|
|
Unlikely Champion |
|
December 2007
|
I remember the rst saw “Annette_15” play online. It was sometime in
September of 2006. I was usually pretty good about keeping up with
which players were doing well in the online tournaments,
but this name was new to me.She was at the final table of a $100 rebuy
tournament on PokerStars, and she absolutely crushed it. I asked
someone who this player was, and when I was told she was an 18-year-old
girl from Europe, I just couldn’t believe it. You see very few females
playing regularly in the online tournament circuit, and she wasn’t just
playing; she was winning a lot. In the following months, Annette_15
went from being an upcoming player to a full-blown superstar of online
tournament poker. Her legend grew with every final table she made, and
there were a lot of them. While names like JohnnyBax and BeL0WaB0VE had
long been fan favorites of online poker, it was now Annette_15 that
observers came to cheer on. Every table of every tournament she played
was filled with fans and railbirds asking her questions and encouraging
her. I guess no one could really believe that in a game traditionally
and historically dominated vt men, this little 18-year-old girl was
winning more than anyone.
Born on September 18, 1988, Annette lives at home with her family
in Norway. She began playing at the age of 15, but mainly played
freerolls. Annette claims never to have made one deposit on an online
poker site. Gradually, she began to make money but she didn't realize
she could do it for a living until "I realized I was winning more than
my Mom did in a year." She turned those winnings into a formidable
reputation that garnered her a sponsorship deal with Betfair Poker. On
Day 1 of the Main Event that she would eventually win, Betfair signed
Annette to a deal that would allow her to play tournaments all over the
world as the site's primary representative. Being only 19, Annette will
stick to playing the European Poker Tour (EPT) events as well as any
WPT events that might take place outside of the States.
As is the case with most successful tournament players, Annette has
faced criticism from members of the poker community who say she is
either luckier than everyone else or overly aggressive. Even during the
Main Event she won, many pros were wondering if her style was too
reckless or aggressive for major live tournament play. It could have
something to do with
the fact that you simply don’t suspect this young girl to come in
firing relentlessly at most pots she plays. And does she get credit at
the tables anymore for being a girl?
“I wouldn’t say it changes all that much anymore. It helped me when
people didn’t know who I was because they gave me a lot more respect at
the tables... now on the other hand, everyone knows how aggressive I
play and they’re not afraid to call me down and go after me.”
Her peers agree. While Annette is usually all smiles when approached at
a table, she is an “absolutely animal” at the poker table, says one
player. Another comments: “I guess you don’t suspect a girl to play
like she does. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are playing.
While she is polite, she doesn’t give you a second to breathe and
doesn’t soft play anyone. She just wants your chips, and she usually
gets them.” Her results online are astounding. On PokerStars alone,
Annette has winnings over $850,000. She has played nearly 2,000
tournaments there, winning 23 of them. On Full Tilt Poker, her winnings
are just under $400,000 over about 1,200
tournaments played. Across the board, Annette has winnings exceeding
$1.5 million online. And she’s only been playing at the high levels for
a little over a year. However, her plans after the $2,000,000 win in
Europe include a lot more live play. “I won’t play online as much as I
used to so I can travel and play live more, but I will still be playing
because of my deal with Betfair.”
One thing is for sure: Her win in Europe was no fluke. Nor were any
of her online successes. Annette Obrestad has solidified herself as one
of the very best tournament players in the world, and any of her
further successes will just be extra testament to that.
And what happens when she turns 21?
”I have a feeling I’ll be moving somewhere else after I turn 21. Where? I dunno, maybe Vegas.”
That’s bad news for poker players in Vegas.
Annette_15: Babyface Assassin
A slightly giddy Annette Obrestad joins
BLUFF in the VIP room atop the Empire,
just an hour after winning the World Series
of Poker Europe at the age of 18 years
and 364 days.
BLUFF: The youngest World Series bracelet winner ever, the first-ever
female Main Event winner, the first World Series Main Event winner in
Europe…Annette, a penny for your thoughts…
Annette: I don’t think I’ve realized just how big it really is. It’s huge! Winning this has
broken so many records and I don’t think anyone will ever beat them, unless somebody
younger wins it which is possible but highly unlikely.
BLUFF: Is it true you learned poker from your dad?
Annette: I didn’t really learn from Dad, but I played a lot of cards with him, and not necessarily
poker. But I didn’t get into poker because of that; it was when I used to be really
into bowling. I watched it on TV once and there was a banner for a poker website
and I had to check it out. I got into it straight away.
BLUFF: So you taught yourself Texas Hold’em?
Annette: Yeah, I just saw a lot online and talked to my friends about it, and talked to people who I knew played poker.
BLUFF: Did you have a poker hero?
Annette: Daniel Negreanu has always been a role model for me because his play is a lot
like mine. But he plays a lot of smaller pots than I do because he doesn’t raise that much
pre-flop; he just calls and likes to keep the pot small. He doesn’t play a lot out of position
and he takes advantage of the loose, passive players by raising their
limps, and I think I do the same things. After you get a lot of
experience, you get to know when people are weak and when
people are strong, and you don’t really care about your cards so much
because, if you raise pre-fl op after a limp, your opponent’s going to
hit a flop one out of three times, so if you raise, then he’s going to
fold most of the time.
