Annette_15 Obrestad

Doyle Brunson Beats Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad 2-0

2008-09-27T15:12:00.000-04:00

In a battle for the ages, poker legend Doyle Brunson defeated reigning World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad heads-up in two straight games to win the best of three series. It was a match that pitted one of the top poker players of all time against the symbol of a younger generation and was held as a warm-up to the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

In the first match of the best of three series, Obrestad and Brunson got all of their money in on the flop. Brunson held a pair and Obrestad held a straight draw. The turn gave the young internet poker phenomenon a queen high straight, but Brunson one-upped her on the river with a king high straight. It marked a see-saw ending to the first match in the historic encounter. If Brunson won the second battle, he would win the war.

In the second match of the best of three series, a jack high flop brought both players’ money into the middle. Brunson held J-3 and Obrestad flipped over K-J for a better kicker. The namesake of online poker room Doyle’s Room managed to turn a three for two pair, sending Obrestad packing and sweeping the best of three series. In the endings to both tournaments, Brunson managed to hit lightning in a bottle for the win. He sits in second on the all-time World Series of Poker bracelet list with 10, which is tied with Johnny Chan and second to Ultimate Bet personality and 1989 Main Event winner Phil Hellmuth.

Brunson’s most recent bracelet came during the 2005 WSOP in a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Short-Handed event, which he won for $367,800. The talented final table of that tournament included Minh Ly, Scotty Nguyen, and Layne Flack. Brunson dominated poker in the 1970s. He won the 1976 and 1977 WSOP Main Events and had six bracelets during the 1976 to 1979 World Series events. His online poker room currently accepts U.S. players and offers a weekly bounty tournament that features Brunson, his son Todd, poker author Mike Caro, and the “Alabama Cowboy” Hoyt Corkins.

Obrestad burst onto the live poker scene last year by winning the Main Event of the WSOPE. Her grand prize was worth ₤1 million. She defeated John Tabatabai heads-up; the runner up took home £570,150. Other notables who cashed in the field included Gus Hansen (10th), Kenny Tran (16th), Annie Duke (21st), Marco Traniello (22nd), Erick Lindgren (26th), Patrik Antonius (29th), and 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold.

A native of Norway, Obrestad is a highly-accomplished online poker player. In July, she won the Sunday Mulligan on Full Tilt Poker for $51,666. She has taken down multiple $100 rebuys on PokerStars, which is widely regarded as having one of the toughest tournament fields online. Three weeks ago, Obrestad, who goes by the name “Annette_15” online, finished sixth in the Sunday Warm-Up for $31,000. Finally, she won the Full Tilt Poker $500,000 guaranteed, according to her profile on PocketFives.com, for $117,000.

The £10,350 buy-in Main Event of the 2008 WSOP Europe begins on Sunday at 1:00pm local time. The six-day event will feature two starting days. The champion of the tournament will be crowned on Thursday, October 2nd.

(Source)

Annette Obrestad to face Doyle Brunson

2008-09-26T12:38:00.003-04:00

(Source)

The reigning Queen of WSOPE, Annette Obrestad and Poker legend Doyle Brunson and will battle each other Sept. 26 in a best-of-three No-Limit Hold'em heads-up match that World Series of Poker organizers are billing as "King vs. Queen."

Both Brunson and Obrestad are considered two of the most elite poker players in the world, but their introductions to the game couldn't have been more different.

Brunson traveled the dusty backroads of the U.S., playing in numerous illegal games, honing his game prior to winning 10 WSOP bracelets, which forever secured his status as the godfather of poker.

Obrestad, of course, is from the online generation and built her bankroll from virtually nothing, eventually becoming one of the most dominant online tournament players in the world. Obrestad shocked the world by taking down the WSOPE Main Event last year, in doing so becoming the youngest player to ever win a bracelet.

A U.S. player has never won a WSOPE event, so the timing is excellent for a little U.S.A. vs. Europe action. Many are calling the contest poker's version of the Ryder Cup. Perhaps Brunson will take the lead from Jim Furyk and the gang and win at least one poker event for the United States.

The heads-up match will kick off at 1 p.m. London time at Empire Casino on Sept. 26, with spectators welcome, and Brunson will be signing copies of his book for guests at the end of play.

The WSOPE is currently being held in London and PokerListings.com is on location with Owen Laukkanen and Rod Stirzaker providing the latest live updates.

