High Roller Queens: Ten Best Poker Players, Part II.

The second part of our compilation of the best ever women poker players in the world.

Let’s keep on with our list of daring card sorceresses. A collection of the best poker-playing ladies who aim for high stakes and gain success by daring moves.

• Too young, turned to online poker
• Actress quitting acting for poker
• Establishment of important charities

Some of these women started their poker careers as teenagers, some a bit later, but one thing that they all have in common is the vast number of accomplishments (and prize money) they have accumulated. So, enjoy reading these inspiring stories!

Kathy Leibert

Proud owner of one WSOP bracelet and having made it to six final tables at the World Poker Tour, Kathy Leibert started her career as a prop player and won her first tournament in 2002.

She has an incredibly large amount, USD 6 million in prize winnings amassed and according to gambling news, she uses her earnings to invest in the stock market. She participated in the TV series Poker Royale: Battle of the Sexes and won in 2005. Cardplayer.com reports that she has had over 300 big tournament cashes and she thinks she is successful due to her ability to adapt to situations.

Liv Boeree

Boeree is an English model and TV presenter. Oh, and by the way, she won the 2010 European Poker Tour in San Remo. And she studied Astrophysics. Who said models can’t be bright? With USD 2 million in her live events winnings piggy bank, she is the third woman to ever win a title in the EPT.

The charitable model co-founded the famous Raising for Effective Giving charity specifically established to motivate poker players to donate. She also won the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championships in 2008 and had many successes as a team member of PokerStars Pro.

Annie Duke

The Duchess of Poker, or Annie Duke, started her career as a poker player at the age of 22 in US poker rooms and went on to play pro thanks to persuasion from her brother, Howard Lederer. A pro poker player, Lederer gave his sister instructions and money to kick-start her on the road to success.

She holds one WSOP bracelet and has accumulated over USD 4.2 million in live earnings. An author of motivating poker manuals and her autobiography, she also has instructional DVDs that teach us how to become better at poker. With friends, she founded the charity named Ante-Up for Africa and participated in Celebrity Apprentice to raise money for Refugees International.

Jennifer Tilly

The Academy Award nominee won her WSOP bracelet in 2005 in the Ladies’ No-Limit Texas Hold’Em event, during which she beat 600 other players. She has played in many TV shows (like Family Guy, as Bonnie Swanson) and movies, such as Monsters, Inc. and Bullets over Broadway.

She is also featured in Activision’s video game called World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. Her boyfriend, Phil Laak, is also a pro poker player. She gave up poker as a career in 2008. As she wrote in Bluff Magazine: “Trying to find validation in poker is like trying to find a virgin in a whorehouse. I’m not giving up poker entirely – gambling is an addiction after all.”

Vanessa Rousso

Rousso has USD 3.5 million in live prize earnings, but also enjoys gambling online: her PokerStars username is Lady Maverick. She was previously sponsored by PokerStars, but her contract ended in February 2015. She has two citizenship, French and American, and has earned her living mainly with poker for the last ten years.

She wanted to play poker seriously from a very young age, so at first, she played on online poker sites in the US because she was too young to enter a casino. When it comes to accumulated poker winnings, she is among the top five women. Currently, she is teaching poker, “I am also teaching at the WSOP Academy regularly, and I have six more camps scheduled before the end of this year,” she told PokerStars.com.