It’s no gamble: Her future was in the cards

By KATIE SEMINARA

Esther Rossi, a Youngstown native, has played poker professionally for 20 years.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The first time Esther Rossi bluffed in a game of poker, she was a 7-year-old.

The 1981 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School still uses her poker face.

“I’m known to be a very aggressive player,” said Rossi, 44, who has been playing professional poker for 20 years and has participated in 10 World Series of Poker events.

Rossi was introduced to poker at the Youngstown home of her aunt, Harriet Moshella, who is now deceased.

When Rossi was a kid, her extended family would get together every Saturday for a spread of food and to ante up at a pingpong table for poker playing.

“It was a penny, nickel and dime pot,” said Rossi of the cash she could win.

“If a quarter was thrown in, it was a monster pot,” she said.

The game at the pingpong table was called “two card guts,” and on one occasion Rossi bluffed a great-aunt to win the biggest pot in family history. The winning hand didn’t even have a pair, and the high card was a seven, said Rossi.

“That hand went down in the history of the family,” she said. “The story has lived on, and we still laugh about it today.”

But Rossi’s poker career was just getting started at that pingpong table. While still in Youngstown, she worked as a bartender at Antone’s and would use her tip money to play poker with the customers.

“I always had the gamble in me,” she said.

In 1987 Rossi was transferred to Las Vegas while working for United Airlines.

After living in “Sin City” for only three months, she discovered live action poker. Her job with the airlines paid $7 per hour, but she was making more playing poker in her off time.

“I started cleaning up every day,” she said.

One month of poker playing in the gambling town led her to quit her job and focus on her game.

In 1988 she entered her first World Series of Poker with only six months of live action poker experience under her belt.

The World Series of Poker originated at Binion’s Horseshoe, a hotel in Las Vegas, 39 years ago. It grew to a 40-day tournament with about 35 events and is now hosted at the Rio.

“I didn’t have much money, so when I bought into the tournament with $500 I can honestly say I didn’t realize the significance of the World Series of Poker,” Rossi said. “I was still wet behind the ears.”

That year she won second place in the event called “Ladies — Limit 7 Card Stud,” taking home $10,625.

“I was excited and thrilled but didn’t understand the accomplishment,” she said.

The same year she accomplished a victory in the Amarillo Slim at Caesar’s Palace, when her odds of winning were extremely low.

Rossi was the last player to enter into the $500 buy-in tournament named after famous Texan poker player Amarillo Slim.

“I was playing Seven Card Stud and at one point four hours into the game, I literally had one $25 chip left and the ante was $25,” said Rossi, who made an unlikely comeback to win the tournament, earning $68,000.

“The gods of poker were on my side that day,” she said. “It just progressed from there.”

Rossi credits much of her success to her late father, Armando “Spare” Rossi, who she said was always winning at the poker table.

“I was my father’s only son,” Rossi said jokingly, noting that none of her three sisters took up an interest in gambling.

Though her dad taught her some of the basics, Rossi said gamblers have an instinct and have the gumption to risk their money even during the dry spells.

“There’s the game, and there’s the stomach for the game,” she said.

“You have to be able to take your wins and losses.”

Rossi’s latest World Series of Poker showing was easy to swallow and a moment of great achievement.

Back in June she entered the H.O.R.S.E. event along with 802 other players. The event requires players to be well versed because it consists of five games, including Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or Better.

“I was the only woman to ever make the final table in H.O.R.S.E. It was really one of my proudest moments,” said Rossi who took home fourth place and $68,505.

Over the years, she’s made about $180,000 just playing in World Series of Poker tournaments.

The World Series of Poker comes only once a year, so in the meantime Rossi will focus on being a representative for fulltilt.net. Rossi recently signed to be one of the professional players for the online poker playing site and will wear Full Tilt gear when playing in live action tournaments.

As a representative, Rossi will host tournaments online and chat with players during the games.

Online poker players can duke it out with Rossi online at fulltilt.net by typing in her bonus code, “vegasbabyvegas.”

Rossi hopes to start a Sunday night tournament through Full Tilt for Youngstowners from all over the country.

Whether it’s live action or online, Rossi said that poker is a job, one that gives her a sense of pride.

“It takes discipline and putting in hours even when it’s tough,” she said.

“Every day is different and you learn to leave the previous day behind whether it was a win or loss.”