EPT Dortmund Coverage: Exit Annette_15

2008-09-24T12:13:00.001-04:00

Annette Obrestad - VG TV Interview

2008-09-24T12:12:00.001-04:00

Annette 'Annette_15' Obrestad - AUSSIE MILLIONS 2008

2008-09-24T12:11:00.000-04:00

2008-09-24T12:10:00.001-04:00

Annette Obrestad 2008 WSOP

2008-09-11T21:45:00.001-04:00

Tournament Indicator Free for 48hours

2008-08-31T11:24:00.001-04:00

FREE DOWNLOAD
Got a tournament coming up? Just download and install now, then browse the Video Guide. You can try Tournament Indicator for FREE for 48 hours.

Tournament Indicator is unlike any other poker calculator because it is specifically designed for Texas Holdem online tournament play. The indicators used in the software are the same you would use in a real tournament situation, but are quite different from a ring or cash game.

Poker calculator designed for ring games simply cannot offer the critical information used to make correct decisions in tournaments. Correct decision making at game critical intersects is what makes a tournament player successful.

Here are some of the features Tournament Indicator offers an online tournament player:

Instant MZone Calculations
Now you will know what MZone you are in as well as every other players' at your table. Depending on which MZone you are in can drastically alter your strategy, and the same is for your opponents. Only now, you are the only one with ALL the critical information at the table.

Player Profiling
In early tournament play you can learn a lot about your opponents by watching everything they do. Harder said than done, but Tournament Indicator does it all for you tracking VPIP%, Aggression, PFR%, showdown wins, and more. All these combined make for real-time player classifications that you can use against your opponents at the right time.

Tilt Factor Monitoring
New to poker calculator also is Tournament Indicator's ability to provide you with insight as to your opponent's tilt potential. By tracking hand streak in wins and losses and a tally on the player's stack over the last 10 hands gives you even more insight into that players current psyche.

MatchCard Showdown
Different criteria enter into the decision making process as a tournament winds down. Whether you are short stack, big stack or other, in the money or on the bubble, you will be faced with numerous all-in confrontations as part of the normal play of tournaments. What Tournament Indicator's MatchCard feature offers is a quick view of potential hands you might be up against.

Odds Calculations
Holdem Indicator set the standard for quick, easy to understand odds display while incorporating a visual display of comparing win odds to pot odds in each betting round. Tournament Indicator uses that same technology to give users the most relevant information with proven, reliable technology.

MiniView and Customized Settings
You won't feel squeezed on your computer screen as Tournament Indicator can be minimized on the game window. We like our profile settings but if you don't, just go ahead and adjust the profiling, and tilt factor settings to where they make more sense for you.

Video Tutorial Guide
Tournament Indicator introduces the Video Tutorial Guide compiled by Marty Smith. Watch these quick, informative videos and you will be using Tournament Indicator to it's full extent in your very first tournament.

Does Low Stake Grinding Beat a Day Job?

2008-08-30T11:18:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by HolyokeHangover

The saying goes that grinding low-stakes poker will suck the life out of you, but playing poker for a living has its obvious benefits. And it doesn't matter if you 17-table $25 NL 40 hours a week or you bust a couple chumps a week at Ivey deathmatch.

Drawbacks are pretty much guaranteed, true, but the positives so outweigh the negatives that it's really no contest. Let's go over the positives, as they are the most fun.

Best of all, you work for yourself. There's nobody breathing down your neck telling you to get stuff done. You are your own boss. You have nobody to answer to but yourself.

This freedom is easily the best benefit by far. If you don't feel like playing one day, guess what? You don't have to. Which brings me to my next point:

You can take time off whenever you want. Oh, your friends are going to be heading out of town for the week and want you to join them? No problem; you can just play more leading up to that week and take the whole week off. No holiday problems; no nothing. You want the time off, you take it. Simple as that.

You set your own hours. Sure, playing poker is a job just like any other. If you don't put the time in, you're not going to get ahead. However, when playing poker you get to decide when you put those hours in.

If the games are no good then you can go for a run and come back or try again in the evening when the games are better. If you are going out at night then get your hours in earlier in the day. Flexibility my friend: it's the spice of life.

You can get up whenever you want. Obviously a huge bonus. Who likes getting up early? Nobody, unless they are sick and twisted. When you bend cards for a living you can get up whenever you want. Sleeping in till 1 p.m. never felt so good. I mean what else are you going to do when you are taking flops till 5 a.m.?

