Vanessa Selbst Retires from Poker (1 Viewer)

Whenever pros anounce retirement I wonder if it is like band's farewell concert tours. Retired until finances run low may be the more honest statement.
 
There are a few small semantics details if you look around a bit. It's kinda goofy. It's 'retiring from playing poker as her sole/main income'. That's the thing. She won't be doing the traveling for the huge tourneys, only playing poker for a living. From what I've found, she has a job lined up as a partner in a law firm, and is going to practice law for that large firm as her living. But she's still playing poker, and is around the poker scene. She just won't be doing it exclusively, or something.
 
She graduated from Yale Law School, has close to $12MIL in tournament winnings, and crushes the game. She is nowhere near being broke.

She went to work for Bridgewater Associates which is arguably the worlds most elite hedge fund run by Ray Dalio, it isn’t a law firm.

I think she stepped away because she saw this as a new challenge, and a more viable career to have a family with. Either way I wish her the best
 
She graduated from Yale Law School, has close to $12MIL in tournament winnings, and crushes the game. She is nowhere near being broke.

She went to work for Bridgewater Associates which is arguably the worlds most elite hedge fund run by Ray Dalio, it isn’t a law firm.

I think she stepped away because she saw this as a new challenge, and a more viable career to have a family with. Either way I wish her the best

Family? Is she adopting?
 
She is in the running as my least fave pro of all time.

Any particular reason why?

She hasn’t been embroiled in any online poker cheating scandals, she doesn’t owe any debts in the poker community, and she donates some serious cash to charity. Seems like a pretty alright person with some integrity
 
Any particular reason why?

She hasn’t been embroiled in any online poker cheating scandals, she doesn’t owe any debts in the poker community, and she donates some serious cash to charity. Seems like a pretty alright person with some integrity

I just don't like her. Every time I see interviews with her or other people talking about her she just seems like a d bag. Obviously I don't know her just my 2c as a poker fanboy.

Giving money to charity doesn't really change my opinion one way or another. I know lots of people that are dickwads that give money to charity.
 
I just don't like her. Every time I see interviews with her or other people talking about her she just seems like a d bag. Obviously I don't know her just my 2c as a poker fanboy.

Giving money to charity doesn't really change my opinion one way or another. I know lots of people that are dickwads that give money to charity.

That’s fair, Phil Hellmuth has a very punchable face (I love the guy) so I understand the sentiment. Speaking of which I’m sure I also have a very punchable face...
 
Great Example. Phil Helmuth has some weird charm. He is a guy I would want to punch but then have a beer with and laugh later. Vanessa is someone I would literally just avoid.

If I saw Phil I would go full fanboy and try to get a pic and autograph etc. I just don't see anything interesting or charming about Vanessa. Anyway I am not trying to beat up on her. I am sure she is a fine person.
 
She's full of shit! Playing in the ME this year.
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If I saw Phil I would go full fanboy and try to get a pic and autograph etc. I just don't see anything interesting or charming about Vanessa. Anyway I am not trying to beat up on her. I am sure she is a fine person.

I didn't quite go fangirl, but when PZ and I saw Phil after a tournament, I did get an autograph. :)
 
I saw Gus playing in Bobby's Room a few weeks ago but I didn't want to interrupt him. I also didn't want to wait around for him to go pee :)
 
Great Example. Phil Helmuth has some weird charm. He is a guy I would want to punch but then have a beer with and laugh later. Vanessa is someone I would literally just avoid.

If I saw Phil I would go full fanboy and try to get a pic and autograph etc. I just don't see anything interesting or charming about Vanessa. Anyway I am not trying to beat up on her. I am sure she is a fine person.
Not a fan of Helmuth, but I waited around for an hour so I could get his, Negreanu's, and Phil Ivy's signatures on the same hat.

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Given the choice between Selbst and Hellmuth, I'd take Selbst. I don't recall any douchebaggery on her part, she's always seemed to be pretty even keeled at the tables, and she even took the over-the-top ribbing from Doug Polk in good stride.

Hellmuth is not only an emotional man-child, but that's what he's famous for. Hell, his nickname is the Poker Brat. Sure, I guess it makes for good TV to watch him blow up over and over again, but he doesn't strike me as a person that I would want to spend any significant time with.

Disclaimer: I've never met either of them, so I can only base my opinions on what I've seen and heard in the poker media.
 
Given the choice between Selbst and Hellmuth, I'd take Selbst. I don't recall any douchebaggery on her part, she's always seemed to be pretty even keeled at the tables, and she even took the over-the-top ribbing from Doug Polk in good stride.

Hellmuth is not only an emotional man-child, but that's what he's famous for. Hell, his nickname is the Poker Brat. Sure, I guess it makes for good TV to watch him blow up over and over again, but he doesn't strike me as a person that I would want to spend any significant time with.

Disclaimer: I've never met either of them, so I can only base my opinions on what I've seen and heard in the poker media.
My wife actually worked directly and at some length with Hellmuth on an event in Atlantis around a decade ago and said away from the tables he is the nicest and most polite person you could ever hope to meet.

He also sent a care package and gave a direct phone call to @links_slayer several years ago when he was fighting cancer if I’m not mistaken.

Phil may be immature at the table but I don’t know that he’s necessarily that bad of a guy.
 
From what I've seen of Selbst, I respect her game, and she seems like a pretty solid person. Personality-wise, she seems a bit dour, and I'm not a fan of the faux-hawk, so she's not my favorite player. But I'll always root for good poker. And I'm a huge fan of a former pro who will play the Main, recreationally. Good for her; too bad she got knocked out.
 
From what I've seen of Selbst, I respect her game, and she seems like a pretty solid person. Personality-wise, she seems a bit dour, and I'm not a fan of the faux-hawk, so she's not my favorite player. But I'll always root for good poker. And I'm a huge fan of a former pro who will play the Main, recreationally. Good for her; too bad she got knocked out.

I salute anyone who calls all-in with J7 when they know they're completely dominated.
 
My wife actually worked directly and at some length with Hellmuth on an event in Atlantis around a decade ago and said away from the tables he is the nicest and most polite person you could ever hope to meet.

He also sent a care package and gave a direct phone call to @links_slayer several years ago when he was fighting cancer if I’m not mistaken.

Phil may be immature at the table but I don’t know that he’s necessarily that bad of a guy.

Yeah, hence my disclaimer - perhaps I should edit my post to say he's someone I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time playing poker with. I have zero direct knowledge of how the guy acts away from the table, so it's probably unfair to judge based on the little I know.
 
I just meant the retiring from poker part. she busted day 1 anyways.

I would think the famous pros have a tough time lasting long in these kinds of events. There's just so much footage and saved hand-histories that's it's relatively easy for other dedicated players to study them and dial in their betting patterns and styles.
 
I just meant the retiring from poker part. she busted day 1 anyways.

Gotcha. The article says that she was retiring as a poker pro, not giving up poker altogether. I seriously doubt that she'll ever give it up entirely.
 
I would think the famous pros have a tough time lasting long in these kinds of events. There's just so much footage and saved hand-histories that's it's relatively easy for other dedicated players to study them and dial in their betting patterns and styles.

Also from the article, her tournament performance has gone down considerably in the last couple of years. She basically said that she no longer wants to put the amount of work in that's required to stay on top in today's game.
 

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