Venessa Selbst Joins Team PokerStars

July 5 - PokerStars, one of the leading online poker sites in the world, has added another professional player to its Team PokerStars.

25 year old Vanessa Selbst hails from Brooklyn, New York and has enjoyed a fantastic career both online and off since was was legally allowed to play the game.

In 2004, Selbst decided to pursue online poker seriously after she discovered the game while in high school.

Selbst relates how she did a lot of studying regarding the different poker strategies before deciding on her own course of action.

The player's initial $100 bankroll turned into $1,000 and the rest, as they say, is history.

"I started playing $50 no limit and slowly worked my way up," she said. "I had a breakthrough period in the summer of 2005, building an $8,000 bankroll into about $75,000 at Foxwoods and online."

"By the end of 2005," continued Selbst, "I had a very very nice bankroll for $10/$20 and played mostly cash games. I was always a huge nit about bankroll management and very risk averse, so I never played as high as I probably should have. To this day, I have only rarely played any higher than $50/$100."

Nevertheless, her cautious game strategy has managed to earn Selbst over $1.7 million in live tournaments, plus more online under the name fslexcduck.

Selbst's specialization is heads up no limit hold 'em.  She also coaches at the online poker training site, Deuces Cracked.

However, the crowning glory in Selbst's career must undoubtedly be her 2008 bracelet win at the World Series of Poker for a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event.

She won $227,933 for her efforts in that event, plus a further $108,288 by coming third place at the WSOP $10K World Championship Heads Up No Limit Hold'em event, also in 2008.