Vanessa Rousso: The Lady Maverick

Vanessa “Lady Maverick” Rousso is currently completing her third year of law school and rank in the top 5 of her class at University of Miami School of Law. Vanessa Rousso is also the youngest woman poker professional to compete in the World Series Of Poker Final Event and one of the top 10 female money earners of all time on the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tournament (WPT) circuits.



Vanessa Rousso also graduated in Duke University in 2 and a half years,ad now pusuing a law career. While her counterparts routinely pursue internships prior to law school graduation in order to gain practical legal experience, Vanessa spends summers traveling the country to compete in professional poker tournaments.

How she dealt with it? In April 2006, she finished a law school exam, hustle and bustle to the airport, arrived within seconds of missing her flight, and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada, to take part in the World Poker Tour World Championships. Vanessa Rousso not only aced the law school exam, but she also finished seventh in the World Poker Tour World Championships.

With less than 3 years of professional play behind her, Vanessa Rousso has already earned close to $2 million playing at live poker tournament and at online poker site. while earning a law degree on the side. Vanessa Ruosso earned more than $680,000 in 2005 on the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour circuits. She is also in the 7th palce in a field of more than 600 of the World's top professionals at the World Poker Tour Championship event.

This poker hottie has won 4 World Series of Poker (WSOP) events, including an 8th place finish in this year's $5,000 event. Most recently, she finished in 1st place at the World Poker Tour Borgata Open, winning almost $300,000.

She also cashed the ladies event in 45th place, and picked up an extra couple of grand when she won one of the Palms' Daily Tournaments. In the fall Vanessa returned to law school, and played poker whenever she had a chance either online or traveling to small buy-in tournaments on breaks. She made 3 cashes and 2 final tables in early 2006, her biggest score coming in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event at Atlantic City's Wold Series Of Poker-Circuit stop where she banked $17,550. That's when Vanessa Rousso got a funny idea in her head — she wanted to play in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championships. Vanessa Rousso ground her way to a 7th place finish and a $263,625 score, busting on the TV final-table bubble when Vanessa's A-K fell to James Van Alstyne's A-J.

In EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final High Roller last May 1, 2009, she outlasted other poker pros and even celebrities to elevate in the 1st place and take home $946, 696. Her undisputed performance at Bellagio wowed everyone and soon she was given out to be part as a member of The PokerStars' Team and also signed as the newest Go Daddy girl and will be joining the most dominant domain name registrar in the world.

With her renowned success, she is now a volunteer of Toys and Tales, Walk for the Cure, the Palm Beach Youth Court, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Center for Race Relations at Duke University. She is also an instructor for the World Poker Tour Boot Camp.

A woman winning the World Series is just a matter of time, she maintains, as the number of skilled female poker hotties in the biggest action continues to elevate. The fact is, Vanessa says, women at poker tables tend to be viewed through a filter of faulty perceptions. "Women are perceived as very tight players, that we can't bluff, but the fact is we've been bluffing for centuries. We're better at it than you guys . . .And so the best women players can use this misconception or stereotype to their advantage."

Vanessa Rousso's Photos