The young guns of poker consist of a bevy of females, each looking to etch their mark in the industry’s history books. Gunning to be in the company of names like Annie Duke, Linda Johnson, and Jennifer Harman, up and coming female players have made deep inroads at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Poker Tour (WPT), and beyond. So who are these superstars? Poker Bonuses will tell you who they are!

Annette Obrestad – One of the top poker pros in the world, male or female, Obrestad hails from Norway and plays online under the screen name “Annette_15.” She took down the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event for $2 million in 2007, besting a star studded final table that included John Tabatabai and Theo Jorgensen. She’s a former number one player on PocketFives.com and grabbed second in a European Poker Tour (EPT) event in Dublin in 2007. She is a card-carrying member of Team Betfair along with Tabatabai and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and won a $4 buy-in 180-man tournament on PokerStars while allegedly only looking at her cards once. Oh, and she won’t even be legally able to play live poker in the United States until the end of 2009 because she is not yet 21 years-old. Yeah, she’s pretty good.

Vanessa Rousso – She established herself as a force by signing with the domain hosting service GoDaddy just days before finishing as the runner-up to Huck Seed in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. In order to reach the finals, Rousso barreled through a gauntlet of poker legends including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Rousso became a staple online by placing second in the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event to ka$ino for $700,000. She originally took third; however, the tournament’s ultimate winner was disqualified after suspected multi-accounting issues arose. During the first seven seasons of the WPT, Rousso has bubbled two final tables, finishing seventh in the Season IV WPT Championship for $263,000 and the Season VII Southern Poker Championship for $79,000. She also was part of a chop of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) High Roller event in 2009.

Tiffany Michelle – She irked many poker fans by calling the clock in a hand between Scott Montgomery and Paul Snead deep in the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Nevertheless, she finished as the last woman standing in the 6,844 player field, a remarkable accomplishment. Michelle earned $334,000 for her 17th place showing, vaulting her into the poker spotlight. Michelle is a card-carrying member of Team Ultimate Bet and formerly worked with Poker News in the site’s tournament reporting endeavors. She goes by the nickname “Hot Chips” online, but don’t let her outgoing personality fool you. She is as top-tier of a poker player as you’ll find.

Evelyn Ng – The elder statesman of this list, Ng is a staple of Team Bodog along with Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, and David Williams. Mentored by Daniel Negreanu in Toronto, Ng established herself as a force to be reckoned with after turning in a runner-up performance in a World Poker Tour (WPT) Ladies Night event and finishing 11th in the 2005 Borgata Poker Open for $64,000. In 2006, she cashed for $73,000 after a 39th place effort in the Season IV WPT Championship. Ng is one of the most popular female poker players on the planet.

Jennifer Leigh – One of the first poker players to sign with a site on the Merge Gaming Network (IronDuke), Leigh affectionately goes by the name “Jennicide” online. She appeared in the May 2008 edition of Playboy Magazine and FHM Online in 2007. Leigh earned $13,000 for her 42nd place finish in the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and earned a similar payday for taking 45th in the WPT Season V Legends of Poker. She is as tech-savvy as they come and is a self-proclaimed video game junkie, with success in World of Warcraft and EverQuest.