Player Focus: Annette_15

Read our Exclusive Annette_15 Interview

Annette Obrestad aka Annette_15 is one of the most talked-about online players in Europe right now.

Not only is she still a teenager, having started playing poker, as her online name suggests, at the age of 15, but she has racked up winnings of close to $300,000 in the last two months alone.

* CLICK HERE FOR EXCLUSIVE TOURNAMENT PASSWORDS *

The Scandinavian (well she would be, wouldn’t she?) has had most of her success on UltimateBet and PokerStars, finishing 7th in the latter’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $2,500 main event, which earned her $163,150.

Or did she? On one forum she has admitted that it wasn’t her who played and that for the first time she had allowed someone else to play for her, and was surprised when they FT’d (Final Tabled).

Poker cause celebre

Her success, or otherwise, has made her a cause celebre in the online poker community and she probably has more threads on more poker forums devoted to her than any other player at the moment.

Many people even criticised the way she was brought up as she admits to being taught seven-card stud by her dad at a very young age, and started playing poker online when well below the legal age.

She says when she started playing online she asked her mum for her credit card details so she could deposit some money but her mum refused. Not to be thwarted she entered a freeroll tourney on UltimateBet and won $9. Since that day she claims never to have made a single deposit and has built up her bankroll to several hundred thousand dollars from scratch.

What isn’t in doubt though is that she’s an incredible player and has become one of internet poker’s biggest earners in less than six months.

She has had multiple wins in PokerStars’ $100 and $50 rebuys, which usually attract several hundred runners, and has found herself competing on over 25 final tables in her short career to date.

Annette, from a small town called Sandnes in Norway, isn’t even old enough to set foot in a Vegas casino yet, but when she is, expect her to tear up a few World Series of Poker fields in the years to come.

She played in her first offline tourney – UltimateBet's showpiece $5,000 buy-in Aruba Classic – at the end of September and hacked through a field of over 500, eventually finishing 37th (good for another $12,415).

But September '07 would see her shoot to super-stardom when at the age of 18 she outlasted a field of 362 to win the first-ever WSOPE Europe - good for a cool £1million. It also made her by far the youngest WSOP Bracelet winner in history, a record which may never be broken.

The month after she proceeded to follow this up with 2nd in the EPT Dublin for another $429,181. All in all, her total live tournament winnings exceed $2,521,408 and all before she is old enough to even set foot in a Vegas casino.

Asked recently about her playing style, she said: “I remember back when I was building my bankroll and I was playing really tight, not making moves, never bluffed, just played ABC poker all day. That got me to a certain point and I knew I could beat the low stakes games. I had a long period where nothing happened and I just felt like I was stuck.

“I realized that in order to move up and be able to beat the big guys playing the higher buy-in tourneys, I had to change my game. So I started experimenting with raising marginal hands that I usually wouldn't play and decided to improve my post flop play even if that meant looking like a donk for a while.

After making many funny moves and a lot of mistakes, I finally got the hang of it and I think that's when I really started winning a lot.”

If you find yourself sitting next to her on PokerStars – watch out!

Annette is sponsored by Betfair Poker. To download Betfair Poker click here.


View Annette_15's PVi Profile here


* * * * * * * * * * ANNETTE_15 WATCH * * * * * * * * * * * *

Exclusive Annette_15 Interview

Where Does Annette_15 Play?

Player Focus - Annette_15

I Spent The Night With Annette_15

How To Play against Annette_15

Top Female Players

Top Norwegian Players

Annette_15 Tops the PokerStars TLB

Annette_15 Finishes In Money In PokerStars $200 Rebuys

Annette_15 Under Threat From Hackers

Annette_15 Runner Up In Dublin EPT

How Annette_15 Owned The WSOPE

Annette_15 Takes Down $117k

* * * * * * * * * * ANNETTE_15 WATCH * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE OTHER TOP ONLINE PLAYERS

Top US Players

Top Swedish Players

Top German Players

Top Italian Players

Top Norwegian Players

Top Canadian Players

Top UK Players

Top Female Players

Top French Players

Who have we missed? Email and tell us who you want to read about