In her previous incarnation on the felt, Obrestad became the inaugural winner of the WSOP Europe, the £1million payday (at the time $2,013,733) accounting for just over half of her career tournament earnings and arriving the day before her 19th birthday! Jul 14, 2016 Annette Obrestad, however, isn't one of those players living and dying with every hand. The 27-year-old Norwegian — catapulted to stardom the day before her 19th birthday, when she stunned the poker world by winning the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event in 2007 — has a much different perspective on poker and life in general since the days.

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“You don’t quit poker, poker quits you,” is a phrase that often does the rounds in players’ discussions. Yet some players do retire from poker, although they rarely stay retired as you’re about to find out.

Jason Strasser: The best retired player you’ve never heard of

You are forgiven for not knowing the name Jason Strasser even if you should. Strasser was one of the original online poker crushers and used the alias “strassa2”. Strasser racked up millions in online cashes and another million in the live arena.

It wasn’t a massive surprise when Strasser announced was quitting poker. He is highly intelligent and took a job in finance with Morgan Stanley in 2007. Strasser didn’t stay retired for long, although his volume in live events massively reduced.

January 2018 saw Strasser make a rare appearance at the felt and he showed he still has mad skills. He triumphed in the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event for $332,539. Once a great poker player, always a great poker player.

Annette Obrestad

Annette Obrestad became the youngest-ever winner of the WSOP bracelet back in 2007 and had the world at her feet. Obrestad climbed to the top of the online poker tournament rankings and was seen as a legitimate poker star.

The talented Norwegian never told the poker community she retired. Instead, she simply drifted away from the poker scene. Obrestad now has her own YouTube channel where she showcases make-up tips. It’s a world away from poker and one Obrestad says she is happy in.

Vanessa Selbst

Nobody batted an eyelid when Vanessa Selbst announced her retirement. Just like nobody was shocked when she didn’t stay fully retired. The former Team PokerStars Pro has pursued a legal career, which is her passion.

Selbst announced her retirement on New Year’s Eve in 2017. She made an appearance at the 2017 WSOP, cashing twice, but didn’t register a single cash in 2018. Selbst never said she was fully retired and returned to action in September 2019 in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event. A 14th place finish netted Selbst $39,950 and took her lifetime winnings to $11,891,331.

Andy Frankenberger

Andy Frankenberger burst onto the poker scene in 2010 and retired eight years later, or did he? The World Poker Tour named Frankenberger the Season IX Player of the Year in his first season. He went on to win one WPT title and a brace of WSOP bracelets.

Frankenberger tweeted he had retired in September 2018. “I’m heading back to Wall Street”” After an exciting, rewarding 8 years playing poker, I decided to rejoin my former bank as an equity derivatives trader. I’ll miss playing poker regularly, but don’t be surprised to see me on the felt. Poker players never really “retire,” do we?”

He didn’t stay retired for long. Frankenberger finished 12th in the $10K LA Poker Classic for $78,040 in march 2019. He also cashed in the same Borgata tournament Selbst did when both temporarily pretended they weren’t retired!

Doug Polk

Doug Polk is one of the few players that has remained retired, at least for now. Polk managed to win more than $9.4 million from live tournaments, helped by a trio of WSOP bracelets. He completed a $100 to $10,000 bankroll challenge in September 2018 and chose that moment to retire.

Polk said he may play poker again in the future, but is happy producing content on YouTube for now. The 30-year-old has a popular YouTube channel plus founded poker training site Upswing Poker.

Fedor Holz just can’t stay retired

Fedor Holz is living proof poker players never stay fully retired. Holz is a legend of the game despite only being 26-years-old. The incredibly talented German racked up more than $32 million in cashes during a six-year career.

Holz “retired” in 2016 after an incredible year that saw him win $16,093,401. He didn’t stay retired long and won another $12,625,952 during the next two years. Holz didn’t register a single cash in 2019 and says he has no plans for playing poker in 2020. Don’t be surprised if you read about yet another Holz victory in the coming months then!

Annette Obrestad, born on September 18th, 1988 is a Norwegian professional poker player.

She is known as the youngest person to have ever won a World Series of Poker bracelet which occurred at the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe.

