Where are They Now: Softball Fanatic Adrienne Rowsome is Card Queen-Turned-Entrepreneur
>>>>> Photo by iluvgadgets / CC BY-ND 2.0
Softball has been a way of life for former poker queen Adrienne Rowsome.
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It’s always important for the game of softball to have global ambassadors, no matter what industry they work in, especially with the Men’s World Softball Championship fast approaching. Canadian Adrienne Rowsome was a world-renowned poker player that made a big impact on the online stage, final-tabling some of the biggest events on the PokerStars platform and earning herself a spot on the PokerStars Team Pro Online roster for a short time. Under the online guise of “talonchick,†used in honor of her first car — a 1992 Eagle Talon — Rowsome became a regular, grinding the low-stakes tournaments, and was no stranger to cashing in some of the biggest Omaha events at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
From the WSOP to Peachland’s Softball Scene
Rowsome racked up more than $250,000 in online poker earnings, all while holding down a job as a qualified occupational therapist and playing a key role as a budding slo-pitch softball player in a league in Peachland, British Columbia. Rowsome often went to great lengths to articulate the excitement of slo-pitch softball and how it offers an inclusive format of the game and guaranteed fun for all ages. Each spring, Rowsome and her friends play softball on Sundays, promoting the mixed-gender benefits of the game. Although the game plays like baseball, for the most part, Rowsome points to the grapefruit-sized ball used in slo-pitch softball that makes it harder to hit long distances, leveling the playing field for all teams and ensuring it’s more about placement and technique than raw power.
Adrienne’s Business Start-Up Venture Takes Flight
 >>>>> Photo by 1041483, Public Domain
Rowsome’s business venture centers around helping new and expectant parents.
More recently, Rowsome made the decision to put her poker career on hold in favor of motherhood and her newfound entrepreneurial interests. Rowsome quit as a member of PokerStars’ Team Pro Online last year after the birth for the third time to Caitlin, and ever since, has forged ahead with her business start-up. Her company encourages families to take a lead role in aiding their little one’s development through the creation of essential sleep habits.
Although her website is not yet fully-functional, Rowsome recently spoke with PokerNews and said, in part, that the inspiration for her new business was the importance of “the path to getting sleep back in your life.†Adrienne said that she sees a key part of family life “being engaged parents who are very present.†She believes that as parents, you “impact your [little ones] the most in their early years, shaping them well into adulthood†and her business is all about fostering sleeping patterns that work for the entire family.
When quizzed as to whether Rowsome would consider introducing the game of poker to younger ones at an older age, she said jokingly to “watch out for them in 20 years.†In fact, Rowsome’s husband, Ryan, has also been a keen poker player, with Adrienne meeting him in Las Vegas at the 2011 WSOP. She didn’t look back, both in her relationship with Ryan and her love affair with poker. At the time, Rowsome was somewhat unique in the poker scene for juggling a conventional career and softball commitments with her passion for poker.
Rowsome’s Impact on Poker’s Twitch Community
As part of her part-time career playing poker online, Rowsome developed a sizeable following of viewers on her Twitch stream. Despite her initial reticence to get involved in live streaming of her online tournaments, Rowsome eventually became a highly-respected member of the poker community. At her peak, she would stream up to 25 hours of her weekly poker gameplay. She was even a regular visitor to TwitchCon events in California, hooking up with fellow Twitch streamers to better understand the live-streaming community. As a mixed-game poker player, Rowsome also helped to break down the barriers to entry of mixed games, with her stream often revered for opening people’s eyes to the versatility of other poker games than Texas Hold ‘em.
Upon Rowsome’s “retirement†from playing poker seriously, many celebrated her as being one of the most fiercely competitive yet friendly players on the poker circuit. Competitive and friendly are two of the best adjectives you could also use to describe the slo-pitch softball scene, which makes it easy to see why Rowsome and softball have been such a good fit, too.