BLUFF: Is it true you like to play onlinetournaments without looking at any of your cards?
Annette: I played this sit-n-go tournament on PokerStars that had a $4
buy-in, and I stuck a Post-it Note over my cards just for fun and for
practice, and I managed to win the whole thing, which was crazy. I
posted my hand history online and I had about 15,000 views on it.
BLUFF: What limits do you usually play?
Annette: I play anything online from $10 rebuys to £1,000 shootouts and freezeouts. I just sign
up for everything and see what happens. I like to play maybe six to eight tables at a time.
BLUFF: What made you play in this tournament?
Annette: Well, I played in the Aruba event last year, which was my first real live tournament,
and I played in Copenhagen, Monte Carlo, the Bahamas and the Irish
Open. I’ve played a lot of EPT events but nothing as big as this one.
Coming into this tournament, I felt like I had a lot of online
experience compared to the other pros, as I see so many hands – I play
eight hours a day on multitables.
BLUFF: What were you like at school? Were you an excellent math student?
Annette: Actually, I suck at math! It’s not that big a part of the game
really. It’s more about how you like to play: whether you like to draw
to flushes, or whatever. I’m not usually the one calling on my draws;
I’m the one betting, so the pot odds don’t matter because I’m not
calling a bet. I’m basically giving my opponent a chance to fold and
myself two chances to win the pot.
BLUFF: Did you have a particular strategy going into this event or did you just play your game?
Annette: You just have to adjust to the table. I mean, the fi rst table
I had wasn’t that difficult, but it didn’t have any really weak spots.
I was sitting next to Ted Forrest who was probably the weakest player
at the table because he was limping into every pot and calling every
single raise; but the problem was he was hitting every flop, too. He
was check-raising everyone and showing trips, but when he didn’t hit
the flop he check-folded everything, so I don’t think he played very
well.
BLUFF: Who played best on the final table?
Annette: The guy that I went heads up with (John Tabatabai). He was
definitely the one player I did not want to go heads up with! I was
rooting for the other guy every time he was all in. My toughest moment
was probably the hand where I hit the queen on the river. I was
short-stacked when we came down to three-handed and I raised three
times the big blind on the flop, and the guy in the big blind reraised
me to three and a half times my raise, so the pot was about £200k. So,
if I push all in here, it would make it £800k he can’t call that with
any two cards. I also know that he’s going to reraise me with a lot of
hands because he knows that I don’t want to bust out in third place, so
I think he’s going to fold at least eight out of ten times. So I shoved
it all in, hoping that he didn’t have a real hand. He had been showing
kings and aces and queens he was a card rack, and I just thought, He
can’t have another hand, so I just shoved all in and when he called I
thought, Oh, shit!
(Laughs) But then I hit a queen on the river… WOW! But I don’t want to
be one of those guys who stands up and yells “Yes!” when they hit your
river card, because it’s not nice for the other person.
(Editor’s Note: Annette had Q-J and her opponent,
Matthew McCullough, had J-J)
BLUFF: After it ended, you disappeared…
Annette: Yeah, I ran to the bathroom in tears, I was quite emotional.
BLUFF: What advice would you give to players who have seen what you’ve done and want to get into the game?
Annette: Well, don’t just buy in to an event like this without knowing
what you’re doing. You have to have experience because the players are
so good that you won’t stand a chance.
BLUFF: More live tournaments?
Annette: Definitely, and now that I’m sponsored by Betfair, they’ll buy me into wherever I want to play.
BLUFF: Are you going to concentrate more live or online?
Annette: It’s getting close. I think I preferred online a year ago, but now I think live. It’s just so different and exciting.
BLUFF: How do you keep your focus in a tournament like this when you’re used to playing so many tables online?
Annette: It’s kind of boring in the beginning, because online, if you
get A-K and you get it all in and lose on a flip – then whatever – but
live, because you’ve got such a huge stack compared to the blinds, you
have to be patient and just pay attention to the table.
BLUFF: It’s almost as though you started life as a rumor on the
internet. Do you find it strange that people in internet forums almost
hero-worship you?
Annette: Yes. I have railbirds online wishing me good luck on every
table I’m playing. When I’m all in deep in a tournament, the chat box
is full of people going, “Ace-aceace-ace!” It’s real cute because
everyone is rooting for me.
BLUFF: Are your parents supportive of your chosen career?
Annette: Very supportive. My mom loves that I play; and she plays, too – normally the $100 tournaments online.
BLUFF: Have you read any strategy books?
Annette: Yeah, I think Harrington on Hold’em is probably the best book I’ve read.
BLUFF: What are you going to do with the money?
Annette: I don’t know. The money doesn’t really mean that much. It was
more about the bracelet. But my mom and I might buy a small house or
something in the town we live in, in Norway. It doesn’t really matter
where I live because if I’m at home then I’m playing online; if not,
I’m at the airport traveling somewhere.
|
|
