Vanessa Selbst Honoured With Gay Role Model Accolade

Top poker professional Vanessa Selbst has just been named as one of the inspirational role models in this month’s US LGBT-interest magazine The Advocate’s “40 Under 40” list.
Vanessa Selbst is not only the game’s first openly gay poker pro, but she is also one of the male dominated game’s most successful players. The 28 year old has won 2 WSOP bracelets over a career stretching back to 2006, and now boasts $7,004,036 in live tournament winning, making her 42nd overall on poker’s ‘All Time Money List.’
The Yale Law School graduate  also happens to be top of the ‘Women’s All Time Money List,’ with her third placed rival Annie Duke around $2.8 million dollars adrift.
In addition to her prowess around the poker felt, over the years Vanessa Selbst has gained extra attention for her lifestyle and being an inspirational advocate for LGBT rights. In 2009, for instance, she caught the attention of the media when she took down the $4,700 buy-in NAPT Mohegan Sun for $750,000. Being close to her hometown of New Haven, Vanessa enjoyed plenty of home grown support and many of her fans and friends showed up waving signs saying “I’m Gay For Vanessa.” At the time, Selbst also insisted her girlfriend enjoyed some air time, explaining; “They regularly mention the other players’ wives and girlfriends and show them on camera, after all.”
As an extract from her article on The Advocate, reads: “Selbst is proud to be the first out LGBT poker player, but she says gender and sexuality matter little at the table. The Yale Law School grad began working with clinics devoted to LGBT rights, which she plans to soon take up full-time.”
The Advocate was established in 1967, and is the biggest LGBT magazine in the United States. It is also the only one to predate the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, which are credited for being instrumental in establishing the LGBT rights movement. Each year, Gay Pride events commemorate the riots which took place in June.