Vanessa Rousso Wins WPT Grand Final High Rollers Event

It appears as if all of Vanessa Rousso's prayers have come true in 2009.

Vanessa Rousso

is having a Tina Fey-esque year. She has the midas touch. She can do no wrong. She should just stop right now because it can't get any better than this.

Rousso, a woman, defeated a field of 79 of the top players in the world to capture the €25,000 buy-in EPT High Roller Championship.

The win banked Rousso € 720,000, or as we like to call it in U.S. America, about $1,071,388. It's easily her biggest (live) cash to date. Her previous big (live) take downs happened this year when she won $250,000 for finishing second at the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship, the $285,450 she banked for a Borgata victory in 2006, and $263,625 for a 7th at the WPT Championship (also in '06).

Add in the GoDaddy.com sponsorship, whatever that is worth, and Rousso is making a mockery of The Economy^TM.

The bigger storyline in all of this is the ramifications Rousso's win is having on the whole "women can't be successful at poker" thing. Between her year, Clonie Gowen's success last year, Annette Obrestad's WSOP-E win, and (we think) Amanda Baker final tabling the 7pm Caesar's nightly with us on Saturday, maybe girls really can compete in this crazy little game we call life poker.

Just maybe.

Get full final table payouts here. A list of more women who bucked the odds here. Pictures of Argentine model Jesica Cirio's absolutely flawless body and booty here.

Girl On Girl: Michele Lewis Interviews Vanessa Rousso

The following is WCP contributor Michele Lewis' latest interview in her "Girl on Girl" series featuring interviews with some of the hottest girls in poker.

Vanessa Rousso isn’t just hot, she’s smokin’ hot, looks hot in a bikini and lately… she’s tournament hot. Well, hot if you consider defeating poker legends Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu all in one weekend.  Seriously, how many people can say that?  Not to mention her recent WPT seventh place finish, GoDaddy commercial and some random magazine men like called Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Just to beat anyone to the punch, Rousso isn’t running around claiming to be a model.  In fact, she’s quick to admit that the Sports Illustrated Issue was intimidating as hell, especially when given three weeks to get in shape.  Furthermore, Rousso has no problem talking about the PokerStars bikini spot, as she’s happy to see poker being viewed more as a sport.

Besides, let’s be honest… it’s not really a big deal she was in Sports Illustrated because female poker players and the girlfriends/wives of male poker players are always asked to pose for the Swimsuit Edition. Ok, not really.  Point being, someone asked her vs. asking a poker playing celebrity like… Paris Hilton.  So, with Rousso sizzling up the poker scene, I got her to confess her alma mater, latest streak (like a Frank the Tank streak) and as I always ask… who she thinks is hot.

Michele Lewis:  Vanessa, so far this year you’ve been in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, signed a deal with GoDaddy.com, still a star player on team PokerStars and won second in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship.  That’s great and all, but come on… you must be ecstatic to be the new Girl on Girl... woman.  So, how does it feel? 

Huck Seed Wins NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship

Huck Seed is clearly the breast heads up poker player alive.

Huck Seed made relatively short work of Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, to win the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

This was clearly just Seed's time. After four straight deep runs in the event (and four WCP endorsed picks to win it all), Seed finally came through and won it all, defeating Rousso 2-0.

Despite the two matches to nil defeat, to Rousso's credit, she had without a doubt the hardest route to get to the finals, having to defeat Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospillier, and the fact that she's a woman.

For the win, Seed will bank $500,000. He becomes the third WSOP Main Event winner to capture a NBC Heads Up title, joining his ex-best friend Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Seed now has an 18-4 overall NBC Heads-Up record, giving him the second greatest record in everything ever, just behind the United States in wars (18-0-2).

Huck Seed, One Other Advance to NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Final

Well this couldn't have gone any better for GoDaddy.com.

A couple of days after GoDaddy.com named her as a new spokesmodel for their company, Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, has advanced to the final of the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

The fix is in. There is no other explanation.

(kidding, kidding)

No seriously though, is the fix in?

Anyway, Rousso defeated Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier to become the first female to make it to a NBC Heads Up final table.

In way less shocking news, Huck Seed, our pick to win it all, made the finals as well, defeating Sam Farha to get there.

Huck Seed, Three Others Advance to NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Semifinal

While Huck Seed (expectedly) advanced to another NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship semi-final, the real story to everyone else will probably be Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, did as well.

