing all the way up to 17th on the women’s all-time money list, all the while earning her undergraduate degree at Yale University. Currently, Selbst is working toward a law degree (also at Yale) and of course plays a little poker on the side.

- Mad Harper, Apr 10