The retired-from-poker Vanessa Selbst is back in action at the WPT Borgata Poker Open. And she’s back to her old tricks, making it to Day Three.
Vanessa Selbst hasn’t lost a step during retirement. (Image: WPT)
Selbst stepped away from the game, and her PokerStars ambassadorship, in 2018, to work for a hedge fund. But she’s back in action at the Borgata, the casino seeking $10 million from Phil Ivey, for the $3,500 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open event which drew 1,156 entries. After two days of playing, that figure has dwindled down to 95 participants, one of whom is Selbst.
“It was close to home, and I love this tournament so I decided to give it a whirl,” she told WPT.com’s Sean Chaffin of her decision to play some cards.
Vanessa Selbst Chases First WPT Title
Vanessa Selbst is the winningest female tournament player of all-time. She has nearly $12 million in lifetime cashes and is guaranteed at least another $6,852 for her cash at the WPT Borgata Poker Open. The winner, however, will take home $616,186.
Selbst finished Day Two on Tuesday with 318,000 chips, which is right around the average. Jonathan Jaffe, a WPT Champions Club member, held the chip lead at 1,035,000.
Selbst, who lives in nearby New York, is currently in between jobs. She decided to give poker another shot, albeit for just this one tournament.
The former PokerStars Team Pro member didn’t completely quit poker upon retirement. She made an infamous return to the WSOP in 2018 and had one of the most memorable bust-outs in history. On the Day One ESPN feature table, Selbst flopped a set of aces but Gaelle Baumann turned quad sevens to send her home packing early. She’ll be hoping for a better outcome in Atlantic City this week.
Stacked Field at WPT Borgata Poker Open
Vanessa Selbst isn’t the only big name in attendance at the casino seeking money from Phil Ivey. Many other top pros made the trek to Atlantic City for the $3,500 buy-in tournament and are already in the money.
Notable Day Two Chip Counts
- Victor Ramdin 1,016,000
- Maurice Hawkins 372,000
- Tony Dunst 314,000
- Asher Conniff 309,000
- Jonathan Little 280,000
- Cliff Josephy 149,000
Play resumed at noon ET on Wednesday. The final table is scheduled for Friday at 2 pm ET.
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