A Day in the Life of Vanessa Rousso

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event is in full swing and we've decided to follow Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso as she competes on Day 1d of the Main Event. Rousso, a French-American duel citizen born in New York, became interested in game theory while studying at Duke University.

Her first big live tournament cash came in April 2006 when he took seventh in the World Poker Tour $25,000 No-Limit Championship for $263,625. Only a few months later, she won the WPT Borgata Open $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $285,450. She has continued to dominate the live tournament circuit, finishing second in the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship for $250,000, third in the 2010 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $358,964, and fifth in the 2011 European Poker Tour Madrid High Roller event for $148,423. Her lifetime live tournament winnings exceed $3 million.

We're bringing you an inside look at her day and show you what it's like to compete in the world's biggest live poker tournament.

11:28 a.m. PDT: We just met up with Vanessa outside the Pavilion room where there was a crowd of people surrounding her. She was happy to sign autographs and take photographs with all of her fans. She introduced us to her biggest fans, two little girls who have come to see her for the past four WSOPs. It takes us a good 15 minutes to walk the 300 feet to the Pavilion room where she will begin her day one of the Main Event because of the high volume of fans who want autographs, pictures, and to wish her good luck in the tournament.

Vanessa and her biggest fans

11:51 a.m. PDT: Before Vanessa took her seat at her table we were able to catch up a little bit to see what she does before coming to the Rio. Getting ready for any big tournament she tries to follow the same routine every single time so that nothing unexpected happens. This is so she can get into the right frame of mind and get into the zone. The first thing she did was wake up and eat breakfast, which consisted of making her own fresh fruit juice from a juicer, scrambled eggs, and a whole wheat bagel. Since it is tough to eat healthy during a tournament she tries to pack as many vitamins into her first meal of the day to keep her energy up and avoid the ups and downs. She then played with her one year old lab, Maverick. Her dad swung by to pick up Maverick to take her to the dog park and also picked up her 13 year old brother who is visiting from Miami. Her dad and brother are going to go boxing while Vanessa plays today, so all of her people are taken care of while she is gone. The final important step to getting ready is assembling her wardrobe, which consists of picking out a Bustout hoodie and a trucker hat. Before she heads out the door to jump in her Jeep and go to the Rio she kisses her husband, Chad and is on her way.

12:59 p.m. PDT: Due to the rules at the Rio we are not able to talk to Vanessa much during play. We were able to talk to her about her strategy for play. Her plan for the Main Event begins with trying to spend the first couple of hours getting to know her table, getting to know the players at her table, and formulating her plan for the rest of day. She discussed how many people who play No-Limit Hold'em tournaments sometimes make the mistake of coming in and thinking they should approach every tournament the same. She says that this is not a good strategy and that what you need to do is formulate a specific plan for your table depending on the styles of the players and the chip stacks that the different players end up with after the first couple of hours. We will be watching out for hands involving Vanessa during the first levels of play and then catch up with her durning the break to see how she thinks the tournament is going.

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/07/a-day-in-the-life-of-vanessa-rousso-10681.htm