You can work from home. If you don't want to make a trip to the casino, any number of online sites are only a click away. Online poker has brought poker into our living rooms. And me and my 42-inch LCD TV and wireless mouse and keyboard are more than happy to welcome it in from the couch.

You can make serious money. Rarely are you going to be able to make the money that is out there to be made doing anything else for yourself. There are supernovas on Stars making 100k+ a year grinding microstakes.

How sick is that? You need no schooling for poker. Just the will to put in time to get better. Anyone can beat this game; it's just whether or not you want it bad enough.

So there you have it - even if you are just playing microstakes, you get to reap the rewards of the poker lifestyle. Contrast that with working every day in a cubicle getting blinded by fluorescent lights.

(Source)

Omaha Hi-Lo Beginners Guide Part 1

2008-08-29T11:22:00.001-04:00

Omaha Hi-Lo, or O8 as it's commonly called, is growing in popularity both live and online thanks to its heavy action and the complexity of play compared to No-Limit Hold'em.

This article details basic beginner strategy for playing O8 in a loose-aggressive cash-game setting.

The majority of O8 games you will play - especially at the lower limits - will be very active and aggressive games, with upward of five players seeing a flop every hand. This is even common in many higher-limit games.

For the basic rules of how a Hi-Lo game works, refer to this article: More to Poker Than Hold'em Part 1: Omaha.

Key Skills for Winning at Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

>Seldom raise before the flop.
>Remember that your aim is to scoop the pot.
>Be able to fold on the flop very often.
>Play premium starting hands.
>Select your table carefully. Only play in loose games where five or more players see the flop on average.
>Hone your ability to quickly calculate accurate odds.
>All of this advice is very general, but will serve you well if you apply it judiciously. Seldom raising before the flop does not mean it's incorrect to ever raise before the flop.

In a game like O8, with almost-guaranteed high, loose action, raising before the flop with anything less than a premium hand does little more than increase the size of the pot.

Key Advice for Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Much as Omaha Hi is, O8 is considered to be a nut game. Meaning that if you do not have the nut hand, there is a very good chance you will not win the pot. For this reason, you want to be very selective in the hands you play, only playing hands with "nut" potential.

The most important thing to remember is the scooping advice. Your main goal in O8 is to win both the high and the low. In reality, scooping (winning both the high and low) is a difficult thing to do and, for the most part, rather rare.

When playing Omaha, your goal is to play for the high, with a redraw to the low. If you have the nut high, you are guaranteed half the pot. Holding nothing but the nut low still puts you at risk for being quartered, or worse.

Common Mistakes in Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

>Playing too many starting hands.
>Calling all the way with only a low potential.
>Seeing flops with four middle cards, like 6-7-8-9.
>Raising with A-2 in early position and making players fold instead of seeing the flop cheaply with more players in.
>Starting Hand Guide for Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (full table, 8-10 players)

The best starting hands in Omaha Hi-Lo are A-A-2-3 double-suited, followed by A-A-2-4 double-suited. This kind of hand is very strong because it can be played for both high and low, which gives it great scoop potential. Of course, being suited or (even better) double-suited adds value to every hand.

Profitable starting hands
A-A-2-x
A-A-3-x
A-A-4-5
A-2-3-x
A-2-K-K
A-2-Q-Q
A-2-J-J
A-3-4-5
A-A-x-x
A-2-K-Q
A-2-K-J
A-2-x-x (suited ace)
A-3-K-K
A-3-4-x
2-3-4-5 (fold if there is no ace on the flop)
J-Q-K-A
T-J-Q-K
K-K-Q-J
Q-J-T-9
2-3-4-x (fold if there is no ace on the flop)

Beginners may find themselves getting overzealous with any hand containing an ace-deuce. Although A-2 will make the nut low more often than any other two-card combination, it's a losing-money proposition to be overly aggressive with weak hands containing strictly low possibilities.

You're also better off folding hands that hold two gaps (for example A-4-5-9). The chances of making a straight are under 1% and you seldom win the low.

Hands like 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6-7, 5-6-7-8 and 6-7-8-9 also have a negative expected value. Omaha variants being the nut games they are, these sorts of middle-connected hands are useless. They have a very low possibility of making the nuts and thus should not be played.

High pairs with two random cards like K-K-x-x or Q-Q-x-x are rarely, if ever, playable on a full table, although a high pair with two low cards that also make your hand suited or double-suited is playable in most games.

For example K-K-2-4 double-suited is a playable hand with decent scooping potential. Be sure not to over-value the hand when hitting second nuts.

