Vanessa Ashley Rousso (born February
5, 1983) is a French
American law student at the University of Miami and a professional poker player. She is also
known by her Pokerstars online screen name Lady
Maverick. Born in White
Plains, New York, Rousso has
dual
citizenships with the United States and France.
Rousso is a member of Team PokerStars, and a spokesperson for GoDaddy.com.
She has earned money as a professional poker player since 2005. A photo of her
appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
Issue. Rousso
was her 2001 high school class valedictorian and graduated from Duke University in
December 2003. She is the wife
of Chad Brown.
Rousso began law school in 2004 and was the inaugural recipient of the
Chaplin Scholarship from the University of Miami.
During Law School at the University of Miami School of
Law, she served on the editorial board of the University of Miami Law
Review. A poker player
since the age of five, Rousso began serious poker tournament play during her summer break
from law school. Rousso was in
the top 5% of her law school class, but
she did not finish law school. Now, excluding
online winnings, she ranks among the top five women in poker history in terms of
all-time money winnings. She
currently resides part time in Las Vegas, Nevada and part time in Hobe Sound, Florida. Her nickname
was given to her by a relative when she sold shares of herself to enter a
$25,000 buyin event in a manner that was reminiscent of a storyline in Mel Gibson's movie called Maverick. As of year
end 2009, Rousso drove a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo.
She had placed
in the money a cumulative total of eleven times in the 2005, 2006, 2008, and
2009 World
Series of Poker. In the 2008
tournament, she placed 625th of 6844 entrants in the Main event. However, in
2007, she had earned over $700,000 with a second place finish in the main event
of the World Championship of Online
Poker. At the age of 27, she ranks among the top five women in poker history
in terms of all-time money winnings. In addition,
she has become one of the game's foremost sex symbols. She has been a
pro-gambling activist on both the national and state level.
As of 2010[update], Rousso had finished in the money in numerous
live poker events and had earned over $2,500,000 in career earnings.
Vanessa Ashley Rousso
She had placed
in the money a cumulative total of eleven times in the 2005, 2006, 2008, and
2009 World
Series of Poker. In the 2008
tournament, she placed 625th of 6844 entrants in the Main event. However, in
2007, she had earned over $700,000 with a second place finish in the main event
of the World Championship of Online
Poker. At the age of 27, she ranks among the top five women in poker history
in terms of all-time money winnings. In addition,
she has become one of the game's foremost sex symbols. She has been a
pro-gambling activist on both the national and state level.
