Poker After Dark: Vanessa Rousso Gets What She Bargained For

Season 3 of Poker After Dark put Gus Hansen in the hot seat against five female pros aptly called “Gus and the Ladies” available exclusively on PokerGO. While Hansen appeared to have nine lives, he was among the early bust outs and it would come down Clonie Gowen looking for her third win in her fourth appearance and Vanessa Rousso looking for her first win in her third PAD table.

JJ Liu was dressed to win but fell short and was the first elimination. She got short, shoved in early position and Hansen woke up with pocket queens. Liu’s Ah 8h fell to a full house and the loudest dressed playing in PAD was eliminated.

JJ Liu stunned in a green sequin dragon dress.
Hansen made a move with queen nine offsuit and Shak called with ace king in position. “He was actually playing much tighter than I expected, so I was surprised when he turned over his hand and I was ahead,” Shak said.

Hansen doubled up Shak, which cost him most of his stack and moved in a few hands later and got lucky with a double up when his ace won when quads ran out on the board. Then he got lucky a second time when he doubled up off Shak to get to the starting stack.

Hansen ran out of steam against Rousso, which was the first knockout she scored at the table. Erica Schoenberg was next out when she was short stacked, under the gun and moved in with a suited king. Rousso picked up Ac Qc and moved in over the top. An ace hit the flop and the table was one less.

Erica Schoenberg didn’t get the run of cards she wanted.
Beth Shak was the next victim of Rousso’s steamroll when she lost with pocket eights preflop against Rousso’s queens. Gowen began the heads-up match down 3-1 in chips and the final hand came six hands into the match.

The final hand saw Rousso min-raise with Js 6c and Gowen flatted with Ks Tc and flopped straight draw. Rousso flopped a jack, Gowen took the lead on the turn with a king and Rousso made a second pair on the river when a six hit.

Rousso said she chose her spots carefully and didn’t get in her own way. Then on facing Gowen, “She drives a hard bargain in these six person Sit & Goes. I had a feeling it might come to heads up with her and I’m happy I took it down against a two-time champion.”

Catch on Seasons 1 & 2 with all episodes on demand exclusively on PokerGO as Season 3 continues to roll out. The new Poker After Dark kicks off Monday, August 14 live only on PokerGO.