Poker Player Becomes Swimsuit Pin-up

Vanessa Rousso swaps poker table for swimwear in Sports Illustrated.

Poker pro Vanessa Rousso has made history by featuring in the famous swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.

According to the Sun, the 25-year-old American is the first ever poker player to appear in the magazine's yearly edition, in which top models pose seductively in the latest swimwear.

Rousso, who is engaged to fellow poker pro Chad Brown, told the newspaper that she trained for a month in preparation for her exotic photo shoot.

"I felt comfortable doing the shoot and afterwards I saw the rough cuts and was happy," she said.

"But trust me, after the shoot I got a huge bowl of French toast with syrup and ate the lot."

Now sponsored by PokerStars, Rousso finished seventh at the World Poker Tour championship event in 2006.

Bar Refaeli, the Israeli model and girlfriend of Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, is the cover model for this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Last year the issue sold 36 million copies worldwide.