has two younger sisters: Tiffany, a high-school teacher and contestant on the 18th season of Big Brother (US), and Leticia, an optometrist. 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. In 2018 she enrolled in order to finish her law degree, which she completed that same year. Soon after graduating she passed the Florida Bar Exam. A poker player since the age of five, Rousso began serious poker tournament play during her summer break from law school. Rousso did not initially finish law school, dropping out to pursue her burgeoning poker career instead. However, she returned to school in the fall of 2017, and graduated magna cum laude in the Spring of 2018. , excluding online winnings, and having not cashed at a tournament since 2017, she ranks as number eight among women players in terms of all-time money winnings. She currently resides in South 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. Poker career Rousso built her first stake at Hard Rock sit & go ten-player tables, where first prize was $250. From there, she was able to save for a $1,500 entry fee in Atlantic City in late 2005, which she parlayed into $17,500. This enabled her to afford entry into the World Poker Tour event at the Bellagio in Vegas. She has been televised numerous times on both ESPN and the Travel Channel (among others). She has made several appearances on the Poker After Dark television program. Rousso has also been televised as