Annette Obrestad: "For 9 Years, I Didn't Care About Poker"

— Hi, welcome to Poker the Interview. I'm Craig Tapscott, and today we have a very special guest. She was the youngest player to ever win a WSOP bracelet.

She famously won a 180-man tournament without looking at her cards (well, maybe she peeked once or twice). She inspired so many players 20 years ago, especially women, but I was inspired because I watched that 180-man event and read everything she said about tournament poker. It was the same year I started writing for Card Player, so she has a special place in my heart.

Annette Obrestad, welcome to the interview!

Thank you very much! I'm so happy to be here.

— I can't believe you're in Vegas! I had to track you down here.

I've been here for like 16 years. I haven't left.

— Well, let's take people back—some of these "young guns" who might not know the history—to how it all began. I read that you started with freerolls until you won $9. Is that correct? And you turned that into Sit & Gos, working your way up to a $10,000 bankroll?

Tell me about that journey—you weren't exactly "legal" at the time.

Times were different back then! Regulations were not as strict. I was 15 when I made an account on—I don't even know the first place, maybe PartyPoker. I remember signing up and it asked for my date of birth.

I put it in and it said, "Oh, you're not old enough. Change your date of birth." So I just changed it, and they were like, "Here you go." It was that easy.

— But what made you sit down and play a freeroll? Did you see it on TV?

My big hobby back then was bowling. I was watching bowling on TV and saw advertisements over the lanes for an online poker site.

I thought, that sounds kind of fun, I like card games. I went online, downloaded it, and just clicked some buttons. I had no idea what was going on, but I caught on fast and got hooked. I think the first thing I played was six-handed Seven Card Stud Low Sit & Gos. I didn't know what was happening, but I kept winning!

— That’s crazy. Did you grow up with cards? My parents played Bridge, so I saw cards every Tuesday, but nothing like Hold'em.

I wouldn't say I grew up playing poker specifically, just random card games with my dad and grandma. I always loved games and the strategy behind them. Even at five years old, I found it really interesting.

— It's so interesting that you went from there to making a lot of money before you were 18.

I was playing a lot. I think I won that freeroll when I was close to 16. Then I moved into very low-stakes Sit & Gos and eventually multi-table tournaments. The first tournament I ever won was on UltimateBet—a $10 Rebuy PLO tournament. It was the first time I had ever played PLO, and I cashed for like $1,000. I thought, this is way too easy!

Then I started playing regular $20 and $30 tournaments and started multi-tabling. I guess I just picked up the game really quickly.

— Is it something your brain does with puzzles or patterns? Because I doubt you were reading The Theory of Poker back then.

No. I read Super System maybe a year after I started because I figured I should understand strategy and pot odds, but I’m not a math person at all. People assume you must be a math genius to be good at poker. I have no clue! I barely know how to figure out pot odds; I just sit there and think, it's probably pretty close. There is so much more to the game than that. Never being a "by the numbers" player actually helped my game a lot.

— When did you realize you were really onto something? You were playing on UltimateBet, PokerStars, Full Tilt—all the big ones. And you were winning the $100 Rebuys, which was the "it" tournament back then.

Oh my god, I loved that tournament! It was my favorite every single day. The players were crazy. It would be the same group every day, and five of us would just go all-in blind for the first hour.

— Yeah, people would just agree to flip for a massive stack.

Exactly. It wasn't like we were losing equity if it was just the regulars flipping. It was a fun way to build a big stack early on. I lost count of how many times I won that tournament. It was crazy.

— Who were the opponents you respected back then?

Oh, I remember him! Jonathan was amazing. "LilHoldem" (Chad Batista) was another one who did really well. He was definitely one of the players I respected most back then.

— It’s hard to come up with names because it’s been so long, but "PearlJammer" (Jon Turner) was another.

PearlJammer, too! Super nice guy and a very good player. "Rizen" (Eric Lynch), too—we used to be friends. I think he might have backed me in a tournament once? Does he still play?

— I think he does some coaching with WSOP Academy.

I literally took a nine-year break from poker, so I didn't follow it at all during that time. I have no idea who is winning or playing these days. I started watching streams recently and I don't know any of these guys!

