What is it like to be one of the best poker players in the world, but be unable to compete in many of the largest live events in the world? Annette Obrestad knows the answer to that question all too well. Obrestad, known online as Annette_15, she burst onto the live poker scene in 2007 when she won the WSOP Europe Main Event, but her age has prevented her from playing in many events in United States because she only turned 21 late in 2009.
Obrestad started playing online poker and claims to have never made a deposit on any online poker site. She won her initial bankroll in freeroll tournaments on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and UltimateBet. She won over $800,000 from 2006 to 2007 and never had to make a single deposit.
It was the 2008 WSOP Europe that Obrestad became a household name. The then 18 year old dominated the field and made it to the final table poised to take down the title. Eventually, she took down the title and over $2 Million in prize money. This instantly gave her the record for the largest prize awarded to a female poker player.
Obrestad’s 2008 Main Event win gave her instant stardom, but she was still underage to play in casino’s in the United States. As a result, she was forced to toil in events overseas in 2008 and 2009. Her largest success over the two year period came at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. She finished 13th in the event for just over $101,000.
Since turning 18, Obrestad has been on a tear. So far in 2010, she has made the final table of every multi-table live poker event she has made the money in. She took down the A$1000 PLO Event at Aussie Millions and then finished 7th in the Aussie Millions Main Event. She then finished at final tables in 3 preliminary events at the World Poker Classic in Vegas. In addition, Obrestad finished 9th at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship.
For her career thus far, Obrestad has won $3.078 Million in tournament play. This summer will mark the first time that Obrestad will be eligible to play at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Many eyes will be on this young phenom to see if she can measure up to the tournament heavyweights in the U.S. Most rookie coming to the WSOP are looking to take down their first bracelet. Obrestad already has jumped that hurdle. Now it is time to see how high she can climb the all-time bracelet list.
