diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/util/VariantEvalUtils.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/util/VariantEvalUtils.java
index aa8c6cfb9..e700a733c 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/util/VariantEvalUtils.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/util/VariantEvalUtils.java
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ public class VariantEvalUtils {
      * @return a new VariantContext with just the requested samples
      */
     public VariantContext getSubsetOfVariantContext(VariantContext vc, Collection<String> sampleNames) {
-        VariantContext vcsub = vc.subContextFromGenotypes(vc.getGenotypes(sampleNames).values(), vc.getAlleles());
+        VariantContext vcsub = vc.subContextFromSamples(sampleNames, vc.getAlleles());
 
         HashMap<String, Object> newAts = new HashMap<String, Object>(vcsub.getAttributes());
 
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
index 609593acc..0efb46bf5 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
@@ -659,13 +659,7 @@ public class SelectVariants extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
         if ( samples == null || samples.isEmpty() )
             return vc;
 
-        ArrayList<Genotype> genotypes = new ArrayList<Genotype>();
-        for ( Map.Entry<String, Genotype> genotypePair : vc.getGenotypes().entrySet() ) {
-            if ( samples.contains(genotypePair.getKey()) )
-                genotypes.add(genotypePair.getValue());
-        }
-
-        VariantContext sub = vc.subContextFromGenotypes(genotypes, vc.getAlleles());
+        VariantContext sub = vc.subContextFromSamples(samples);
 
         // if we have fewer alternate alleles in the selected VC than in the original VC, we need to strip out the GL/PLs (because they are no longer accurate)
         if ( vc.getAlleles().size() != sub.getAlleles().size() )
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
index ba96b13d8..db398b478 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
@@ -446,9 +446,25 @@ public class VariantContext implements Feature { // to enable tribble intergrati
      * @return vc subcontext
      */
     public VariantContext subContextFromGenotypes(Collection<Genotype> genotypes, Collection<Allele> alleles) {
-        return new VariantContext(getSource(), contig, start, stop, alleles, genotypes != null ? genotypeCollectionToMap(new TreeMap<String, Genotype>(), genotypes) : null, getNegLog10PError(), filtersWereApplied() ? getFilters() : null, getAttributes(), getReferenceBaseForIndel());
+        return new VariantContext(getSource(), contig, start, stop, alleles,
+                genotypes != null ? genotypeCollectionToMap(new TreeMap<String, Genotype>(), genotypes) : null,
+                getNegLog10PError(),
+                filtersWereApplied() ? getFilters() : null,
+                getAttributes(),
+                getReferenceBaseForIndel());
     }
 
+    public VariantContext subContextFromSamples(Collection<String> sampleNames, Collection<Allele> alleles) {
+        return subContextFromGenotypes(getGenotypes(sampleNames).values(), alleles);
+    }
+
+    public VariantContext subContextFromSamples(Collection<String> sampleNames) {
+        return subContextFromGenotypes(getGenotypes(sampleNames).values());
+    }
+
+    public VariantContext subContextFromSample(String sampleName) {
+        return subContextFromGenotypes(getGenotype(sampleName));
+    }
 
     /**
      * helper routine for subcontext