Safe to say that as bad as Layne Flack's year has been, Rousso has been the equivalent on the good side. First, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Then the GoDaddy.com commercial (view again below). And now a semi-final run that will surely be the lead storyline when NBC starts editing this all together.

Unlike Shannon Elizabeth's run two years ago, it's kind of hard to call Rousso's advancement a fluke. She's defeated Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and most recently Daniel Negreanu to get to the final four^TM. Now, she'll face the tour's hottest player, Bertrand Grospellier, for a spot in the finals.

On the other side of the bracket, Huck Seed will go against Sam Farha. Matches are expected to begin around 3:30 PST.

Watch Vanessa Rousso New GoDaddy.com Girl on RawVegas.tv

Huck Seed, 7 Others Advance at NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship

Our perennial pick to win it all, Huck Seed, has become the first/only person to cash in all five NBC National Heads Up Poker Championships by...cashing at the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

Seed will face last minute scratch entry David Oppenheim in the quarterfinals. Oppenheim replaced Layne Flack and has made the most of it by registering his first quarterfinals appearance.

Also making his first quarterfinals appearance is Daniel Negreanu. In a lock to be the featured table, he'll take on Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke.

Phil Hellmuth got a measure of revenge for last year's loss to Tom "Durrrr" Dwan by pretty much pwning him this go around. Hellmuth will face arguably the hottest guy on the circuit right now (performance-wise), Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.

And in the final quarterfinals match, David Williams will face Sam Farha.

Below is an interview with Huck Seed from the draw party Thursday night. It seems like Huck might have cracked the code on how to be successful at HU poker. Maybe Seth Rogan was right in Pineapple Express. Weed does make everything better.

Watch Huck Seed at the 2009 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship on RawVegas.tv

Huck Seed, 31 Others Advance in NBC National Heads Poker Championship

Round 1 of the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship is done. Some notes:

:: Obviously the big story of the day was Layne Flack's DUI no-show. His 2009 so far is the equivalent to Baumer's epic meltdown at the U.S. Nationals. Not good.

:: One story we actually will follow sort of is Vanessa Rousso's "journey." Her profiles was "raised" a bit with the SI Swimsuit pic, and she's actually very relevant for this tournament because of the GoDaddy.com commercial. After beating Doyle Brunson in Round 1, if she can tackle Phil Ivey today and make a deep run, Rousso could be the epicenter of talk for this year's tourney.

:: While it probably won't get much T.V. coverage, one of the more interesting matches today is Ilari "ziigmund" Sahamies v. Bertrand Grospellier. Sahamies because he's not only nuts but one of the best online poker players in the world today, and Grospellier because he's one of the best live tournament players in the world today.

:: The other really interesting match is the other online superstar, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who takes on Barry Greenstein.

:: Jerry Yang actually won (!) his first round match and plays John Phan.

:: And finally, of course, our pick to win it all, Huck Seed, won again, and will go up against Gus Hansen in what would be a compelling match if Seed ever showed some personality.

Get all of the match-ups here.

Exclusive: Vanessa Rousso and Danica Patrick Star In GoDaddy.com Commercial

A follow-up to our earlier post: big thanks to those involved for giving us access to the new GoDaddy.com commercial today featuring Vanessa Rousso (looking pretty solid on the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship btw, pics coming soon). Hats off to GoDaddy.com for really getting behind/so involved with the NBC National Heads Up as well. Good sign for poker sponsorships in general.

Behind-the-scenes footage of Rousso and the other GoDaddy.com models below.

Watch Vanessa Rousso New GoDaddy.com Girl on RawVegas.tv

Vanessa Rousso Tapped As New GoDaddy Girl

We ass-ume "I'd like to rear end her" is the IndyCar equivalent of bad "I'd poke-her" jokes.

This post was supposed to be about poker player Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke and whose photoshop replica recently appeared in the SI Swimsuit Issue, joining IndyCar hottie Danica Patrick as a spokesmodel for domain name registrar GoDaddy.com, but somewhere between reading that news and starting this post we found these photos of Danica and lost our train of thought. The look-from-behind pose has that effect on us.

So...for the story on Rousso, including a quote from Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons that awesomely works in the fact that Vanessa went to Duke, check out Bluff Magazine's write up here.

For photos of Danica and her impressive bumper, look up and below.

