Women in Poker image credit: Joe Giron, Flickr Poker is often seen by the wider world as a very masculine activity. But anyone who's followed the sport even casually knows there are plenty of unbelievable players of both genders. So let's take a few minutes to discuss some of the most impressive women in poker, both historically and who are active today.

Our top three women in poker

We could go on and on about our favorite female poker players for days. But instead we're going to narrow it down and give you a brief overview of just a couple of the incredible women in poker. Now of course, this isn't an exhaustive list. We haven't relied solely on top earners, etc. Instead, we're simply giving you a list of the players whose action we can't get enough of. Yes, it's very biased. And no, it's not very scientific. This is all simply gut feeling. So if you fancy finding out what our preferences are, keep reading…

Vanessa Selbst

Could any women in poker list be complete without Brooklynite Vanessa Selbst? This hedge fund manager has made her mark on the world of poker in more ways than one. She's the only woman (at the time of writing at least) to reach the number one spot in the Global Poker Index and has earned well over $11 million in her career to-date. That also makes her the highest earning female poker player of all time. It's no wonder that in order to amass that fortune, she's racked up a few impressive wins thanks to her aggressive style. They include three World Series of Poker bracelets, two back to back North American Poker Tour Main Event Wins and the PCA high roller that saw her take home an eye-watering $1.4 million in one fell swoop. Now that's some record for anyone, which is why she's one of our favorite women in poker. She announced her retirement a few years back, along with Vanessa Rousso the same year, but recently has been taking tentative steps back into the world of poker. She's been taking part in a few tournaments and is a WPT ambassador. So we certainly haven't heard the last from this force of nature.

Kristen Bicknell

Canadian Kristen Bicknell started making her mark as a woman in the poker world by playing online in 2006. She's been known to play literally millions of hands online every year and in her early years, quickly grinded her way to notoriety. She continued her success live, winning several big name tournaments and becoming the highest ranking live tournament player on the GPI index in 2017. As much of the poker world retreated online during 2020, Bicknell was able to combine her live and online skills to crush it at online poker series. Notably, she cashed nine times during the Super High Roller Bowl series and took home her third WSOP bracelet as part of their online series too.

Maria Ho

Not only is Maria Ho an incredible poker player, she's also one of the most recognisable women in the game due to her gigs as a tv host and commentator. Not surprisingly, she's a Women in Poker Hall of Famer with live tournament winnings of more than $4 million under her belt. Born in Taiwan and raised in Los Angeles, Ho started playing poker in college and by the time she graduated, knew she was ready for a career on the felt. When she was just 24 she made her first major wave at the WSOP, taking home $237,865 in the Championship Event. Since then, she's racked up 63 WSOP cashes and five final tables, as well as 13 World Poker Tour cashes, among many other successes at other live events. Of course, she makes it into the list of iconic women in poker.

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