Part two of the beginners guide to Omaha Hi-Lo will go into basic strategy and play on all five streets, plus how to put your starting hand selection into use.

(Source)

Brian Townsend a LIAR & CHEAT

2008-08-28T13:55:00.001-04:00

brian-townsend-03
Originally uploaded by fulltiltpoker

For the past 6 months I have been playing under the 2nd aliases Stellarnebula on FTP and makersmark66 on PokerStars. I have not used the aba20 account on Stars since I began playing on the Makersmark66 account. I have since gone back to using the aba20 account and will play only that account. During this time I played the 25/50 and 100/200 PLO games. I played under the Stellarnebula account from February until the end of June at which time Lee Jones and I had a discussion and we came to an agreement that I needed to close it.

During this time I was playing under the Brian Townsend account, never at the same table with the Stellarnebula. Under the Stellarnebula account I played 25/50, 50/100, and 100/200 PLO. During this time I played a very small amount of 50/100 PLO and primarily 200/400 PLO under the Brian Townsend account. I wanted to have come forward and make this public sooner, but unfortunately because of certain business relationships I could not do that. What I did was wrong and I am going to be punished by FullTilt poker by having my red pro status revoked for 6 months. I am unsure what action, if any, PokerStars will take. I have also hurt those that I work closely with primarily at CardRunners but also at FullTilt.

To compensate those that were hurt by my actions I am going to be donating $25,000 dollars to a charity to be determined in the future. This money will be removed from my CardRunners distributions. This is by no means me making my actions correct but I hope that it shows some good faith towards those that I work closely with. I am very proud of CardRunners; we are doing something very special. My first reaction when this occurred was to go hide under a rock. I am not going to do that and I will answer any questions that are asked of me. I feel that I have nothing to hide. Those are the pertinent facts. The reason why I created these accounts was because I enjoy anonymity when playing smaller and am very prideful in what I do.

The past two years I have made a lot of money playing poker. This year I have been breakeven. For me it’s correct to play smaller when things aren’t going well. I have never played poker for the money; it has always been a byproduct of my play. Whatever I do I want to be the best at it. For me playing the 200/400 PLO games was not the right thing to do because my results haven’t been good. I think I am a winner in those games and I intend to prove to myself that I am one of the best poker players in the world. I believe what it takes is an incredible amount of focus and work to accomplish this goal. I intend to work harder than anyone to prove this, because I have not been playing my best for the past year. I have something to prove to myself. I have removed what I have online and left myself with 100K. From here I am going to play 25/50 PLO until I have 200K then 50/100 until I have 400K online then 100/200 until I have 800K online. From there I will play 200/400. If things don’t go well when I first move up I will move back down and rinse and repeat until I am at the 200/400 PLO games. I used to think that playing 25/50, 50/100, and 100/200 was a failure because I wasn’t playing the largest limits. I am smart enough to move down when things aren’t going well; I was just too prideful to make it public.

Along with this I plan on continuing managing CardRunners and create the best poker instructional videos. I have put a lot of effort into my past videos and I want my partners to know that effort will continue, as well as the effort I put into running the company. I hope that people can look to me and not only learn about poker and bankroll management, but also how to do the right thing and be a good person.

Poker isn’t about luck or how you are running. It’s about the work and effort that you put into it. I have not had good results this year because of my poor play and lack of focus, not because I have run below expectation. I want to prove that to everyone. If you follow my play as I move up you will see the trials and tribulations that I face. There will be days of intense frustration and times when I will doubt my game. But I know that with hard work I can accomplish the goal I am setting. I hope that people can not only look to me for poker education but also for the way to live their lives. I made a mistake and I am willing to take responsibility for it. I am willing to stand up and face the music. I apologize to entire the online community. I will never partake in this type of activity in the future. This post should act as a full admission of my guilt, and I sincerely apologize to anyone that I've wronged.

(SOUCRE - My Apology)

Beating Low Limit No Limit Hold’em Cash Games

2008-08-28T13:19:00.001-04:00

Online Poker prep, originally uploaded by mojohouse.

For all you grinders just starting a bankroll, let’s discuss a few points on how to beat the low limit no limit cash games online. The games at this level are surprisingly mixed with new poker players who can and will draw out on you, and multi-tabling sharks that play 10 tables at a time and grind out $50 an hour while playing low limit poker and clearing bonuses.
There are few adjustments that need to made to your game, regardless of your level of experience.