Vanessa Rousso SI Swimsuit Issue Photo

Hey, we've given some shit to Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, in the past...but props for getting her bod in SI Swimsuit Issue shape. Even if it's a paid ad. That stomach takes some work.

Vanessa Rousso Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Picture Is Out

Bar Refaeli gets a little more face time in the 2009 SI Swimsuit edition than Vanessa Rousso...but did she go to Duke?

Albeit only a small pic in a Poker Stars paid for portion of the magazine, Vanessa Rousso, a woman who went to Duke, has made it into the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

We'll have that pic up soon (seriously if somebody is sitting in their underwear at home with an issue and a scanner, please send it to us...will save us a lot of work...thanks). In the meantime, enjoy some of these pics from the issue. View many, many more here.

WPT Southern Poker Championship Final Table is Blah

Pretty sure this is the biggest Friends & Family^TM final table in WPT history. Let's just get this out of the way, here are the remaining six: Soheil Shamseddin (3,061,000), Allen Carter (1,673,000), Hilbert Shirey (1,353,000), Tyler Smith (1,271,000), Bobby Suer (651,000), Chuck Kim (386,000).

Some might say the bigger story is who didn't make the TV final table. Although that's barely a story either. Just missing out in 7th place is SI Swimsuit "model" Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke. Thanks to reader Kevmath for sending us the link confirming it is a paid Poker Stars ad/spread (no shocker there).

Another woman, Jena Delk, finished 11th. That wife-beater wearing ginger Justin Smith finished 13th. And Hevad Khan was 14th.

Get full results here.

A Bunch of Friends and Family Lead WPT Southern Poker Championship But Whatever Vanessa Rousso Talks About the SI Swimsuit Issue

The WPT Southern Poker Championship is in the money with a leaderboard that can best be described as "anti-star-studded." Or would that be unstar-studded? Or would that be dim lightbulb-studded? Anyone?

The friends and family dim lightbulb-studded top five are: Allen Carter (776,000), Tyler Smith (695,000), Stewart Yancik (619,000), Florian Langmann (603,000), Soheil Shamseddin (560,000).

Also still alive (although short-stacked) is Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke. Although for SEO purposes we may be extending that to "SI Swimsuit Model Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke." She caught up with Amanda Leatherman and confirms that: 1) she will be in the SI Swimsuit edition for sure, 2) it comes out in late February, 3) she has no idea what the pics look like yet, and 4) she's wearing half of a wetsuit top and bikini bottom in one and a light blue bikini in the other.

So there you have it. Get full chip counts here.

 

Vanessa Rousso to Appear in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Wow we have an unbelievable sixth sense when it comes to half-naked girls.

For no apparent reason we decided to make a blurry pic of Duke grad Vanessa Rousso our "Caption This" pic (despite others with much more potential), and about an hour after posting, we learn that she'll appear in the next Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Seriously.

Watch PCA 09: Vanessa's Vblog Jan 4th 2009 on PokerStars.tv

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Vanessa Rousso, Who Went to Duke, Has A Mom and Sisters Who Went to Hotville University

Since 2/3 of the Entities who comprise Wicked Chops Poker are married to MILFs, we in general have an appreciation for them. And while it would be gross to say we have SILFs, we certainly appreciate someone's fine sister.

Enter Vanessa Rousso's mom. And sisters.

According to Rousso, who went to Duke which means she's smart and should know things like geography, her family flew in from Florida for the weekend. Hopefully they will fly in from Florida more often, or at least stick around until Day 2 so we can meet them and stuff.

Afternoon Poker Links from the 2008 WSOP + Guess the Chick with the Tat

• A day after getting knocked off his scooter by a fan, Doyle Brunson wishes fans would just let him pee. (link)

• Rizen's got some explaining to do on Ultimate Bet signing. (link)

• Shaniac's back blogging, calling out Doug Kim for being a schmucky tool and being sort of a schmucky tool himself with guidelines on how to deal with him at the WSOP. (link, link)

• Speaking of, Jean-Robert Bellande. (link)

• Dr. Pauly gets deep about Eskimo Clark and recalls Erick Lindgren's sick golf prop bet last summer. (link)

• BodogAri is recup'd and blogging again, apparently isn't a fan of McCain or Obama. Or CardRunners. (link)

• Shannon Shorr jumps back into blogging his WSOP. (link)

• Still not Johnny, Terrence Chan is blogging his series. (link)

• Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke, pops her RawVegas.tv cherry with a video blog debut about whatever she ended up talking about after she says "I am professional poker player Vanessa Rousso." (link)

• On Facebook? Send WCP contributing cougar Michele Lewis an application, she'll love it. (link)

• The PokerCrack Girls are pretty hot, dig bald dudes. (link)

Guess the tat-legged chick below. We'll give you a hint, her name rhymes with Fikki Glows. Photo answer (NSFW-ish) after the jump . . .

