Thursday, March 12, 2009

Vanessa Rousso Pictures from Sports Illustrated-Full Size

Updated on March 12th This photo appeared in the annual swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.  It was a paid advertisement from one of Vanessa's sponsors PokerStars, as evidence from the decent sized logo on her chest. Vanessa Rousso is not just a nice body and a pretty face, she graduated valedictorian of her high school class and she completed her degree at Duke in just over 2 years.  Which is where she discovered the concept of game theory and it's practical application as it relates to poker.  She really broke onto the scene when she came in 7th at the World Poker Tour Championship in 2006. Click image to enlarge

Her timing was impeccable

The scene in 2006 and early 2007 saw online poker sites scrambling to sign the "next big thing" (especially when it came to women poker players), namely PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.  Full Tilt was already invested in the image of Clonie Gowen (they paid for a spread in Maxim magazine that got a lot of coverage) and Jennifer Harman, so Poker Stars ended up signing three up and coming women players into their pro stable Isabelle Mercier, Katja Thater and Vanessa Rousso.  Vanessa has proven to be the most marketable of the three (at least here in the USA, Mercier is from Canada and has some connections in France, Thayer is German), all are very attractive women but Vanessa is upbeat and refreshing.  Her appearances on Poker After Dark and her live interviews always come off in a positive light. Vanessa is also set to be married to poker player Chad Brown.

Vanessa has her detractors (kind of)

Appealing to a young male demographic is difficult, on the one hand your marketing needs to look like the picture above, on the other hand it can call into question your motivation for playing poker.  Such is the dilemma Vanessa faces on 2+2.  For better or worse 2+2 is where the poker experts hang out.  Many of whom think that Vanessa is receiving opportunities mostly because she is good looking and that her poker talent is questionable.  There was a bit of a drama in the 2008 world series of poker when a silly dispute happened regarding a bluff.  The player at the time seemed surprised that Vanessa was so shocked, to which she responded as an explanation for her amazement "that was an aggressive call".  So that is now her unwanted catch phrase.  The player in question then got reprimanded by Chad Brown for his behavior and hundreds of photoshops ensued. Playing poker professionally can wear on even the most upbeat people.  Many pros think that amateurs "call them down" lightly so they can say "I caught Vanessa Rousso" bluffing.  They are probably a little right about that but it also has it's advantages in that you can get paid off with your big hands. The biggest way to show that you have poker chops is to win poker events.  While Vanessa has struggled to do that she has finished well in some prestigious events.  She finished 3rd in the biggest online event each year (the WCOOP on Pokerstars), it was later changed into a 2nd place finish when it was found out that the winner actually played more than one account.  For her efforts Vanessa took home over $750,000, currently her tournament cashes stand just over one million dollars but that figure does not include this online cash.  Vanessa's online screen name is Lady Maverick.

Vanessa Rousso signs with GoDaddy.com and then comes in 2nd in the Godaddy sponsored NBC National Heads Up Championship

Her biggest finish however did not bring a lot of cash (in poker terms $250,000 is not that big of a prize for a live tournament).  She came in second to Huck Seed at the yearly invitational heads up championship on NBC.  The 2009 version of the NBC Heads Up Championship was sponsored by Godaddy.  This was not the first time a major sponsor titled a poker event, the big story is that Godaddy signed both Vanessa Rousso and Mike Matusow for their poker prowess and to star in an upcoming marketing campaign. Many people had Vanessa with very long odds to win this event.  Proving that she is more than just a pretty face she bested some of the biggest names in poker including Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.  Those shows will be televised in April and we will post them as they become available online. Godaddy commercial with additional pictures of Vanessa
Tags: Articles   Vanessa Rousso   godaddy   sports illustrated   bikini  

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