— So, I was reading one of your old articles and you gave some advice that still holds up: "Don't play with money you can't afford to lose." You were clearly very good at bankroll management even then.

Definitely. Since I started with $0, I never really had the "gambler" mentality of wanting to blow it all. I was always very careful because I knew how hard it was to build it up. I never wanted to go back to playing freerolls!

I treated it like a job, even when I was a teenager. I wanted to see that number in my account go up, not down.

I wasn't able to deposit money. That $9 I won in the freeroll was all I had. I knew I wasn't old enough to deposit, and I knew my mom wouldn't let me. If I lost that $9, I was screwed.

— Your mother wasn't going to back you, even when you were doing so well?

No! When you’re a parent and your 16-year-old daughter wants to gamble online, even if you think she’s smart, you’re probably going to say no. She’d say, "Just wait a couple of years, wait until you finish school."

— So, tell me about school in Norway. Were you going to class just waiting to get home to play, or were you staying up all night and then dragging yourself to class?

Pretty much. I’d be at school until 2:00 or 3:00 PM, come home, eat, play until midnight, and then repeat. I ended up dropping out of high school because I was doing so well. To be fair, the school system is different in Norway. It’s not like here where the GED is a huge deal. I figured if it didn't work out, I could always go back later.

— Didn't you come out to the WSOP when you were still underage just to check things out? You were 17, walking around the halls?

I was at the Rio many times before I could play! I wanted to hang out with all the friends I’d made online. It was funny—I’d be walking through the Pavilion room and security would ask for my ID. I’d think, Here we go, getting kicked out again. But I’d go back to the rooms where Full Tilt or PokerStars had their lounges. I even had horses in the Main Event a couple of times! It was fun just to be around it, even if I couldn't play.

— Who were some of the female players you were friends with back then?

Honestly, I never had many female friends back then who played. I’ve always just gotten along better with guys. I was never in that specific "friend group." I always respected Liv Boeree; I thought she was a nice gal. I hung out with Vanessa Selbst a little bit, but other than that, I wasn't really close with anyone.

— Were you part of those "poker houses" back then? I remember 10 players renting a mansion here to live and play together.

I never did that, but it sounded like fun! I was very much an introvert and liked having my own space. I never liked sharing a room or a house. I needed somewhere to get away.

— And where were you living?

Part-time in Norway because I didn't have a green card. I had an apartment in Vegas half the year; before that, I just stayed in hotels. One year I spent 30 nights at the Wynn during the Series. You don’t want to know how much that cost! Looking back, I cannot believe I spent that much just staying at a hotel. Mind-blowing.

— Tell me about the evolution of your strategy. I watched a video where you talked about the "no-cards" challenge—watching bet sizing, timing, and clicking patterns. As you transitioned to live play, how did that approach evolve?

In the beginning, I had to stick to what I knew: betting patterns. I used the same things I used online because I didn't want to get overwhelmed trying to figure out live tells.

I’ve never paid super close attention to physical tells because I don't feel they’re reliable. Just because someone takes a drink doesn't mean much—maybe they’re just thirsty! People try to fake tells, and I wasn't good enough at the psychology part to know for sure. I mostly stuck with the betting data.

— Are you aware of the "Solver" era and how the game has evolved?

A little bit. I’ve started watching content again, so I have an idea. But I honestly can’t see myself ever getting into that. If you're playing six-max cash games online against experts, you almost have to use solvers.

— Tell us about your first steps offline.

It didn't take me long to get comfortable. My first live tournament was the Aruba Poker Classic hosted by UltimateBet, just a few days after I turned 18. I won a satellite to get there and took my mom along. That trip was insane—I remember sitting in a golf cart with Phil Hellmuth and my mom just watching him play golf.

I was thinking, How is this even happening? I ended up cashing, around 30th or 35th, and that gave me the confidence that I could just do what I do online and be fine. Very shortly after that, I won the WSOP Europe, and then got second in an EPT two months later.

— That was the one for one million pounds—nearly two million dollars at the time?

