I came across this terrific article about poker legend Billy Baxter originally published in Sports Illustrated in 1984. This article is as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.
Fresh off her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover advertorial, followed by her GoDaddy spokesmodel deal (and Danica Patrick commercial), followed by her impressive run to a $250k televised cash at the NHUPC final-final table … Vanessa Rousso is back at her old stomping grounds, doing a monthlong, seven-stop, three-casino run through Florida — with lectures, seminars, charity tourneys, and a “series of instructional workshops grounded in ‘Game Theory’ and Sun Tzu’s teachings about The Art of War”.
Ahh, now I see, her master plan kicked into gear with the PokerStars bikini shoot is all starting to make sense … she’s now got documented cred in looks, personality, skill … if only she could share her grasp of high-level contemporary mathematics and ancient eastern military philosophy with the troubled kids in her old hood!
(Isn’t 26 such a fun age?)
Click below for Vanessa’s Florida pokery homecoming itinerary:
Thanks to Gary Trask of Casino City Times, we have an update and some clarity on the all-too-important matter of Vanessa Rousso appearing in the upcoming swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.
According to the article published today, Rousso will appear in the issue but, well…:
On Friday, Sports Illustrated Director of Communications Kelli Raftery explained the situation more clearly by saying that Rousso would be appear in the magazine, but not as a “featured model in the editorial portion of the magazine.” Instead, Rousso will appear as part of a PokerStars-sponsored “custom content” piece, which the online poker room paid for.
So, it’s a paid ad, but SI did the photo shoot. SI decided against featuring her with other models in the primary feature spread because “poker was not the direction it wanted to go in.” Interesting. Kinda a bummer, but still good to see that Rousso will make an appearance in the most popular Sports Illustrated issue of the year.
Boys, the images in your minds of Vanessa Rousso in a swimsuit will have to be good enough. Gary Trask of Casino City Times reported yesterday that Sports Illustrated did the photo shoot but decided to leave her out of the swimsuit edition.
That’s cold, SI. Colder than it is today in North Dakota…cold.
Since Vanessa said that it was a good experience for her, those memories will have to suffice. And her renewed energy for poker this year might get her that big win on the felt in ’09.