Low Limit Poker Strategy: Don’t Bluff
Bluffing works, and it’s very profitable but not at this level. A key concept in using a bluff in no limit hold’em is relying on your opponent being good enough to fold his hand. When you’re grinding it out in the micro no limit games, you cannot do this profitably except for rare situations, very rare situations. The likeliness of your opponent folding a bad hand is not great.
Cash poker games are not like tournaments where you need to steal blinds and antes just to survive. In these games, we are looking to buy in with the maximum allowed stack and wait patiently for the nuts (the best possible poker hand) and someone who will pay it off. Thank you for your whole stack sir, fish again.

Low Limit Poker Strategy: Play Post Flop Poker
Keep in mind, you will run into a lot of people limping in with big hands. Ace King and high pocket pairs like Aces or Queens. All of these hands will be limped a lot both by beginners who are afraid to broadcast the strength of their hand, and more experienced players looking to trap you. While I don’t encourage limping with these hands myself, I definately don’t over commit to them pre-flop either.

Knowing the large range of hands I will be called with, I prefer to put in “value-raises” of 2.5 x the big blind with big hands and see where the cards fall before putting them on a hand to continue the action on later streets.
You can and should fold JJ and QQ, or AK AQ after missing a flop, it simply depends on the reads you make. The exception to this style of play is that if you hold KK or AA, you should raise AT LEAST 4 times the big blind. It is also okay to open shove all in with hands like this, you never know who will wake up and call behind you with a pocket pair of fives!

If you feel you have the best hand, but aren’t quite sure or know that your opponent will call to the river on a strong draw, don’t be afraid to use a small value bet or even check the flop to see if the draw hits. Using the turn to extract value instead of the flop helps insure you won’t be semi-bluff shoved all in by an opponent with a 30% draw that may or may not hit. After the turn, you can evaluate your odds to win much easier by seeing how it may or may not have improved your opponents hand.

These poker tables are a gind and you should treat them as such, for the most part you need to play very tight poker and wait for 80% or greater edges to get your money in with, this will help your bankroll grow at a steady pace without big risks and with the added benefit of clearing your first bonus. Players who can multi-table four or more of these low limit cash game tables find that it is easier to play tight poker as they don’t get “bored” as easy.

(Source)

When To Bluff In No Limit Hold’em

2008-08-27T20:07:00.001-04:00

Bluffed, originally uploaded by PotD.

A well timed and perfectly executed bluff in No Limit Hold’em is a relative work of art, but it is not as easy to do profitably as it may look on the television. Good poker players know that a successful bluff on the river or catching a bluffer in the act can add a lot to a winning players expected value over a players career. Picking your spots and knowing the other players at the tables tendencies (how they react based on similar situations in the past) are key skills, and bluffing is not to be attempted at low limit games with a large number of bad players.

When deciding to bluff, it helps to put your opponent on a range of hands first, starting pre-flop. This will allow you to set-up the bluff, by becoming what the player fears in a hand. I can and do successfully bluff Pocket Aces out of scary boards, but only when I deem the player good enough to be capable of folding (and this is simply not the case at low limit games for the most part). If you are confident in your play, and your read of the opponent – you can represent any hand that is possible on the board. A few tips:

Holdem Strategy: Don’t Bluff On The Turn:
Bluffing on the turn is the hardest to pull off, and I generally don’t recommend it. If a player stayed in after the flop the turn usually improves a hand or adds a draw, so players are simply more likely to call or even re-raise on a draw at the turn, because the potential to make their hand becomes great in their own eyes (straight and flush draw for example). Instead, the one time I highly recommend using this play as by semi-bluffing a big draw – that is, give yourself a lot of outs if you are bluffing on the turn, because it might just turn into a big pot. And when we are playing big pots, we want to have the maximum chance of scooping it as possible.

Holdem Strategy: Do Bluff The River
And do it often, especially versus tight/passive players. A player with pocket queens is susceptible to a river King or Ace, a flush card, or even a gutshot. Become the hand they fear most, and prey on their ability to “make a good fold”. Bluffing on the river can be risky of course, but I swear by it – it works well especially in heads up poker games. In multi-handed pots I only recommend attempting a stone cold bluff if you have position in the hand, thus ensuring you have the most information possible on what the other players might have – but in general a bluff works best in heads up poker situations.

If you haven’t been trying the occasional river bluff, you are losing a lot of pots that you don’t need to. Target players that check behind in showdown situations with hands like top pair weak kicker – just don’t over use the play as this style should fit solidly into your winning tight aggressive image to ensure the highest success rates, good luck!