Yes, but I want to clarify: I didn’t get to keep all of that. It’s funny when people look at Hendon Mob results; most players don't keep the whole sum.

I had to pay 50% in taxes because I lived in Norway, and I had backers for 50%. So really, I got 50% of the remaining 50%.

— What was the plan after such a massive explosion onto the scene?

On day one of that tournament, I started talking with Betfair. After I won, I signed a sponsorship deal with them that lasted two or three years. I was thrown into the deep end. Suddenly, I had to play a certain number of events and do all these things outside of poker.

I was just a shy Norwegian girl who stumbled into a million dollars, and now they wanted me on TV doing interviews. I remember doing Poker After Dark in Vegas once I turned 21.

— You were an international star. Did you have any crazy fan encounters?

People wanted photos and autographs quite often, but thank God, no weird stalkers or crazy stories. This was before the era of TikTok and social media madness, which I’m grateful for.

— Our editor, Dave Woods, remembered an interview from 2011 where you said you wanted to play poker forever. What changed? Did you fall out of love with the game?

It’s complicated. Towards the end, when I tapered off, I lost a lot of weight, which people noticed. During that time, I developed an eating disorder. It made it impossible to focus at the tables; all I could think about was food and numbers. If you haven't experienced it, it's hard to explain, but I had to take a break. It took a long time to get through that, and it’s still something I struggle with today.

When I tried to come back later, the passion just wasn't there. Why do it if you aren't enjoying it?

— After that, did you start getting seriously involved in sports and diet?

You also got heavily into fitness and nutrition for a while.

— I read that you lost 45 pounds, but then hurt your back doing deadlifts.

It wasn't a sudden injury; it just came on gradually. I still struggle with back pain today. I tried physical therapy and all sorts of treatments, but mostly time and taking it easy helped. I actually stopped working out entirely because I’m scared of hurting myself again, even though I don't have to be doing heavy deadlifts!

I really did enjoy it, though. There is something empowering about seeing progression. I’m a very competitive person with an addictive personality. Once I start obsessing over something, I want to be the best at it—not just for me, but to prove to everyone else that I can do it. That drive is what made me great at poker, but it’s also what led me down the path of the eating disorder.

— I remember at one point asking, "Where is Annette?" and then I saw you with various shades of colorful hair, running your own makeup channel. You had a real passion for that.

I did. It was something I got into because I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life anymore. This was after I decided I didn't know if I wanted to keep playing poker. There was a short overlap where I did both, and then I realized this YouTube stuff and the makeup channel were really fun. I thought I was pretty good at it, and people seemed to enjoy watching. I did that for five, six, or seven years—I think I posted like a thousand videos.

Annette's Makeup Corner

I've actually had multiple channels. I had one where I did hotel room reviews in Vegas, where I'd go around staying at the cheapest rooms at different hotels and reviewing them—that was fun. I had a fashion channel for a while, too.

But the last two years, I've been in a bit of a "no man's land" because my ten-year marriage ended.

Life happens, but it was a tough time. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m here now, getting back into poker. I’m having an early midlife crisis where I’m like, "What do I do with my life?" I just needed to get out of the house, meet new people, and do new things. Honestly, it’s one of the best things I’ve done in a long time. It really reminded me why I started playing the game in the first place. This is fun. Now I remember why I did this for so long.

— Dave Woods actually saw your Hendon Mob—he saw you cashed at The Orleans in New Orleans in a small tournament and said, "She’s back!" What gave you the itch to just jump back in? Were you there with friends or just undercover?

Basically, I’ve gotten really into Scrabble.

I go to a club twice a week here in Vegas and we have an amazing community—so many great people. One of the guys there plays poker sometimes, and when I told him I was interested in playing again, he asked if I wanted to play a tournament at The Orleans. I said, "Sure, why not?" We’ve been like three times now in the past two weeks, and it’s just a good time.

— Does anybody recognize you?

Yeah! I was honestly surprised. When I first walked into the South Point poker room on December 16th. That was my first session back. I thought I could just fly under the radar. I thought there was absolutely no chance I’d get recognized. Then I had five people at my first table just staring at me.

