Her parents are Marc Rousso and Cynthia Bradley of Hobe Sound, Florida. Rousso began talking and reading at early ages says her mother, Cynthia Ferrara. Born in New York, she moved with her family to France at the age of three. She lived in Paris, in her father's homeland until she was 10, when she moved briefly to Upstate New York. After her parents divorced in 1992, her mother moved Vanessa to Florida to be near her maternal grandparents. Rousso attended Wellington Landings Middle School. The oldest of three athletic girls, Rousso was active on the high school swimming, lacrosse and debating teams. She also played softball and basketball for fun. In debating, Rousso excelled in national debating tournaments in policy debating. Her mother is a guidance counselor at Jupiter Community High School. In 2001, Rousso graduated as valedictorian of her high school in Wellington, Florida. She maintained a 4.0 GPA at Wellington High School while participating in the National Honor Society, and French Honor Society. She founded the Environmental Club and served as its President. She was also active as a Violinist, varsity Swimmer, and volunteer for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Rousso has two younger sisters: Tiffany, a high school Teacher and contestant on the eighteenth season of Big Brother and Leticia, an optometrist.
A poker player since the age of five, Rousso began serious poker tournament play during her summer break from law school. Rousso was in the top 5% of her law school class, but she did not finish law school. Now, excluding online winnings, she ranks among the top five women in poker history in terms of all-time money winnings. She currently resides part-time in Las Vegas, Nevada and part-time in Hobe Sound, Florida. Her nickname was given to her by a relative when she sold shares of herself to enter a $25,000 buy-in event in a manner reminiscent of the eponymous hero of the 1994 Western movie Maverick.
In college, she was on the Dean's list. After studying some game theory, she became proficient with the Rubik's Cube and then chess. However, because she considers both to be fairly objective static games, she began to prefer poker, which incorporated human psychology that allows for inferior hands to win. She graduated early from Duke University after two and a half years with a major in economics and a minor in political science in December 2003. Her collegiate duration of two and a half years was the shortest time to graduate in the history of Duke. Rousso began law school in 2004 and was the inaugural recipient of the Chaplin Scholarship from the University of Miami School of Law. During school she served on the editorial board of the University of Miami Law Review.
Her first win in a professional event came on June 13, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada during the No-Limit Hold'em Summer Series. At the 2005 World Series of Poker, she placed 45th in a field of 601 in the Event 26, $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Texas hold 'em event won by Jennifer Tilly on June 26.
She met her Future husband, the late Chad Brown, at the April 2006 tournament on the World Poker Tour. The two were engaged in 2008 and eloped in early 2009, making them the first married couple to be featured on the same major online poker team. The couple separated in 2012, with both announcing the breakup on their Twitter accounts, with Vanessa writing "Despite great mutual fondness and respect, Chad and I have separated."
In 2007, she earned $700,782.50, her largest career payday at that time, during the World Championship of Online Poker NL Hold'em Main Event with a second-place finish in the 2998-entrant field. She had originally placed third in the event, but the winner was found to have violated the Pokerstars terms of Service, which caused a disqualification ruling and caused all contestants to be elevated one place in the rankings. The tournament is run online by Rousso's sponsor, PokerStars, and she had originally earned the third place prize of $463,940.50. At 2008 World Series of Poker she again had three in the money finishes. She placed 57 of 605 in Event 38, $2000 Pot Limit Hold'em, placed 44 of 2693 in Event 52, $1500 No Limit Hold'em, and 625 of 6844 in the Main event 54, $10,000 No Limit Hold'em.
Rousso appeared on Million Dollar Challenge in 2009. She was a Celebrity judge on Bank of Hollywood where she helped award some of her own money to contestants. She was a contestant on season 17 of the reality television show Big Brother in 2015, finishing in third place.
Rousso is regarded as one of the sexiest poker players in the world, ranking 18th by Bleacher Report in 2010, and in the top 20 by Maxim in 2010.
In addition, Rousso had one cash at the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific event, and five cashes in various events on the World Series of Poker Circuit tournaments held annually as a build-up to the main World Series of Poker.
In 2015, at the wrap party for Big Brother, Vanessa announced her engagement to her long-term girlfriend Melissa Ouellet.
Rousso has become a music Producer and DJ and has formed a DJ Duo called N1TEL1TE with her life partner Melissa Ouellet. The duo released their first song, "Kiss Face", in February 2017.
