Halloween is fast approaching and I thought what better way to celebrate then with some hot poker babes! Some of the outfits are from Alice in Wonderland, I haven't seen any of the movies or read the book. I heard there's a new Alice in Wonderland coming out in 2010 with Johnny Depp
Vanessa was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in February, recently became the first female to make the finals of the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship and starred in the latest GoDaddy commercial. Now she joins Big Slick Boot Camp and is doing a tour in California teaching anyone who is willing to put up $400. Big Slick Boot Camp promises you will learn "poker strategies and techniques based on the concept of Game Theory" in a one day course. I would never pay that for a one day class but it would be a nice experience meeting some poker pros and getting some autographs and pictures.
My biggest passion outside of playing poker is in teaching poker strategy. I love watching that light bulb go off in my students' minds when they discover something new, said Vanessa.
Rousso is engaged to poker player and commentator Chad Brown. Chad is 47 years old, Vanessa is 26 years old. I guess woman like older guys but Rousso did say "Well, behind Chad I will have to go with Patrik Antonius. He is very handsome--and his wife is drop dead gorgeous. When their baby grows up, they'll probably use it to start some kind of superior race."
Vanessa Rousso's Bio A French-American dual citizen born in New York, Vanessa Rousso studied at Duke University, where she graduated with honours on full scholarship. She then went to law school in Miami with hopes of becoming a securities litigator. That was until she discovered poker.
During her time at Duke, Vanessa became interested in Game Theory, which teaches how to apply complex math-based decision making strategies to everyday life. Couple that knowledge together with a lifelong love of games and it seems a natural fit that she would wind up as a poker player. Vanessa began making an impact on the live tournament circuit in 2005, developing her skills with several impressive results. A year later, she made the final table of the WPT Championship event, finishing 7th and taking home over $250,000. In the same year, Vanessa also became the youngest ever female player at the time to reach a World Series final table, with an 8th place finish in the $5,000 Shorthanded Hold’em event. This was followed by victory in a preliminary event at the WPT Borgata Poker Open, where Vanessa beat a field of 173 to win first place prize money of $285,450.
Amazingly, her most significant cash finish has been online. In October 2007, she finished 2nd in the main event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Vanessa walked away with over $700,000, one of the biggest cash prizes in the history of online poker. Vanessa RoussoIn March 2009 Vanessa added another big result to her varied resume, this time in the discipline of heads-up poker. At the star-studded NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Vanessa played through a field of 64 of the world's best players to reach the final, where she placed second for a cash of $250,000.
When Vanessa isn’t playing, she somehow manages to find time for many hobbies. Describing herself as something of an adrenaline junkie, she regularly goes skydiving and bungee jumping. Vanessa has also contributed strategy articles to several poker magazines.
With sizeable winnings both live and online, there are surely many more titles on the horizon for Vanessa. She is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and can be found playing in the biggest tournaments, using the screen name ‘LadyMaverick’.
As you may know, Vanessa Rousso has signed a contact with GoDaddy. She has also appeared in the latest GoDaddy Commercial with original GoDaddy girl IndyCar racer Danica Patrick, Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons and WWE wrestler Candice Michelle. (Video Below)
What a week! I started in Los Angeles playing in the World Poker Tour $10,000 Buy-In Event at the Commerce Casino. From there, it was on to New York City for three intense, 12-hour+ days as host/analyst for the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). Then Thursday morning, I hopped on the 7 a.m. flight from NYC to Las Vegas, landing at 10 a.m. PST – just in time to rush to Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino to meet my new Go Daddy colleagues and to film a poker-themed Go Daddy commercial. My call time was 11 a.m.!
I somehow managed to make it in time, and was whisked into hair and makeup. Within an hour and a half, I was on the set with Bob, Danica and Candice, trying my best to get my lines right. Acting is tough! It seemed the others had done this before – they had a handle on it much better than I did. The script was very funny and certainly GoDaddy-esque!
All in all, the shoot went well and most importantly I felt things clicked really well with everyone at Go Daddy. What a group of dynamic, interesting and creative people! I am very excited about working with Go Daddy, not to mention thankful for the confidence they have in me.
After we wrapped shooting for the commercial and took some pictures for the Web site, I was off to the Draw Party for the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championships at Caesars. The event features 64 of the world's top poker players (and will be televised April 12). Unfortunately for me, I drew the legendary godfather of poker, Doyle Brunson, as my first opponent. If I managed to defeat him, the others in my bracket looked very, very strong as well.
I woke up Friday feeling super tired and groggy – not a good start! I spent the morning analyzing some YouTube footage of Doyle playing past heads-up matches. Research is especially helpful in preparing for heads-up matches, and I think it is a big mistake not to take advantage of information on the Web. My round was set to start at 6 p.m., and after some preliminary interviews and a group photograph, we were off on-time.
I took an early lead and slowly ground him down to a short stack when he decided to move all-in on a 10 Q K all-hearts flop. Unfortunately for him, I had 9 10 of hearts, so I had flopped the flush. I called and he flipped over J 10 for bottom pair and a gut shot straight draw. He didn't have a heart and would need a runner full house (less than 1 percent chance) to beat me.
So, for the third year in a row I won my first-round match. But this year I was determined to get past the round of 32 (where I had fallen the last two years). That was, until I found out who I was I playing in the next round... the Tiger Woods of poker and the world’s all-around best poker player, Phil Ivey.
Tune in to my blog in a few days to find out what happened next...
Vanessa Rousso has signed a contract with GoDaddy.com and also starred in the latest GoDaddy commercial (Video below). She worked with the original GoDaddy girl; IndyCar racer Danica Patrick, Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons and WWE wrestler Candice Michelle during the shoot.
The commercial was presumably aired during NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The Heads-Up Tournament consisted of 64 players and to win, 1 player must win 6 headsup matches in a row. Vanessa won the first 5 but lost to Huck Seed in the finals.
“Vanessa is smart, she’s aggressive and she’s hot,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “She has an economics degree from Duke. She’s working on a law degree at the University of Miami. And, like Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick, she’s competing successfully in what has been a man’s sport. She is definitely Go Daddy material.”
Rousso is sponsored by the PokerStars online poker cardroom under the screenname LadyMaverick as part of their Team PokerStars. She placed third in the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, an online tournament run by PokerStars, winning $463,940.50; after the winner was later disqualified, Rousso was named runner-up and awarded with $700,782.50.
“Poker is my passion, but that actually started with my interest in economics,” said Rousso. “I know a strong company when I see one and Go Daddy is absolutely dominant. Go Daddy is world leader in so many Internet categories, plus it has a reputation for being fun, edgy and aggressive. It’s just my style.”
Vanessa Rousso has taken a photoshoot with Sports Illustrated in January. At first, she was suppose to be the featured swimsuit model but SI decided that poker was not the direction they wanted to go in.
So, Pokerstars had to pay for Rousso to be in the sponsored section of the magazine. Nevertheless, she looks great.