I’m thinking, What are you looking at?

One person goes, "I think I've seen you somewhere," and I said, "Maybe you have."

Then someone else asks, "Are you Annette?" and everyone goes, "I knew it!"

— We know you live in Vegas, but I didn't realize it had been that long. What do you like about it?

Honestly, one of the things I’ve loved since I moved here is the weather and seeing the sun every day. Coming from a country where it rains 300 days a year and it’s cloudy and miserable, it’s a huge difference. You don't realize you have seasonal depression until you get away from it.

I don’t love the summers here, but I’d much rather have that than snow.

— Will you come in with a hoodie and play the WSOP at all?

I currently live near South Point, so I play mostly there. But I'm moving closer to the Strip soon and will be playing a lot, but only at stakes that are comfortable for me.

So I see myself playing a lot in the coming months, but the WSOP isn't really on my radar yet. I just want to play for a while and see how it goes. I don't want to get into the game and have tens of thousands of dollars in swings; that would make it really stressful. I could afford to take shots at bigger tournaments if I wanted to, but I just don't see the point.

Like we said before, bankroll management is what made me good. I know what I can beat and I know where I stand, so I just want to take it slow.

— I find that fascinating. I grew up playing golf on a scholarship, and even though I don't play like I did in my 20s, I still keep up with the Masters.

For eight years, you followed almost nothing in the poker world?

Nothing. Literally nothing. I didn't even watch the WSOP Main Event final table. I just did not care.

— Was that just because you wanted it out of your head?

It's like a bad relationship. I haven't really had one, but I know people who, once they break up, delete everything and act like the ex doesn't exist. That was me with poker. I didn't want to think about it or focus on it, so I erased it and moved on to other things.

— I think that served you well. Now you’re back on your own terms. When you sat down at The Orleans, did you notice a shift in how the game is played, or was it like riding a bike?

Honestly? My first thought was, "Wow, people are still bad."

I was shocked! I thought the level of play would be much higher since I’d been gone so long. But people still make the same mistakes I saw back in the day. To be fair, it was a $120 tournament, so you’re playing with casual recreational players who are just there to have a good time.

— Well, you're out of the makeup now and back in the game. What are you most excited about? You mentioned you've mostly been playing cash.

Yeah, that’s mainly what I’ve been doing. I’ve played 1/2 at South Point and some 1/3 and 2/5 at the Wynn. I really want to get good at cash this time. In the past, it didn't feel like it was for me, but I have a different mindset now. It’s a new challenge. Cash is lower variance, and I'm not really chasing the "high" of winning a tournament anymore. I’ve already achieved everything I could in tournaments; nothing is going to top that. Now I just want to chill, put in hours, and have a good time.

— Are you watching the Hustler Casino Live streams?

A lot of it! I didn’t even know who Alan Keating was until three weeks ago.

He is my idol right now! I love that guy. I cannot wait for the next Million Dollar Cash Game.

A few days after the first interview, Craig and Annette spoke again. Obrestad said that WSOP Europe organizers contacted her and invited her to Prague.

— So, tell me what happened. I know I reached out because the owner of Poker.org, Eric Raskin, mentioned the WSOP was looking for you and they eventually tracked you down. Can you tell me about that conversation?

Yeah, so I scheduled an interview with them last Monday because they said they wanted to chat, and I wasn't really sure what it was about. I thought it was about WSOP Europe—because I watch so much content now, I knew a lot of the creators I follow were going there to make content. I figured they wanted me to do the same and become a "poker content creator." I know we talked about that, and I’d said I wasn't really interested.

So, I went into the chat totally prepared to shut them down and say, "Sorry, not what I want to do." And then they said, "No, we just want to fly you to Prague." I was like, "What's the catch?" They said there wasn't one—they just wanted to put me into the Main Event and the Ladies Event, and maybe have me do the "Shuffle Up and Deal" for the Main. I was like, Holy shit, are you kidding me? Craig: "Shuffle Up and Deal" is a huge honor!

Ed. – The tournament began on April 3 at 10:00 AM GMT time. Annette Obrestad opened the event to the tune of Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" from the legendary film "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."