Vanessa Rousso Would Host Poker Show
In an interview with Vanessa Rousso, Gambling911.com's Jenny Woo gets to the bottom of the rumors surrounding the poker pro's supposed new gig hosting Game Show Network's "High Stakes Poker". Rousso does reveal she would like to possibly host a poker program. Execs at GSN, are you reading this?
Vanessa also talks about that new Lamborghini of hers.
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I had the chance to sit down with Vanessa Rousso to clarify those rumors of her replacing AJ Benza on High Stakes Poker. We also got to catch up on everything going on since the last time Jenny talked to her.
JENNY: What are your thoughts of the rumors of you replacing AJ Benza on High Stakes Poker? And do you by any chance know where the rumors began?
VANESSA: No I really don't have a clue. I have no idea. I just know that it's not me and I guess best of luck to whoever it is.
JENNY: Would you ever consider hosting a poker show in the future if you were asked?
VANESSA: Sure, I would consider it but I'm probably more of a poker player than a poker host at this point. It's something I would consider but it's not something that I'm looking to do actively.
JENNY: Have you been keeping up with Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle on Amazing Race?
VANESSA: I'm friends with them. I've talked to them about it but I've actually never seen the show.
JENNY: Would you ever consider doing something fun like that?
VANESSA: That would be great. I'd love to go on the Amazing Race or Dancing with the Stars or one of those cool kind of fun shows. I'm definitely a "try everything once" person. I like those "out of the box" experiences. So something like that would definitely be up my alley.
JENNY: Would you consider experiencing something like that with Chad? Do you think he's that type of person that would go head first into something like that?
VANESSA: Yeah, for sure. We've talked about it and we may look into it over the coarse of the next couple of years.
JENNY: What's been going on with you? Where have you been gallivanting too? And what's coming up for you in the poker circuit?
VANESSA: I've been hosting "Stars of Poker" and it is on the Canal+ TV network in France. Well, I'm actually a TV host of that so I guess to answer your question from earlier about hosting - I do do hosting. (Haha) Chad's been on a sick run. He has won three tournaments in the last month; two in Biloxi at the Beau Rivage and one here at Cesars - he won the Head's Up a couple of days ago. So that what pretty cool.
I've been doing a lot of different work with my agent in L.A. meeting with more mainstream c.d. people about opportunities there and there's something really cool that I'm involved with. We can't really say anything but I can say that there's going to be an announcement about it soon. It's more mainstream not poker related TV opportunity that I'm going to be involved in. So I have that coming up and I got my Lamborghini.
JENNY: Shut up! Are you serious? I bet you look good in it.
VANESSA: Yeah it's cool. It's been my dream car for a long time. I finally found one that was a really good deal and it made a lot of sense. So I bought a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo - black leather interior with yellow stitching a couple of weeks ago. I've been getting into that and learning how to properly drive it by taking lessons at a track. I've also been getting into golf kind of as a hobby. It's fun, a good workout, and you get out in the sun. I've been getting back into shape. I've also been working some different boot camps too. I have a boot camp coming up in Daytona in November (the 10th). I have one coming up at the Beau Rivage in January and one at the PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure (http://www.pokerstars.com/caribbean-adventure/) in the Bahamas in January. I just did one in Biloxi a month ago and of course you talked to me back when I was doing the ones in Florida. The boot camp business is booming and I've actually been doing a lot of individual training. That really took off where people buy coaching sessions from me through the website www.bigslickbootcamp.com and then I coach them remotely either through the internet, Skype, or by phone and that part of my business has been taking off.
JENNY: I was going to ask you about your upcoming event in November in Daytona. Overall, how is the boot camp going?
VANESSA: It's going great. It's a big part of my brand now and my business - I run that business with my family and it's very successful. We have a ton of exciting events coming up and neat collaborations; we might do a project with Nascar. It's great. I like to teach and it always gives me an opportunity to get back to my fundamentals in which sometimes when you play so much you stray a little bit from the basics and when you teach it reminds you of things - it actually improves your own game. So I like that part of it too.
JENNY: That's great. It sounds like everything is going really really well for you.
VANESSA: Yeah, everything is going great. I'm in a very good place.
JENNY: Good. I'm glad to hear that. Thank you so much Vanessa.
VANESSA: No problem at all Jenny.
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Jenny Woo, Gambling911.com Senior International Correspondent
