Best Female Professional Poker Players in 2019

Loni Harwood

Age:

30

Country:

United States

Total live earnings:

$3,158,918

Tournaments won:

10

Best live cash:

$609,017

Twitter profile:

@Luscious_Lon

Loni Harwood had first appeared on the professional circuit in 2008, but it wasn’t until 2012 that she started making some real success.

Her best performance was recorded in 2013 in Las Vegas when Loni won WSOP No-Limit Hold’em and became the second female player ever to reach three final tables and win one.

Her last notable success came in 2017 when she finished third in the No-Limit Hold’em High-Roller event in Hollywood.

Joanne Liu

Age:

54

Country:

Taiwan

Total live earnings:

$3,284,640

Tournaments won:

28

Best live cash:

$600,000

Twitter profile:

@jjliu9065

With over 20 years in pro poker, J.J. Liu is one of the most experienced players on our list. This Taiwanese born Californian is known for her eccentric fashion statements, but also her skilful game, as she has won dozens of tournaments over her long career.

With over 100 final table finishes, Liu has made a great career for herself, but she continues to visit poker tournaments all over the world even today, and she already has two titles in 2019.

Vanessa Rousso

Age:

36

Country:

United States

Total live earnings:

$3,554,328

Tournaments won:

8

Best live cash:

$700,160

Twitter profile:

@VanessaRousso

Vanessa Rousso hasn’t been playing much in the last few years, but her career still deserves to be mentioned on our list. She had multiple six-figure money finishes on some of the most prestigious tournaments in the past decade.

The biggest single live cash win she had to date was in 2009 at the European High Roller Championships in Poland, where she took home a little over $700k.

Liv Boeree

Age:

35

Country:

United Kingdom

Total live earnings:

$3,852,996

Tournaments won:

5

Best live cash:

$1,698,300

Twitter profile:

@Liv_Boeree

Nicknamed the “Iron Maiden”, Liv Boeree is one of the most successful female poker players of all time.

Although she played and won a lot of tournaments over her decade-long career, Liv’s biggest success came on the EPT San Remo in 2010 where she won a little under $1.7 million, which is almost half of her total career earnings. She is currently one of the only four ladies that won an EPT live event.

Maria Ho

Age:

36

Country:

United States

Total live earnings:

$3,931,406

Tournaments won:

7

Best live cash:

$540,020

Twitter profile:

@MariaHo

Born in Taiwan, Maria Ho is one of the most experienced active female poker players in the world. She made her first big success on the 2007 WSOP in Las Vegas where she finished as a top female participant while taking home almost $250,000.

Maria’s most notable win came in the LA Commerce High Roller event where she ended up with $276,690. She also finished second in the 2011 WSOP, which was her biggest live cash win.

Apart from playing poker, Maria who was inducted into WiPHoF in 2018 often works as a commentator on PokerStars live broadcasts.

Annette Obrestad

Age:

31

Country:

Norway

Total live earnings:

$3,942,233

Tournaments won:

12

Best live cash:

$2,013,733

Twitter profile:

@Annette_15

Annette Obrestad stunned the poker world in 2007 when she won the WSOP in London and took home more than two million dollars, a sum that still counts as more than half of her total career earnings.

Although you can argue that this was a beginner’s luck for the young Norwegian teenager, it turned out that it was no fluke, as she continued to win prestigious events in the following years, including the Poker Lounge in Cardiff and ETP London in 2010. Annette is currently second on the Norwegian all-time money list.

Annie Duke

Age:

54

Country:

United States

Total career earnings:

$4,270,548

Tournaments won:

7

Best live cash:

$2,000,000

Twitter profile:

@AnnieDuke

Annie Duke has been absent from the poker scene in the last several seasons, but she was a force to be reckoned with in the past few decades.

Annie is best known for taking the No-Limit Hold’em Tournament of Champions in 2004 and walking away with $2 million in her pockets.

Her last big break was in 2010 when she won the NBC National Heads-Up Championship — the only woman to do so in the history of that tournament.

Kathy Liebert

Age:

52

Country:

United States

Total career earnings:

$6,313,312

Tournaments won:

28

Best live cash:

$1,000,000

Twitter profile:

@pokerkat

Kathy Liebert is one of the most experienced poker players that’s still active, stepping on the scene for the first time in 1994.

The most she has won was one million US dollars at the Party Poker Millions in 2002.

Over the last two and a half decades, Kathy has collected more than $6 million from poker tables around the world, earning her the spot in the top 100 on the American all-time money list.

Vanessa Selbst

Age:

35

Country:

United States

Total career earnings:

$11,891,331

Tournaments won:

15

Best live cash:

$1,823,430

Twitter profile:

@VanessaSelbst

It should go without saying that Vanessa Selbst is the best female poker player of all time. The American took a two-year break from pro poker before returning to the table and finishing 14th in the WPT Borgata in September of 2019.

However, the most notable moment in her poker career was the first place at the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes in 2010 when Vanessa won €1,300,000. She also won the NAPT in Uncasville two years in a row in 2010 and 2011, PCA 2013 in the Bahamas and $1 million Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout in Las Vegas in 2015.

Vanessa is currently the only female poker player in the top 100 on the all-time money list.