FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 9/4/2009

Poker Phenom Vanessa Rousso Brings "Boot Camp" to Biloxi

With Four Million in Tournament Earnings, Poker-Pro Shares Her Secrets to a Winning Strategy

BILOXI, Miss. – Gorgeous, brilliant and amazingly talented Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso is on a roll in 2009. The kick-off to her record breaking million-dollar year happened in January at MGM MIRAGE Mississippi’s Southern Poker Championship at Beau Rivage—and now she’s coming back to Biloxi to offer her out-of-the-box instructional poker boot camp, Sept. 11.

Rousso and her husband well-known poker pro and TV celebrity Chad Brown are the official hosts of the Gulf Coast Poker Championship tournament Sept. 3-14. On Sept. 11, Rousso will conduct her game theory and poker strategy instructional workshop – The Art of Poker, in the Camellia Ballroom from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Later, the couple will host a meet and greet autograph session from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. and welcome Gulf Coast Poker Championship poker players to the main event kick-off party from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. in the Camellia Ballroom.

In February, Rousso was featured in a two-page spread in the highly anticipated Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. On March 6, Rousso joined female racecar icon, Danica Patrick, as the newest spokeswoman for the domain registrar/web hosting giant GoDaddy.com. Just three days after becoming the latest ‘GoDaddy Girl,’ Rousso became the first female to make the finals of the prestigious NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship. She overcame one of the most difficult brackets in the tournament’s history to finish in second place, raking in $250,000. Rousso captured international stardom in April when she won first place in the European Poker Tour High Roller Event in Monte Carlo, adding $940,000 to her earnings. Her winning streak continued through the summer, cashing multiple times during the prestigious World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and most recently during the Italian Poker Tour in Venice, Italy.

Rousso is now returning to Biloxi, where it all started this year and turning her attention to a cutting-edge approach to poker instruction. She has developed a poker curriculum that allows participants to learn high-level poker strategy and game theory in an interactive learning environment, that incorporates learn-by doing simulations and educational sessions.

“My biggest passion outside of playing poker is in teaching poker strategy,” said Rousso. “I love watching that light bulb go off in my students’ minds when they discover something new. It is very exciting when their confidence level improves as a result of implementing what they have learned at my boot camp. One of my students raked in $40,000 at the Main Event during the World Series of Poker!” For more information, visit www.bigslickbootcamp.com.

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For More Information:
Mary Cracchiolo-Spain, Beau Rivage
mcracchiolo@beaurivage.com
(228) 386-7134