Vanessa Rousso Net Worth

What is Vanessa Rousso's net worth?

Vanessa Rousso is an American professional poker player, attorney, television personality, and DJ who has a net worth of $6 million. From 2006 to 2015, Vanessa Rousso played for Team PokerStars under the online handle Lady Maverick, and during that time she made over $3 million from various live poker events. Among her other activities, she served as a spokesperson for GoDaddy.com from 2009 to 2013 and competed in the 17th season of the reality television show "Big Brother" in 2015.

Early Life and Education

Vanessa Rousso was born on February 5, 1983 in White Plains, New York to Floridian mother Cynthia and French businessman father Marc. She has two younger sisters named Tiffany and Leticia. When Rousso was three years old, she moved with her family to her father's homeland of France, living in Paris until she was around 10. Following the divorce of her parents, she moved with her mother to Florida. There, Rousso attended Wellington Landings Middle School and Wellington High School. She was incredibly accomplished in high school, maintaining a 4.0 GPA and participating in swimming, lacrosse, debating, music, and the National Honor Society. Rousso also founded and served as president of the Environmental Club. She graduated as valedictorian of her class and went on to attend Duke University, where she majored in economics. Rousso graduated from Duke in a school-record time of two and a half years. She subsequently enrolled at the University of Miami School of Law on a scholarship. Although she left law school to pursue her poker career, Rousso returned to complete her degree in 2018, graduating magna cum laude.

Poker Career

Rousso began playing poker when she was just five years old. She became more serious about the game in college, and during her summer break from law school started participating in tournaments. Rousso won her first professional poker event in mid-2005, in Las Vegas. She also competed in her first World Series of Poker that year. Rousso quickly rose through the ranks; in 2006, she was among the top 80 players in earnings for the year, having finished in the money in multiple live events, including the World Series of Poker. It was that year she joined Team PokerStars, playing under the handle Lady Maverick. Rousso became known for sitting at the poker table with a cap, headphones, and designer sunglasses. In 2007, she cashed her largest career payday yet when she earned over $700,000 with a second-place finish in the World Championship of Online Poker main event.

In 2008, Rousso had three money finishes in the World Series of Poker. The next year, she topped her previous payday record when she earned nearly $750,000 in the High Roller Championship in Europe. Also that year, Rousso finished in the money four times in the World Series of Poker, a personal record. She finished twice in the money in the 2010 World Series of Poker, and later that year came in third place in the World Poker Tour No-Limit Hold'em Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic. Rousso finished in the money once in the 2011 World Series of Poker, and did so again in 2013, 2015, and 2016. She left Team PokerStars in 2015 and had her last cash for a while in 2017. Although she didn't earn any more from tournaments over the subsequent years, Rousso remains among the top female earners in poker history for her winnings, which amount to over $3 million.

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Legal Career

Shortly after graduating from the University of Miami School of Law in 2018, Rousso passed the Florida Bar Exam. Her legal experience includes working as an attorney at Goodkind & Florio, where she provided counsel in the areas of commercial litigation, real estate, and construction contracts. In the spring of 2025, Rousso became a partner at the Fort Lauderdale firm Kelley Kronenberg, where she focuses on such areas as real estate, construction law, healthcare law, and AI compliance.

Other Activities

Among her other, non-poker activities, Rousso served as a spokesperson for GoDaddy.com from 2009 to 2013. From late 2009 to early 2010, she was one of the four celebrity panelists on the short-lived E! reality television show "Bank of Hollywood." Rousso returned to reality television in 2015 to compete in the 17th season of "Big Brother." She came in third place, behind Elizabeth Nolan and winner Steve Moses. Since then, Rousso has become a DJ and music producer. With her wife Melissa, she formed the DJ duo N1TEL1TE.

Personal Life

Rousso was previously married to fellow professional poker player Chad Brown for about two years. In 2015, she got engaged to Melissa Ouellett, whom she subsequently married. Ouellett had a son in early 2020 and Rousso gave birth to identical twin boys a month later.

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