Vanessa Selbst Eliminated from Feature Table in Blockbuster Hand

The World Series of Poker Day 1B of the Main Event was an hour old and Vanessa Selbst and Gaelle Baumann got into a blockbuster hand on the feature table that aired live on ESPN2. Selbst is a three-time bracelet winner and Baumann was the last woman standing in the Main Event twice – 2016 and 2012.

Selbst opened the action to 400, Baumann and Noah Schwartz called and the flop came Ac 7c 5c. Schwartz checked, Selbst bet 700, Baumann called and Schwartz mucked. The turn came 7s, Selbst checked and Baumann bet 1,700. Selbst took some time, check-raised to 5,800 and Baumann sat motionless with her hands over her cards.

Baumann called, the turn came 4d and Selbst thought for a while before betting 16,200. Baumann responded my putting in her stack of 5,000 chips, setting Selbst all in.

“Are you serious right now?” Selbst said aloud. “Oh my God, holy moly. I have to check which suits I have.” Selbst re-checked her hole cards and added, “Wow, this might be a quick Main Event for me – I can’t fold.”

“You’ve got ace seven or sevens,” Selbst said before calling. She put her chips in, tabled pocket aces for a full house and asked if Baumann had quads. Baumann nodded and tabled pocket sevens for quads – eliminating Selbst.

Gaelle Baumann is one of the early chip leaders after eliminating Selbst. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
“I flopped top set, Gaelle flopped middle set and then she turned quads and I made top boat,” said Selbst after the hand. “The hand went down where she shoved on me on the river, and I honestly thought she had quads but she could have had ace seven suited and could have played it the same. But there’s one combination of hands that beats me and I was getting good odds, I can’t fold that hand unfortunately. It is what it is, that’s poker and I got coolered.”

“I was getting beat up but still had chips because it’s the Main Event,” Selbst added. “I’m in a situation where she’s bluffing literally zero percent of the time. And I’m thinking ‘is this real life?’”

“No history really, I know she’s a good player that factored in that spot. A worse player might shove with worse full house there,” Selbst said. “I know she’s not shoving from the way the hand went down, I was betting big and the pot got big quickly on my account. Given that, she knows that I have either a really strong hand or I’m bluffing. She’s just not shoving with a bottom full house – I know her well enough to know that. That factored in for sure – If I have the red aces in my hand I fold.”

“It’s just another tournament at the end of the day. I come in with high hopes and you just have to laugh about it. I didn’t play it badly – it’s the life of a poker pro. You move on and hopefully do better next year. I can’t do much worse.”

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