Vanessa Rousso – Poker too much of a Draw away from boring Law Career

Vanessa Rousso, born Vanessa Ashley Rousso, is a French-American professional poker player.

Born on February the 5th in 1983 in White Plains, New York, Vanessa holds dual nationality with both France and America. 

She is known by the online screen name Lady Maverick, which is the name you will see her playing at the tables of online poker site Pokerstars where she is a member of Team Pokerstars. 

As well as being a prominent member of Team Pokerstars she has also received a mainstream sponsorship deal away from Poker with internet giant GoDaddy.

Growing up on Two Continents

Coming from a business background, Vanessa’s parents operated their own company; Hobe Sound. Vanessa’s mother states that she began talking at a very early age and was reading fluently well before the average child.

Vanessa moved to France at the age of 3 with her family, residing in Paris where she attended French schools and became fluent in the language. Rousso’s parents later divorced and she moved back to the United States to be closer to her maternal grandparents. 

In Florida, she attended Wellington Landing’s Middle School and was an avid member of the school’s sports teams, participating in swimming, lacrosse, softball, basketball and as a leading member of the debate team. Her mother is a guidance counsellor in a Florida high school and in 2001 Rousso graduated with a 4.0 GPA whilst also participating in the National Honor Society as well as the French Honor Society. 

The Excitement of Poker lead her away from Law

From an early age, Vanessa has been noted as enjoying a challenge, whether abseiling across a cliff-face, bungee jumping or facing off against some of the toughest veteran poker players in the world.

Rousso was elected as her high schools valedictorian in 2001, which is the academic title given to the student who delivers the closing statement at a graduation ceremony. After this she went on to graduate from Duke University in 2003 with honors before deciding to attend a law school in Miami, Florida.

Whilst studying at Duke University, Rousso became an adept practitioner of a style of mathematics that dealt directly with strategic situations and how these strategies can be applied to events in everyday life.

Vanessa is a fun and popular character at the poker tables

Rousso had always played poker recreationally but didn’t really start to take it seriously until she discovered that a lot of this mathematical theory can be applied whilst playing poker. As she got more and more with this academic approach to beating poker games she started to consider becoming a professional poker player.

She is noted as stating that the excitement and anticipation of playing poker led her away from her studies and in to the clutches of professional gambling as a career. Her professional poker career began in 2005.

Earning Respect with a Rising Poker Career

Just a year after becoming a professional poker player, Rousso finished in a respectable 7th place in her first World Poker Tour championship, collecting $263,625 in winnings and getting herself noticed on the circuit.

With this result, she had proven to her family and herself that she had to skill to participate and hold her own in the toughest events around the globe.  This gave her the impetus to continue to study and perfect her style of play and has since gone on to walk away from a dozens of professional poker tournaments with prize money and her name high up the leader board.

Vanessa’s good lucks and high profile in the poker world means that she regularly features on television poker shows.

During the 2007 Pokerstars World Championship of Online Poker, she obtained one of her best results to date when she came second in the main event, cashing in $700,782.

With a repeated influx of further cashes, her next achievement came in NBC’s National Heads-Up Championship in 2009. Vanessa took on some of the best poker players in the world 1 on 1 and finished in second place in the championship and a fantastic prize of $250,000. She also walked away with a new found respect from her fellow veterans. 

In 2009, she took part in the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo, taking first place in the No Limit Hold ‘Em High Roller Championship and pocketing almost Euro €532,500 and perhaps her biggest victory to date.

She has also had strong results in the World Poker Tour, most notably in 2010 at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Championship where she came 3rd for a prize of $359k.

Vanessa also won the 2013 WPT Foundation Ladies’ Night Invitational event, beating a strong field of female poker players

She has concentrated her efforts on her consistency as a player and although still considered a rising star, Vanessa is certain to be placed amongst some of the most highly ranking professional poker players and is set for many more good results in the future. 

Playing Poker with Her Fans

In her spare time, Rousso spends time with her friends and family and is a frequent visitor to the local beaches of Florida. She has several pets that reside with her in her home in Nevada. She enjoys spending time at the local casinos and is fondly welcomed by the staff who consider her a regular, even reserving a seat for her at a number of tables.

Vanessa loves to play and talk to her fans, and does this on Pokerstars where she is a sponsored player on their Team Pokerstars. She also has a twitter account.

If you want to play with her, then all you have to do is download the Pokerstars software by clicking on the box below, register for a free account and do a player search for “Lady Maverick” and you will find the table she is playing at. Feel free to sit down and play with her, or just talk to her in the chat box.