Annette Poker Player
Not many people can claim their life-long career started when they were only fifteen years old, but that’s exactly how it happened for Annette Obrestad. Having no way to transfer funds to an online poker account, Annette took advantage of freeroll tournaments in order to build up her bankroll to nearly $500,000.
Her career may have started in cyberspace, but it’s certainly not limited in that way anymore. Ever since she was old enough to start entering live tournaments, she took every opportunity she could get her hands on. She has accomplished so much in her young career from being the youngest person to win the WSOPE main event to being deemed number two on Norway’s All Time Money List, having earned nearly $4 million from live tournaments alone.
- Annette Obrestad is one of the most famous female players in the poker world, initially bursting onto the online scene when she was only fifteen years old using the online screen-name ‘Annette15’ and claiming never to have deposited on her way to earning $2,753,883, starting her bankroll by winning freerolls.
- The poker player Annette15 was first discovered by HighstakesDB on the high stakes tables of Full Tilt Poker on. Since then, a total of 63 poker hands have been tracked with Annette15's results.
Top Earning Women Players: Annette Obrestad. Annette Obrestad represents the face of young female poker players who started their professional careers at an incredibly early age through online poker rooms and achieved fame and recognition by their late teens. The young Norwegian player holds several world records, one of being the youngest to ever win a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet.
On September 18th, 1988 Annette was born in the small fishing town of Sandes, Norway to a middle-class family. When she was quite young, her father taught her how to play a couple different versions of poker: five card draw and seven card stud. It was because of this reason that her parents weren’t overly shocked when she asked to use their credit card so that she could start playing poker over the internet.
Annette’s mother became very concerned for her daughter. Not only was she afraid Annette would end up spending too much money, but she was worried that Annette would become addicted to gambling as well. Those concerns on top of her mother’s realization that it was illegal for her daughter to play online at such a young age, led her to refuse her daughter’s request.
Annette wanted to respect her mother’s wishes, but she still was passionate about playing poker. So, she continued to play online for free, often times competing in free roll tournaments. It was possible to win a little cash here and there from these tournaments, so she was hoping to build up her bankroll using this method, and that’s exactly what she was able to do. Her username then and her username now remains the same: Annette_15. She chose this username because it was simple, she wanted her name to be known, and because she was only fifteen when her online poker career started.
It took Annette a few years to get on her feet, but once the money started rolling in, she felt like it would never stop. Of course, the kicker was she had to wait until she was eighteen to actually withdraw any of the money from her account. For a while, she watched her bankroll grow and grow, and never told anyone how much she was making. In just a matter of three years, Annette managed to win almost half a million dollars across three of the major online poker sites in the business at that time: Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, and UltimateBet.
When she turned eighteen, she dropped out of high school and was ready to start playing poker professionally. Early on, she went down in history as the only poker player who was able to win a $4, 180 contestant sit and go tournament while only peaking at her cards once the entire time. How was she able to this? She covered the part of her computer screen that displayed the hole cards with a post- it note, and used her skills to read the other players as best she could.
The first live tournament she qualified for was UltimateBet’s Aruba Poker Classic where she earned 37th place and brought home over $12,000. She was discouraged by her early live tournament performances, but we realize now she just needed time to adjust to the differences in competing online versus competing in real life. In an interview with Bluff Magazine, Annette gave advice to those who were in that same transition period.
In September, 2007, Annette entered the World Series of Poker Europe main event. Not many people had even heard of her before this event, but afterward, her name would never be forgotten. After the first day of this three-day long competition, Annette was already a lead chip holder. This was quite an accomplishment, considering she was up against top performers like Patrik Antonius, Annie Duke, and Gus Hansen.
The last day of the competition, it came down to Annette and a man named John Tabatabai. Although the final round was intense, it was Annette that would land the first place finish, bringing home over $2 million dollars. She managed to set two records that day! Not only was she the first female to win the WSOPE, but she was also the youngest person in the event’s history to win as well. In fact, it was only a few days before her nineteenth birthday when she won.
A little over a month later she found herself at the European Poker Tour main event that took place in Dublin, Ireland. Annette performed very well in this competition, placing second right behind Reuben Peters. Second place came with a $400,000 cash prize and the bittersweet taste of defeat. She has competed in the EPT several times since then, but has yet to come as close to winning as she did that first time.
Annette wasn’t allowed to start competing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas until her twenty-first birthday. By the time she was of age, people knew who she was and had high expectations of how she would perform. Although she did cash out at four different events that first year, her fans were disappointed that she had failed to win a WSOP gold bracelet. Winning a bracelet won’t be easy, but Annette is far from ready to give up on her dream of bringing one home.
Even though Annette’s career started online, she’s much more passionate about traveling the world to compete in live tournaments these days. In an interview with Poker Player Magazine, she said,
Annette has had the opportunity to travel to Barcelona, London, Melbourne, and Monte Carlo to name some of the more unique places she has visited.
Annette enjoys raising money for those in need, which is why she often participates in charity poker events. These events take place all over the United States from Las Vegas to Atlantic City. She’s a member of the Charity Series of Poker, along with twenty-six other professionals. They participate in charity poker events to raise money for a variety of different charities including the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, Habitat for Humanity, and Three Square Food Bank.
Over the years, Annette has been sponsored by several different online poker rooms including Betfair and Full Tilt Poker. More recently in 2012, she signed a deal with Poker Royalty, who was excited to form this new partnership with her and hopes to take her career to the next level. Within just a few months of sponsoring her, they helped her sign a contract with Lock Poker. She’s now a part of their Pro Elite Team. Annette is still very young and full of so much potential; we anticipate that she will continue to accomplish great things in the world of poker as time goes on.
Annette is known for vocalizing her opinions on social media, and it often times will get her into trouble. Annette and the world-renowned poker player, Doyle Brunson, got into an argument on twitter because of what she said about him in an interview with ESPN. She singled Doyle Brunson out and claimed that his ego is the only reason why he has made it this far. This wasn’t the first time she caused strife by the words that came out of her mouth, and we’re sure it won’t be the last.
Annette Professional Poker Player
Her boisterous attitude is reflected in her aggressive playing style too. Although she looks sweet in appearance, she is not a force to be reckoned with when it comes to poker. She consistently makes bold moves that even the more seasoned players wouldn’t dare to make. Annette’s signature look is to always wear shaded sunglasses to avoid leaking any tells to her competitors, who honestly are probably too afraid to look her in the eyes anyways.
Annette Poker Player Female
Annette has expressed that she is in no rush to settle down anytime soon. Having a relationship or starting a family is just not in her foreseeable future. However, she also recognizes that her feelings may change over time. Right now she just wants to continue to play poker until she doesn’t enjoy it anymore.