Vanessa Kade is just not a professional poker player but also a very influential figure in the world of poker. Hailing from Canada, Kade transitioned from being a video game producer to becoming a highly successful poker pro. In this report, we delve into Vanessa Kade’s early life, poker career, winnings, net worth, and her high-profile feud with Dan Bilzerian and GGPoker.
Early Life and Poker Introduction
Vanessa Kade was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. From a young age, Kade displayed an eagerness to learn, excelling in both science and math while simultaneously pursuing music and the arts. She also engaged in various sports activities, including softball, gymnastics, martial arts, swimming, dance, and more. Even today, she continues to expand her skill-set, recently adding archery to her repertoire.
Kade earlier had a career as a video game producer, working for renowned companies such as BioWare, Disney, and LucasArts. It was during this time that she discovered online poker, which eventually became her new passion and career path.
Poker Career and Winnings
Kade, an avid traveler and animal lover, scored her first live cash in 2010, finishing 5th in a poker series in Macau for $736. However, she didn’t start taking poker seriously until 2013, when she scored in her first cash at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), earning $2,738 in the WSOP Ladies Championship. For the first five years of her full time poker journey (2010-2015), Kade mostly focused on cash games and competed in a few tournaments here and there.
In 2015, she made a bold decision to leave the gaming industry and dedicate herself to becoming a professional poker player. That year, she won her first title in the DeepStack Poker Tour Championship $300 NLH, earning $19,228.
Over the next few years, Kade continued to participate in local and international poker tournaments, with notable finishes including a runner-up finish in the 2016 Great Canadian Freeze Out Tournament Main Event for $17,406. That year, she won a Team Event for C$ 1,850 at the 2016 Summer Super Stack, Calgary. She then won her third title in 2017, claiming No Limit Hold’em – Bounty victory at Run It Up Reno IV, Reno. One of her notable scores in 2019 included a 14th place in the 2019 WSOP Ladies Championship for $7,311.
The pandemic brought the offline poker world online, and in 2020, Kade cashed in eight online bracelet events during the WSOP Online Series, including a 510th-place finish in the GGPoker WSOP Online Main Event for $14,634.
Her breakthrough came in 2021, when she won the PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary event, defeating a massive field of 69,876 players to claim her first seven-figure payday of $1,514,920. She went on to make two final table finishes at the 2021 U.S. Poker Open ($10k NLH and $25k NLH), earning over $230,000, and a 5th-place finish in a $25k NLH event for $138,000.
In 2022, Kade added another significant win to her resume, finishing 4th in the $10k Wynn Millions Main Event for $527,481. She also achieved multiple deep runs in WSOP events, including 8th place in the recent 2024 WSOP Event 60: $3k NLH for $77,378.
As of 2024, Vanessa Kade has cashed in 73 WSOP events, accumulating $421,197 in WSOP earnings. Her total live poker earnings exceed $1.2 million (as per the hendon mob), primarily from WSOP and PokerGO Tour events. As updated on her Instagram, she has accumulated more than $3.5 million from her cash finishes across online and live events over the years.
Net Worth in 2024
Although we don’t have exact data on Vanessa Kade’s net worth, it is estimated to be over $4 million, derived from her poker career and her work as a content creator. Since 2018, Kade has been an active streamer on Twitch, amassing over 22,300 followers. She also uploads poker-related content on YouTube. Kade joined the American Card Room (ACR) as an ambassador in early 2021 but later stepped down.
Feud with Dan Bilzerian and GGPoker
In late 2020, GGPoker appointed Dan Bilzerian as an ambassador, sparking criticism from the poker community over his alleged sexist behavior. Kade was among the most vocal critics, tweeting:
“Sponsoring a sleazy, sexist tool with toxic followers as poker’s biggest ambassador lends validity to the idea that he’s an accurate representation of our sport.”
Bilzerian responded with a derogatory comment: “Quiet hoe, nobody knows who you are.”
Following the exchange, GGPoker canceled Kade’s affiliate deal in March 2021. Kade did not work with them actively for over two years but was supposed to collect her percentage of the rake. However, the poker brand decided to punish her for that by cancelling her account and pointing out that they hired an over sexist.
Kade later joined ACR Poker as an ambassador but parted ways, citing differing values as the reason for her exit from the ambassador role.
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Key Sources: Hendonmob/Vanessakade.com
