Top 5 Professional Female Poker Players

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6 min readFeb 8, 2023

Over the years, professional poker has become a major industry with some of the best players in the world earning millions of dollars in prize money. Although it’s traditionally been dominated by male players, there are also several highly successful professional female poker players who have made their mark on the game. In this blog post, we’ll be taking a look at five of the top professional female poker players and analyzing their playing styles, strategies, and example hands.

#1: Vanessa Selbst

via Poker News

Vanessa Selbst is a professional poker player from Brooklyn, New York. She has won three World Series of Poker bracelets and is currently considered to be one of the best female poker players in the world. Selbst is known for her aggressive playing style which often involves bluffing or pushing her opponents off hands with big bets. She is also very adept at reading her opponents and using her knowledge of their tendencies to her advantage. For example, let’s say that Vanessa is in a hand against an opponent who tends to play tight-aggressive and usually folds when facing a large bet. If Vanessa senses that her opponent is weak, she might make a large bet on the river in an attempt to push them off the hand. This type of play requires good judgment and careful consideration of your opponent’s tendencies as well as your own cards.

#2: Liv Boeree

via Liv Boeree

Liv Boeree is a professional poker player from England who has earned over $6 million in tournament winnings throughout her career. She is known for her aggressive style of play which focuses on exploiting her opponents’ weaknesses and putting them in uncomfortable situations. Boeree also pays close attention to stack sizes and betting patterns which she uses to determine when it’s advantageous to make an aggressive move or fold. For example, let’s say that Liv is playing heads-up against an opponent who tends to overbet when they have a strong hand or bluff when they have nothing. If Liv notices that her opponent has been making smaller bets than usual, she might decide to call their bet on the river with a weak hand in an attempt to take down the pot if they are bluffing or pick up additional chips if they have a strong hand.

#3: Loni Harwood

via Twitter

Loni Harwood is an American professional poker player from Ohio who has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and over $2 million in tournament winnings throughout her career. Harwood has become known for her tight-aggressive playing style which focuses on exploiting her opponents’ mistakes while minimizing risk whenever possible. She also pays close attention to pot odds and implied odds which she uses as part of her decision making process when deciding whether or not to call a bet on certain streets. For example, let’s say that Loni is holding top pair on the turn but there are still many potential draws out there that could beat her hand if she calls any bet from her opponent on the river. In this situation, she will need to consider both the pot odds she would be getting if she calls as well as any implied odds she might get from having position on her opponent if she does hit one of those draws on the river. If both sets of odds are favorable for Loni then she may choose to call despite having top pair since she knows that if she does hit one of those draws then she will likely get paid off by her opponent due to having position on them post-flop.

#4: Maria Ho

Creator: Alec Rome | Credit: Alec Rome

Maria Ho is another American professional poker player who has earned over $3 million in tournament winnings throughout her career. She is known for her tight-aggressive playing style which often involves making small bets throughout each street in order to gain information about where she stands in relation to other players at the table without risking too much money in any one spot. Ho also pays close attention to betting patterns which she uses as part of her decision making process when deciding whether or not to call bets or raise them on certain streets. For example, let’s say that Maria notices that an opponent has been raising pre-flop more often than usual recently which suggests they may be opening up their range slightly wider than normal due to being short stacked or feeling pressure from other players at the table who have been 3-betting more often than usual recently as well. In this situation, Maria may choose to raise with a wide range herself in order to exploit this potential weakness from her opponent while still maintaining a tight overall range at the table since raising with too wide of a range could lead to excessive losses if done too often without proper consideration for position and stack sizes at play.

The top 5 professional female poker players, from Maria Ho to Jennifer Tilly, have collectively earned more than $11 million in tournament winnings.

#5: Jennifer Shahade

via PokerNews

Jennifer Shahade is an American chess player turned professional poker player who has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and over $3 million in tournament winnings throughout her career. She is known for playing tight-aggressive pre-flop but switching into more aggressive post-flop play when given opportunity due to having position on opponents or having confidence in reads from earlier streets such as pre-flop raises indicating strength or weakness depending on how much was raised by whom before action got back around to Jennifer after flop cards were dealt out onto felt surface area.

For instance, let’s say Jennifer sees someone raise pre-flop with pocket Aces after everyone folds around them prior so Jennifer knows they must have very strong cards in hand so no sense trying outplay them pre-flop but instead wait until after flop cards are dealt out onto felt surface area then Jennifer can narrow down what types hands would be possible based upon board texture (what types combinations/draws could exist) & how much betting action takes place before action gets back around towards Jennifer again — if checking action takes place then can indicate weakness so can go ahead & try outplay & take down pot by either continuation betting (cbetting) or check raising (raising after checking action) if suspecting someone may have draw & trying capitalize upon it by reraising them for extra value since will not likely give up easily so explain why reraising can work out well here instead just calling .

“Being successful in poker isn’t just luck. It’s a combination of hard work, intelligence, discipline, and other necessary ingredients to success in any field — something these top 5 professional female poker players demonstrate perfectly.” -Holly Kahn

There are many highly accomplished female professional poker players who have made their mark on the game over the years with impressive tournament results and impressive playing styles that focus primarily on exploiting opponents’ weaknesses while minimizing risk whenever possible through various strategies such as paying attention closely to stack sizes and betting patterns as well as considering pot odds/implied odds prior committing chips into pot when facing difficult decisions post-flop street actions. By studying these professionals’ playing styles, strategies, example hands discussed above & other related material available online — one should be able to take away some tips/tricks/strategies/knowledge & apply it towards improving their own individual game(s).

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