The 10 Best Poker Quotes from Female Poker Players

These women have made their mark in the poker world with both their words and their skills, so let’s look at what players such as Game of Gold winner Maria Ho, British poker legend Liv Boeree, infamous World Series legend Annie Duke and former Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Jen Harman have given us over the years.

1. Annie Duke

“Poker is a skill game pretending to be a chance game.”

Annie Duke is both of poker’s most successful female players and a highly controversial figure. Seen as a leading light in the ladies game in the  first ‘poker boom’ era of the game, Duke won her first and only WSOP bracelet so far in 2004 when she took down the $3,000-entry Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event for $137,860.

Duke was part of the Ultimate Bet roster at the time when Russ Hamilton was investigated and later proved to have used software able to see other players’ hole cards. The ‘Superuser’ scandal enveloped Duke in 2013 when audio recordings revealed named her as complicit in knowing about the ‘God Mode’ furore. In 2020, Annie Duke retired from poker… but is a player who has pretended to be one thing ever truly another? We could yet see Duke return to the game she succeeded in during its biggest era of growth.

2. Vanessa Selbst

“In poker, as in life, you have to take risks to get ahead.”

Another retired player is Vanessa Selbst – although recent forays in live events hint at a partial return to the action the player many believe is the best female player ever to look down at hole cards. A three-time WSOP bracelet winner in Pot Limit Omaha, 10-Game mix and Mixed Max No Limit Hold’em, Selbst has 21 six-figure poker scores and until another lady on this list surpassed her, was the record holder for bracelets.

Selbst quit the game she loved after training to be a lawyer before taking it up. Switching to hedge fund management when she started a family with her girlfriend, Selbst left poker behind after getting bad beat horrifically in one of the most infamous WSOP Main Event hands of all-time, losing with a full house on Day 1 against Gaele Baumann’s quads.

3. Jennifer Harman

“Poker is not about the cards you’re dealt—it’s about how you play them.” 

The former Full Tilt Poker poster girl Jennifer ‘Jen’ Harman has been a poker legend for many years and has more than adapted to the strength of her hand over the decades she has spent in the game. With two open event WSOP bracelets, (in NL 2-7 Draw and NLHE), Harman has earned the respect of her peers and in 2015 was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Part of poker reality series and films too, Harman was a feature in many of televised poker’s finest moments. As well as her excellent poker career, Harman loves animals and is a big fundraiser for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Winning just under $3m at the live felt alone, Harman’s cash game prowess is such that you can probably treble those winnings over the years.

4. Liv Boeree

“You have to learn how to lose before you can learn how to win.”

If ever there was a convincing argument to make Liv Boeree your poker hero, her most recent performance is it. Boeree’s fourth-place finish in the $25,000 GGPoker Super Main Event earned her a spectacular $2.8 million – the biggest prize of her poker career. For a one-time PokerStars Team Pro, Boeree’s win came as a surprise to some, given that she’d stepped back from the poker industry for some time.

A long-time poker professional, Liv Boeree shot to fame when she won the 2008 EPT Main Event in San Remo. With her flight home from another European stop delayed due to an ash cloud over mainland Europe, she ensconced in San Remo, a small Italian village where an EPT Main Event was being held. Boeree won it for well over a million dollars and her stratospheric rise to fame went from there.

Winning a WSOP bracelet with her boyfriend Igor Kurganov, Boeree has recently stopped playing poker, focusing on her scientific interests and starting a successful podcast called Win-Win. Optimal it might not have been, but her trip to WSOP Paradise in December yielded her biggest ever score… and Igor didn’t even have a piece!

5. Maria Ho

“Being good at poker is a lot like being good at anything else: You have to put in the work.”

There are few players in the game of poker who have ever put the work in like Maria Ho. The legendary poker professional isn’t just an accomplished tournament player, but a leading light to female players around the world. Winning the 2023 poker reality TV show Game of Gold, Maria catapulted herself into the celebrity realm, winning the sole prize in the event – $456,000.

Since winning Game of Gold, Maria has continued her quest for a WSOP bracelet, becoming one of the very best not to win one yet. With victories on the Celebrity Poker Tour, she is also commanding respect across the mainstream media just as she has in poker for decades. Check out this incredible hand against Sofie Dossi from the most recent CPT event where Maria is 3% on the flop and somehow wins the hand. It was probably the best hand to take place in 2024.

6. Kathy Liebert

“Poker is a war. People pretend it’s a game.”

The notion that poker is a battle is deep-rooted in the game’s rich and colored history. Doyle Brunson once compared the art of playing poker to an all-out war and the last female poker player to make the WSOP Main Event final table, Kathy Liebert agrees. Liebert isn’t just a Female Poker Hall of Famer, but a class act all round and has inspired players of both sexes for the lion’s share of half a century.

Still a player to this day, Liebert will leave behind a legendary legacy… but not before she tries to add to her trophy collection.

7. Vanessa Rousso

“I play every hand like my tournament life depends on it, because most of the time, it does.”

No longer a part of the poker industry, Vanessa Rousso still spoke the absolute truth when she described the intensity at which she played. Rousso was an impressive poker player, cashing in nine out of 11 years at the WSOP between 2005 and 2016, winning major trophies along the way.

Now retired from poker, Rousso formed a DJ Duo called ‘N1TEL1TE’ with her wife Melissa Ouellet, and was a contestant on season 17 of the reality television show Big Brother in 2015, finishing third. A few years ago, the former French poker superstar qualified as an attorney. On Instagram, she said: “Want to know the secret behind my career success? It’s simple: got for it and be open to reinventing yourself along the way. Don’t wait for the perfect moment – take the leap and reach for the stars!” It’s hard to argue that Rousso ever fell short in a life that includes ‘poker legend’ among her many achievements.

8. Barbara Enright

“You don’t have to be the best player at the table, just the smartest.”

Barbara Enright – still playing in Mixed Game Festivals to this day in Las Vegas – is a World Series of Poker legend and a history maker in the game of poker. Winning in the money in the 2005 Main Event from just a $10 satellite, Enright’s return on investment in that event mirrors the incredible value she has given her supporters over the years.

A three-time bracelet winner in 1986, 1994 and 1996, Enright was the first woman ever to win a bracelet in an open WSOP event rather than the Ladies Event. Having won over $1.7 million at the live felt, Enright is also an ambassador for the Poker League of Nations and editor-in-chief for Woman Poker Player magazine.

9. Kristen Foxen

“Bluffing is an art. When done right, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

 Kristen Foxen (nee Bicknell) is one of the best poker players of the modern age and the fact that she is female is almost a non-topic given her poker and influence in the game as whole.

While she is a passionate player who advocates more female players in the game, Foxen – married to her fellow poker crusher husband Alex – is a shining example of how a player of any sex can achieve whatever they hope to in the game by working hard and studying even harder. Foxen kicked off 2025 how she means to carry on, winning the PokerGO Tour Kick Off series event for a huge six-figure score:

10. Melanie Weisner

“Success in poker isn’t about luck—it’s about making the right decisions over and over again.”

Melanie Weisner is a terrific example of a poker player who crushes hard at the live felt. The American, who has won over a million dollars at the live poker felt alone, once finished 127th in the WSOP Main Event back in 2016. In fact, between 2013 and 2017, Weisner cashed deep in the World Championship three times and was a force to be reckoned with.

A passionate New Yorker, Weisner has won a trio of ranking events and has ranking results dating back to 2009. The professional knows that consistency is key and over the years she has shown that no matter how important luck is in any one hand, in poker, skill will always prevail and over time, Weisner has risen to the top time and time again.

Including photography by Hayley Hochstetler and Neil Stoddart.