Best Female Poker Players in History: The Complete Rankings

Poker has never been a game reserved for one gender, but the list of female poker players who’ve built genuinely historic careers at the highest stakes deserves to be understood on its own terms โ€” not as a footnote to the men’s game, but as its own competitive lineage of skill, longevity, and record-breaking results. This ranking pulls together verified career earnings, WSOP bracelet counts, and milestone achievements to put together the most complete, currently accurate picture of who belongs at the top, based on figures current through 2026.

How This Ranking Is Built

Rankings of women poker players typically lean on the Hendon Mob all-time female money list โ€” a database tracking career live tournament earnings across the global circuit โ€” supplemented by WSOP bracelet counts, Global Poker Index standing, and milestone tournament results that money figures alone don’t capture. Earnings figures reflect gross tournament winnings before buy-ins, taxes, staking splits, and travel costs, so they represent tournament success rather than personal net worth. With that context established, here’s how the field stacks up as of 2026.

Top 10 Female Poker Players by Career Earnings (2026)

RankPlayerCareer Live EarningsWSOP BraceletsNotable Distinction
1Kristen Foxen$15.4M+5All-time female money list leader
2Vanessa Selbst$11.9M3Only woman to reach #1 on the Global Poker Index
3Kathy Liebert$7.2M1Longtime top-5 fixture on the all-time list
4Maria Ho$5.5M+0Four-time deepest female Main Event runner
5Jennifer HarmanCash game earnings not tracked in MTT figures2Poker Hall of Fame inductee (2015)
6Victoria Coren MitchellMulti-million (EPT circuit)0Two-time European Poker Tour champion
7Vanessa Rousso$3.55M0Former Team PokerStars pro, attorney and media personality
8Maria LampropulosMulti-million0partypoker MILLIONS and PCA champion
9Ebony Kenney$4.1M+0Triton Series high-roller specialist, 2025 Triton ONE Jeju runner-up
10Barbara EnrightHistoric significance over earnings volume0First woman to reach a WSOP Main Event final table (5th, 1995)

The Players Who Define the Rankings

Kristen Foxen โ€” The Current Standard

Kristen Foxen sits atop the all-time female money list with more than $15.4 million in career live tournament earnings and five WSOP bracelets โ€” the most of any woman in the game’s history. She remains an active competitor across WSOP, PokerGO, and high-roller circuits, and is currently the top-ranked female player on the Global Poker Index, with a score in the region of 3,297 points. Foxen is married to fellow professional Alex Foxen, and together they represent one of the most recognizable couples in modern tournament poker.

Vanessa Selbst โ€” Widely Considered the Greatest

Even though she retired from competitive play in 2018, Vanessa Selbst is still widely regarded as the greatest female poker player of all time, and for good reason. She’s the only woman ever to reach the number-one ranking on the Global Poker Index, won three WSOP bracelets, and became the only player โ€” male or female โ€” to win the North American Poker Tour Main Event in back-to-back years. Her nearly $11.9 million in career earnings remains the second-highest total on the all-time female money list, and more than half a decade after her retirement, no one has closed the gap on her legacy.

Maria Ho โ€” The Standard-Bearer Without a Bracelet Yet

Maria Ho has built one of the most recognizable careers in poker without a WSOP bracelet to her name โ€” a gap that makes her ongoing pursuit of one genuinely compelling to follow. She’s been the last woman standing at the WSOP Main Event on four separate occasions but has yet to reach the final table herself, and her $5.5 million-plus in live tournament earnings sits alongside a prominent media career as a broadcast commentator, giving her a visibility in the sport that extends well beyond her tournament results.

Jennifer Harman โ€” The Cash Game Legend

Not every great career shows up cleanly on a tournament money list. Jennifer Harman, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and 2015 Poker Hall of Fame inductee, built her reputation primarily at the cash game tables โ€” she was one of the very few women to regularly compete in the biggest, highest-stakes cash games in the world against elite male professionals, a distinction that speaks to a level of respect within the game that tournament earnings alone don’t capture.

Historic Milestones in Women’s Poker

Money lists tell part of the story, but some of the most meaningful moments in the history of poker female players are milestone achievements rather than dollar totals:

  • Barbara Enright (1995): The first woman ever to reach a WSOP Main Event final table, finishing fifth โ€” a milestone that stood alone for three decades as the deepest Main Event run by a woman.
  • Leo Margets (2025): Became just the second woman in WSOP Main Event history to reach the final table, a genuinely historic result nearly 30 years after Enright’s run and one of the most significant milestones in recent memory for women’s tournament poker.
  • No woman has yet won the open WSOP Main Event. It remains the sport’s most visible gap, and it’s a large part of why every deep Main Event run by a woman draws outsized attention from the poker world.

Beyond Earnings: Media, Advocacy, and the Growth of the Game

A number of the most influential lady poker players in the sport’s history have built careers that extend well past prize money. Victoria Coren Mitchell parlayed two European Poker Tour titles into a prominent broadcasting and writing career in the UK. Liv Boeree has become one of the most recognized ambassadors for the game internationally, using her platform to discuss both poker strategy and broader topics in game theory and effective altruism. Jennifer Tilly, already an established actress before her poker career, helped bring mainstream visibility to women’s tournament poker at a moment when the sport badly needed it. These contributions matter for a complete picture of women’s impact on the game โ€” tournament earnings capture competitive results, but they don’t capture influence.

Why the Field Keeps Growing

The pool of competitive poker players women now includes rising high-stakes specialists building careers in Asia’s Triton Series and other international high-roller circuits, alongside the more familiar North American and European faces on this list. As buy-ins climb and more international high-roller events open up, the ceiling on what’s achievable keeps rising โ€” meaning this ranking, unlike a closed historical list, is realistically going to keep shifting over the next several years as newer players continue to stack results against the established leaders.

PokerClubGames’ Take: Service Details

At PokerClubGames, we track live tournament results, WSOP bracelet counts, and money-list movement across the entire field โ€” including the players shaping the future of women poker players in high-stakes tournament poker. If you’re following a specific player’s career, comparing historical rankings, or want a breakdown of how a recent deep run shifts the all-time list, our player profile guides go beyond a static ranking to keep the numbers current. Visit pokerclubgames.com for ongoing player coverage, tournament tracking, and historical rankings across the poker world.

FAQs

Who is the highest-earning female poker player of all time?ย 

Kristen Foxen currently leads the all-time female money list with more than $15.4 million in career live tournament earnings, along with five WSOP bracelets โ€” the most of any woman in poker history.

Who is considered the greatest female poker player ever?

ย Vanessa Selbst is widely regarded as the greatest female poker player of all time. She’s the only woman to reach number one on the Global Poker Index, won three WSOP bracelets, and remains second on the all-time female money list despite retiring in 2018.

Has a woman ever won the WSOP Main Event?ย 

No woman has ever won the open WSOP Main Event. The deepest runs by women include Barbara Enright’s fifth-place finish in 1995 and Leo Margets reaching the final table in 2025, making Margets only the second woman ever to do so.

How many WSOP bracelets does the top female player have?ย 

Kristen Foxen holds the record among women with five WSOP bracelets, the most of any female player in tournament poker history.

Are these rankings based on tournament earnings alone?ย 

Primarily, yes โ€” most rankings, including this one, are anchored to the Hendon Mob all-time female money list of live tournament earnings. However, achievements like WSOP bracelets, Main Event milestones, and cash-game reputation (such as Jennifer Harman’s) are also factored in, since tournament earnings alone don’t capture every dimension of a player’s career impact.

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