She fondly adorns the username Annette_15 for playing poker online and built up her skill and reputation by playing online poker whilst still under age, starting at the young age of 15.

At just 25 years of age, she is a feared and aggressive opponent and is set to become one of the most skilled and intimidating poker players in the poker community.

Born in Sandnes, Norway, Annette is one of the most exciting female talents in poker.

Humliating Opponents – Beaten by a 15 year old Girl

Annette Obrestad Phil Hellmuth

Annette began playing poker at just 15 years of age, taking on veteran players and sending them home out of pocket and humiliated. Her starting age is the reason behind her nickname and online screen name Annette_15.

Her experience began in the online world of poker, where whilst still under age, she climbed the ranks from beginner to professional in the space of a few short years, participating in some of the online communities hottest events.

Due to being under age, she couldn’t play in live casinos and so spent most of her time at online poker site Pokerstars, finishing in either first or second place in over 20 tournaments in the space of just a year.

Using the attention that she had clearly earned regardless of her young age and experience, she continued to win whilst her reputation went from strength to strength.

She further claims to have never even made a deposit on any online poker website, implying that all of her online winnings have come from an initial signup bonus and has grown exponentially since she was 15. Turning a profit from the usual online poker welcome bonus is a hard accomplishment for any professional poker player to make, and considering her young age, this speaks volumes for Annette’s innate ability to turn a profit.

Annette was launched into the poker spotlight due to the fearsome reputation she built whilst playing online poker whilst still under age

Online Poker Dominated – Now for the Live Events

Moving on to live action events was something that Annette couldn’t wait for, and as soon as she turned 18 she started to enter live poker tournaments, using the skills she had learned online.

Soon after her 18th birthday, she took part in the Aruba Classic Event and finished in a respectable 37th place out of several hundred contestants. Her followers put this position down to her in-experience in real-time poker events as she had been so well versed in online game play up to this point.

Still at the tender young age of 18, Annette went on to win the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Europe, beating over 300 players and taking over $2 million for her victory. This victory launched her onto the global poker scene and broke the record for the youngest player to have ever won a championship bracelet at a major event, as well as one of the biggest wins for such a young player, not to mention she was female! This win caught the attention of fellow female poker player Annie Duke, who stated that Annette may become one of the all time greatest poker players in history.

Annette became the youngest ever World Series of Poker bracelet winning when she won the main event of the WSOP Europe in 2007

Her sheer intimidating style of play has led many of her opponents to walk away from the table visibly shaken from the experience. She has a cold, professional method that seems to hide all of her thoughts and many professional players have even gone as far as to call Annette unreadable during the game. She retains her composure, even when risking and losing large pots and displays no emotion which is both unsettling and unnerving to her opponents.

When considering that most players across the globe have spent years attempting to perfect this style of poker face, the fact that Annette can perform this task with seemingly no effort at all, suggests that she is a natural poker player.

Annette Obrestad Husband

Annette Obrestad's Major Title Record

WSOP Bracelets

1

EPT Wins

0

WPT Wins

0

Away from the Tables

When not pursuing her career in poker, Obrestad can be seen spending time with her friends and family, particularly her boyfriend of several years. Her family say that they couldn’t be prouder of her accomplishments and frequently comment on where she may be in 10 years time if she has already achieved so much. Annette, revealed in a recent magazine interview, that she is also still a fan of online gaming away from gambling with Role Playing Games (RPGs) and Fantasy and Adventure genres.

Annette Obrestad

In this famous video, Annette plays a 180 player tournament with a post it note hiding her cards. Playing blindly she demonstrates her ability to read players and amazingly wins the tournament

In April 2012, Annette was unveiled as the newest sponsored player of billion-dollar companies Poker Royalty and Lock Poker, receiving huge financial support for her poker activities and increasing volumes of publicity through the press. Annette has also been sponsored by Full Tilt Poker in the past and continues to play on a number of online poker sites.

Annette Obrestad Net Worth 2021, Age, Bio, Height, Facts, Wiki!

Using her intimidating playing style and seemingly flawless conduct, Annette seems destined to become one of the all time greats of professional poker. Watch out for upcoming events where Annette is due to participate and sure to provide an impressive and exciting performance.