2008 WSOP Update: Event #2 Finally at Final Table, Shannon Elizabeth Looking Good, and How Many Times Negreanu Rebought

:: The final table for Event #2 ($1,500 NLH) is finally set. James Akenhead is big stacked with 1,995,000. He's followed by Aaron Coulthard (1,510,000) and Theo Tran (1,420,000). Chris "Jesus" Ferguson also remains, stacked at 1,235,000. Get full chip counts here.

:: Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth is here playing in Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo). Wait, what? Shannon Elizabeth plays Omaha Hi/Lo? Really? Seriously? Do have to admit, all of that fucking dancing she's been doing with Derek Hough is paying off as she's looking pretty good.

:: Event #5 (one of our faves, the $1,000 NLH +rebuys) is in full swing with lots of stocked tables. Daniel Negreanu and Gavin Smith are next to each other. Daniel only rebought 9 times this year, a far cry from his record 23 (BJ Nemeth, it's 23 right? Please confirm.). Gavin put the odds at 0% that Chops' ESPN Fantasy League team would not include Darrell "Deep" Dicken. Good call there. Current chip leaders include Robert Cheung (81,500), we own Blair Hinkle SEO (46,000), Mark Vos, a ginger (40,000), John Juanda (37,500), Phil Ivey (36,000), the aforementioned Gavin Smith (32,000), and Phil Hellmuth (30,000). Get full chip counts here.

:: Vanessa Rousso, who is from Duke, was spotted in the hallway taking to a guy wearing a Duke cap. Not making that up either.

Vanessa Rousso Ruins a Good Argument

Vanessa Rousso is kind of hot, which is the first prerequisite in our reasons on "why you should listen to what a girl has to say." Other reasons include (in descending order of importance): big boobs, morally casual attitude, mother, because they are smart.

From what we can tell, Vanessa Rousso (at right on the left) is also smart as hell (she was her high school valedvictorian valedictorian and graduated early from Duke, which we're not 100% sure but think is where she went to college), which means she fits at least two of our five criteria. We're not good at math, but that sounds like enough reasons for us to listen to her.

The PPA is in Washington D.C. again lobbying for a carve-out from the UIGEA, and Rousso was there to tell everyone why online poker should be legalized in U.S. America. Says Rousso:

"It's hard sometimes to be a girl and sit down at a live table. Women can start playing [online] with a level of anonymity. They're not singled out as the only woman on the table; they can just practice poker, which is what it's all supposed to be about."

And single-handedly, just like that, Rousso convinced Congress to make online poker legal for us all!

Source: Chicago Tribune.

As You Know, Vanessa Rousso Came From Duke Where She Studied at Duke as a Duke Student

A few weeks ago someone on 2+2 asked the question "Why is Vanessa Rousso always blabbing about game theory?" to which she responded:

As you know I came to poker from Duke, with a game theory background from Duke, in Durham we always used to study poker from a math perspective at Duke, and I will be teaching at the WPT bootcamp the skills I learned at Duke.

So is Vanessa Rousso (seen in photo hanging and pitting out with Tiffany Michelle and Jennicide) saying that she went to Duke?

Wait, we forgot. Where did she go again? We missed it the fourth freakin' time she said it.

What an annoying chick and the fact that she's a Dukie makes her even more annoying because we hate Dukies. All Dukies. Pure blind hatred. What, you went to Duke? We hate you.

A Dukie could cure cancer and we'd still hate him. Love what he did, but hate him as a person.

We guess what we're saying is that we hate Dukies, if that wasn't clear.

Anyway, below is a great video of Duke grad Vanessa "From Duke" Rousso exhibiting the superb Duke-learned game theory skills she studied at Duke as a student at Duke.

Video of Vanessa Rousso bluffing $5k into a $30k pot on the river.