Coaches / Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa (AKA fslexcduck) has been playing poker for over 10 years. She became serious about the game in 2004, starting out in online and live NLHE and PLO cash games. She can usually be found playing limits between 25-50 and 50-100, but will play up to 200-400 when the mood arises. From 2007-2008, she hopped onto the live tournament scene, winning a WSOP bracelet and amassing hundreds of thousands in earnings along the way. She took a hiatus to complete her first two years of Yale Law School, only playing events local to Connecticut. During that "hiatus" she managed to win an NAPT main event title and two World Poker Finals preliminary events, bringing her live tournament winnings to over $1.6 million. She is now back in full swing on the tournament scene.

Vanessa has always had a passion for teaching. She has coached over 70 students since 2006 in tournaments, no limit hold'em cash, and PLO cash. Many of them have gone on to achieve great success. She runs her own live coaching program, which involves meeting in person at a casino for several days and receiving personal instructions on many aspects of cash or tournament poker, including those specific to live play. Live group coaching is available as well, and of course, she continues to coach online.

Vanessa is a DeucesCracked Executive Producer.

About rates: Vanessa charges $650 per hour for online coaching, and offers 1-4 day programs for live coaching, with prices ranging from $4k to $12k. Group rates are also available. Please inquire directly by emailing Vanessa at vanessa@deucescracked.com.

Q. What type of poker do you like the most and what type are you best at? A. I love live deep-stacked tournaments more than anything else. I think it requires proficiency at cash game play, as we're often more than 100BB deep, but many extra dimensions are added with the complexities of tournament considerations. I also prefer live poker since I'm just a social person and I think I read people well in life, so I'm able to identify player types and make solid reads based on that information which I wouldn't get from a HUD.

Q. Why did you leave poker? A. I left because I thought I had lost interest and focus in the game, and leading the lifestyle I led caused me to take my situation for granted. I was rarely playing my A game. I also missed doing work for civil rights causes, and missed the intellectualism behind academic pursuits.

Q. What made you come back? A. I just missed poker too much. I love the game and frankly, I'm pretty good at it. I know now that many of the issues I struggled with were lifestyle-related rather than poker-related, and now that I am older I feel I have the discipline to lead a healthy lifestyle and continue to pursue interests outside of poker while playing professionally. I plan on devoting a significant amount of time each year to doing something in the field of civil rights law, and I also plan to get more involved with poker-related projects, including but not limited to really perfecting my live coaching curriculum.

Q. Why do you coach and what do you like about it? A. I have always loved teaching, ever since my brother and I started "The Tutoring Team" when I was in sixth grade. I find fewer things more gratifying than a student experiencing real success, and as a result, I'm dedicated to making sure my students receive the best instruction possible. I encourage them to see me as a mentor rather than just a teacher or lesson-giver... meaning I make myself available as much as possible for instruction outside of our normal session times. The more my students put in, the more they get out of it, and I love seeing that process at work.

Q. What the heck does your screen name even mean? A. I made it in 7th grade, before AOL let you have more than 10 letters in your screen name-- you know, the old school days where you actually subscribed to America Online and paid by the minute. Switch the d and the f and sound it out: you'll get there. I thought I was quite the clever one back then.