Annette underscore 15

Author: Simon Dexter

Although many people had not heard of Annette ‘Annette_15′ Obrestad before she claimed the WSOP Europe event in London in September, she was already a well known figure in the world of online poker.

Her most famous exploit was playing (and winning!) a $4 SNG tournament against 180 players without looking at her hole cards. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of her strategies and it may give an insight into some basic poker plays.

The most important factor was that she always played in position. This is hardly a revelation as knowing her position was one of the only things in her favour. It’s a lesson to us all and once again exemplifies the importance of your position around a poker table.

The next interesting point to note was that she almost never ‘limped in’. There was no advantage for her to do this and it could have spelt danger for her and not knowing her cards meant this would have been a risky strategy.

She was ‘all over weakness’ like a rash. She seemed to know instinctively if a player was weak and pounced on it immediately. Annette rarely attacked the big stacks and for the most part kept out of their way. She also avoided stealing blinds and tended to fold to any aggression. Annette_15 would also avoid all-ins which would have put the tournament on the line.

The more experienced players would not have learnt much from these conclusions but it may help those starting out in tournament play as she follows some of the basic rules that should make anybody a more competent player.

It was her weakness in certain situations that surprised me which saw her backing down at the slightest sign of aggression. This was obviously a strategic ploy but it is one that goes against many people’s natural playing style.

There are many places on the Internet where you can watch a re-run of this tournament and I would advise any serious tournament player to give it a watch.

There are rumours that Annette has trained an army of players who compete at the various poker rooms using her strategy and are making themselves good money for Team Annette.
Her recent success may mean that she will be playing more live poker than online stuff but her skills have made her possibly the best ever online poker player of this generation and it may be a long time before we see another player of her quality.