Annette Obrestad winning a 180 person Sit&Go without looking at her cards

2008-08-27T20:04:00.001-04:00

This 2 part video shows how Annette Obrestad won a 180 person Sit&Go by playing position and the player and NEVER looking at her 2 hole cards. You will see her folding KK and great hands because SHE NEVER LOOKS AT THEM. Its an amazing accomplishment in poker. She played completely blind.

Part 2 of series of video that shows how Annette_15 wins a 180 SNG by playing position and player and NEVER looking at hole cards. BLIND PLAY!!

Poker Stars Sunday Million Ups Guarantee to $1.5 Million

2008-07-31T12:15:00.000-04:00

Sunday Warm-Up Guarantee Also Increases to $750,000

PokerStars, the largest poker site in the world, is staying ahead of the game as it recently announced that its flagship tournament, the Sunday Million, will now have a guarantee of $1.5 million, an increase of 50 percent.

The $215 buy-in Sunday Million runs weekly at 4:30 p.m. ET. Satellites run around the clock for as little as $3. This isn’t the only tournament getting increased guarantees, either. The Sunday Warm-Up is also offering an upped minimum prize pool of $750,000. That event also features a buy-in of $215 and is no-limit hold'em, but it runs just before the Sunday Million at 12:45 p.m. ET. The $1,050 buy-in Super Tuesday tournament's guarantee will now be $300,000 (up from $250,000).

2008 WSOP Final Table on ESPN November 11th

2008-07-23T14:48:00.001-04:00

The final table has been set and will reconvene on November 9th when these nine players battle for their share of over $32 million. First they will play down until 2 remain. The final 2 will finish play on November 10th and then the event will be broadcast by ESPN on November 11th.

David Benyamine up $910,984 WSOP 2008

2008-06-29T10:26:00.001-04:00

David Benyamine is having a great year!!

WSOP: Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond Wins $817,781 Event No. 28

2008-06-17T14:43:00.001-04:00

2008 39th Annual World Series of Poker
Event 28 - Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys
06/16/2008 1 $817,781.00

Galfond Wins Marathon Heads-Up Match for His First Bracelet

In what has been regarded by some as the best final table ever formed at the World Series of Poker, two online players took out some of the game's best to match up in an epic battle. In the end, after nearly 120 grueling heads-up hands, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond finally got the better of his fierce opponent, Adam Hourani.

Here were the chip counts heading into the star-studded final table:

Phil Galfond -- 1,393,000
Brian Rast -- 1,176,000
David Benyamine -- 1,041,000
John Juanda -- 694,000
Johnny Chan -- 624,000
Kirill Gerasimov -- 558,000
Daniel Negreanu -- 460,000
Adam Hourani -- 300,000
Phil Hellmuth -- 119,000

Here are highlights from all of the action, as featured in CardPlayer.com’s live coverage of the final table:

2008 39TH ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF POKER

2008-06-10T12:16:00.000-04:00

2008 39TH ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF POKER

05-30-2008 to 07-15-2008
Rio Suite Hotel & Casino
3700 W. Flamingo Road - Las Vegas, NV

LIST OF EVENTS - CLICK HERE

David Benyamine up $1.8 million dollars in May 2008

2008-05-23T11:55:00.001-04:00

David Benyamine is currently up over $1.8 million dollars in Pot Limit Omaha games on FullTilt Poker just in May. He just finished a session where he won over $700k, beating players such as "Durrrr" and "Alstonprice" out of six figures each.

David Benyamine in May has played 18,302 hands (in the PLO games) and is up $1.15 million dollars. This works out to an unbelievable $62.83 in profit for each hand that he has played so far in May.

Since the beginning of 2007, according to HighStakesDB, Benyamine's various aliases have dropped $3 million dollars on Full Tilt Poker playing No Limit Hold'em.

On the flip side, since the beginning of 2007, Benyamine has dominated the biggest PLO games on the site like no one else.

If you include his 700k the "David Benyamine" alias has won around $5.3 million in the PLO games on FTP since the beginning of 2007.

Another one of his old aliases, "ballsrider", generated $1.51 million in total profits over that same time period, before being shut down. Yet another one of his aliases, "magicpitch1", is up over $682k from the beginning of 2007 until now. Add those three aliases up, and Benyamine is up around $7.6 million playing PLO on Full Tilt Poker since the beginning of 2007. That makes him by far the biggest PLO winner on the site during that time.

Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad

2008-05-21T17:10:00.004-04:00

Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad is still just a teenager, but she is already one of the most popular poker players in the world.

Obrestad was born in Norway on September 18th, 1988. Growing up in Norway, bowling was the game of choice for "Annette_15". She spent six years bowling "fairly seriously" before eventually giving up the game in favor of poker. She was actually watching a bowling tournament on television when a commercial for an online poker room flashed on the screen. Bowling had started to lose its appeal for Annette, so she soon traded in her bowling shoes for an account at Ultimatebet.

Annette was 15 years old when she started playing online, hence the alias "Annette_15". She wanted to play for real money, so she asked her Mom to deposit some money into her account, using her Mom's credit card. Annette's Mom refused, saying that she was too young, so Annette was forced to grind freerolls to try and develop a bankroll. She soon won $9 playing a freeroll on Ultimatebet and had the beginnings of her online bankroll. Annette claims to have never deposited money into an online poker room - instead, she built up her entire bankroll from nothing, starting with freerolls.

Over time, Annette was able to build up a five figure bankroll. It was when she started putting in serious time on Pokerstars that she started to get noticed. She quickly moved up in the online tournament scene, and was soon playing the biggest tournaments online. "Annette_15" was starting to attract a large following, and the rail was often full when she would play online.

Her first big splash came in the 2006 WCOOP Main Event on Pokerstars. She ended up making the final table, going out in 7th place for $163k. Her demise was particularly heart-breaking - she got all of her chips into the middle holding pocket nines, catching the bluff of an opponent who was holding the 6-5 of diamonds. "Annette_15" looked to be in great shape until the flop came 7 4 3, giving her opponent the nut straight and sending Obrestad to the rail. Still, $163k was not bad at all, right?

Controversy soon erupted after Annette revealed that it wasn't actually her playing the account during the tournament - she had lent her account to someone else. At the time, the point of contention was that this 7th place finish vaulted Annette up the list of top online players. If she wasn't playing on the account, should the 7th place finish actually count towards her ranking as one of the top online players?

This wouldn't be the first time that Annette would stir up some controversy or make waves in the poker world. Far from it.

Over the next year, Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad would stake her claim as one of online poker's top players. Her four and five figure cashes are too numerous to mention, but here are some of her biggest wins in the year following the 2006 WCOOP main event:

-1st place finish in the $500k Guarantee on Full Tilt Poker, August 5th 2007, $117k

-1st place finish in the Sunday Mulligan on Full Tilt Poker, October 7th 2007, $35k

-1st place finish in the $109 Rebuy on Pokerstars, July 24th 2007, $32.6k

-1st place finish in the Nightly $100k on Pokerstars, Jan 22nd 2007, $32k

Obrestad was now considered one of the top online players in the world, and she was still only 18 years old.

This newfound stardom didn't stop Obrestad from getting into trouble with Pokerstars. In early 2007, Obrestad was suspended by the site for a week for violating their "team play" rules.

Here is what happened. "Annette_15" was playing in a rebuy tournament on Pokerstars. The tournament was still in the first hour, and "Annette_15" and another player, "Riverboom", agreed to go all-in on the next hand, no matter what. "Riverboom" advised the other players at the table not to limp, as both players would be pushing all-in regardless. There were multiple players in the hand, and "Annette_15" said that her hand was "no good" while the hand was still being played out. Pokerstars ended up suspending her for a week for violating their rules.

The summer of 2007 was nearly over, and Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad was firmly perched atop the list of top online players in the world.

The World Series of Poker Europe was hosting its inaugural event in London, England. The main event for the WSOPE had a buy-in of 10k pounds, or around $20,000 USD. Annette was contemplating playing in the tournament, but the high buy-in was giving her second thoughts. She had had some experience playing "live" in underground poker clubs in Norway and at the 2006 Ultimatebet Aruba Poker Classic, but this was to be her biggest poker tournament ever if she decided to enter.

She soon made one of the best decisions of her life when she sold 50% of her action in the tournament to Eric Haber and Cliff Josephy, otherwise known as "Sheets" and "Johnnybax".

Annette navigated her way through the tournament, outlasting a field that included many of the top poker talents in the world. She used her trademark aggressive play to accumulate chips, and before she knew it, she was heads-up with John Tabatabai at the final table.

