Vanessa Rousso

Vanessa Rousso is the one of the world's top-ranked female poker players. At 22-years-old, she was the youngest woman to reach the final table at the World Series of Poker circuit level.

Vanessa started showing signs of above-average intelligence at an early age, speaking at age one, reading by age three and playing poker by age five and then fluent in French and Spanish. She studied at Duke University and graduated with honors in economics and a list of extracurricular activities on a full scholarship. She continued on to law school in Miami as a recipient of the Chaplin Scholarship planning to become a securities litigator.

In the meantime, she discovered poker and Game Theory in the application of complex math-based decision making strategies into everyday life. This mathematical knowledge and her interest in card games transported Vanessa where she is today.

Since turning pro only a few years ago, Rousso has amassed more than $3.45 million in earnings. In addition, Vanessa has sponsorship deals with PokerStars.com and GoDaddy.com.

Vanessa's recent achievements include winning 1st place at Poker After Dark on NBC 2009, 2nd place at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship 2009, 1st place at EPT-25K High Roller Tournament 2009, 7th place at the WPT Season 7, Southern Poker Championship, and 8th place at the 2006 WSOP No Limit Event 30 just to name a few.

Vanessa will make several television appearances throughout the upcoming months including: The Stars of Poker for Canal Plus (she is a dual French/American citizen); participating in ESPN's World Series of Poker Main Event in October; the NBC Heads-up Invitational in February; and her fourth appearance on ABC's Poker After Dark in mid-2010.