Until she appeared in a paid advertisement that ran in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, Vanessa Rousso, Team PokerStars Pro, had never been photographed by anyone other than friends.
During one particularly hectic week in March that included playing in two poker tournaments and hosting the Latin American Poker Tour, the 26-year-old added video to her list of accomplishments. Vanessa joined IndyCar® Series Star Danica Patrick and WWE Wrestler Candice Michelle, in Las Vegas to film a commercial for Go Daddy. "Acting is tough!" she remarked afterwards, marveling at how her fellow Go Daddy Girls® seemed so at ease in front of the camera.

When they finished shooting the commercial, all three attended the Draw Party for the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace. Vanessa entered the Casino's opulent night club wearing the signature black leather Go Daddy jacket for the first time. This is where she and the 63 other players invited to the tournament learned who they'd be playing in the first round of single-elimination matches.

Over the next three days, Vanessa worked her way past opponents with a combined $40 million in career tournament earnings. "It was definitely a tough group of guys," she said later. "You have three of the toughest players in the world: Ivey, Doyle, and Daniel. Elky has won WPT and EPT titles. Paul Wasicka finished as the runner up in the 2006 WSOP Main Event." Vanessa beat them all, losing the last round 2-0 to championship favorite Huck Seed.

"She's a real gentle woman, a good-hearted player," Seed remarked after the match, "she brought my level up."

Vanessa had nice things to say about Seed as well. "There's a reason why Huck has the best heads-up record in the tournament. He's a tough opponent," she said, leaving Caesars Palace with a 2nd-place finish and $250,000 in cash. "His win was well-deserved. "

When asked whether she prefers live poker play over online tournaments, Vanessa is torn. "Ironically enough, over the last three years I have over two million in tournament earnings and it's almost 50/50 between online success and live," Rousso said. I love to play online, especially the deep stack WCOOP events where you really let skill prevail."