The heads-up battle lasted for hours. Eventually, Annette was dealt pocket sevens and the flop came 5-6-7. The players got their chips into the middle, and Obrestad was delighted to see the bottom two pair that her opponent flipped over. Tabatabai would need running sixes to stay alive, and didn't get them. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad had won the World Series of Poker Europe main event, mere hours after her 19th birthday.

Obrestad cashed for $2.013 million dollars (or $1 million pounds). Half of that would go to "Sheets" and "Johnnybax" because they had 50% of her action. After the tournament, she vowed to never again sell any of her action. Still, at the end of the day, Obrestad cleared over a million dollars pretax and became the youngest World Series of Poker champion ever. She wasn't yet old enough to play in Las Vegas, but that didn't stop her from winning a WSOPE bracelet. Not only that, but Annette:

-became the first woman to ever win a WSOP main event
-passed Annie Duke in total lifetime WSOP winnings
-took down the largest first place prize ever by a woman in a poker tournament (surpassing Annie Duke's victory at the 2004 TOC)

Annette stirred up some more controversy when she made some remarks about the play of Ted Forrest at the WSOPE, both in her blog and in a Cardplayer.com interview. Annette remarked that she wasn't impressed with the play of Forrest, labeling him a "calling station". Some criticized Obrestad for these comments, saying that they were out of line and disrespectful towards a long-established "live" pro. Most felt, however, that online players were constantly being talked down to by "live" pros and that turnabout was fair play.

Obrestad was soon making a deep run once again in another major live tournament. Just about a month and a half after her success at the WSOPE, Obrestad was chipleader of the EPT Dublin event heading into the final table. At the final table, Obrestad continued her dominance, knocking out a number of the other participants. When she got to heads-up play with Reuben Peters, Annette had a 5:1 chip lead and seemed to be cruising towards victory. However, the deck suddenly turned cold for Annette, and she was knocked out in second place for $429k after her pocket sevens didn't hold up against the A-10 of Reuben Peters. Annette, though pleased with her $429k cash, was bitterly disappointed with her second place finish, especially after possessing such a large chip lead.

Even before her "live" success at the WSOPE and EPT Dublin, Annette had been pursued by a number of the online poker rooms for a sponsorship deal. It's not hard to see why - Annette was a dominant online player who was now starting to see some "live" success. Not only that, but she was female, 19 years old and possessed a massive online fan base. Numerous online poker rooms, including Full Tilt Poker, were vying for her services. Annette ended up signing with Betfair Poker after they offered her a deal that was "substantially" better than the other offers.

Since her success at the WSOPE and EPT Dublin, Annette has pursued a lighter schedule, enjoying some of the fruits of her labor. Her most impressive recent accomplishment came when she took down the Sunday Hundred Grand on Pokerstars for $20,000, outlasting a field that included 20,000 participants. I don't care how good you are - finishing first in a tournament with 19,999 other entrants is an impressive feat.

Annette has accomplished quite a bit in her relatively short poker career. She once took down a 180 man, $4 Sit and Go on Pokerstars without looking at her hole cards (ok, she apparently peeked during one hand, but still). She did this to demonstrate the importance of position and the concept of playing the players, not the cards. Also, she once won a $5k SNG on Ultimatebet against Phil Hellmuth in just 12 hands. I'm sure that he wasn't too happy about that.

Annette is only one of a handful of players in the world that have cashed for a million dollars both online and in "live" play.

Considering that Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad is still a teenager - how many lifetime victories and total cashes will she have when the final chapter of her life has been written? For the immensely talented Norwegian, anything seems possible.

Brandi Hawbaker Confirmed Dead @ 26

2008-05-21T17:09:00.002-04:00

The Real Truth About Brandi Hawbaker - Two Plus Two Poker Forum
The Real Truth About Brandi Hawbaker News, Views, and Gossip.

Annette Obrestad - Blind/No Look at cards Tournament WIN!!

2007-12-28T17:36:00.001-05:00

Part 1 of 2 of series of video that shows how Annette_15 wins a 180 player SNG by playing position and player and NEVER looking at hole cards. BLIND PLAY!!

Part 2 of series of video that shows how Annette_15 wins a 180 SNG by playing position and player and NEVER looking at hole cards. BLIND PLAY!!

Annette Obrestad - a year in review - Happy Christmas

2007-12-21T14:41:00.000-05:00

This is my podcast which went on Betfair Radio. Happy Christmas.

Annette - a year in review

CLICK HERE>>>>

Annette Obrestadn Betfair Radio on Tuesday afternoon talking about what I have been up to.

2007-12-13T11:33:00.000-05:00