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Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007

Annette Obrestad takes second at EPT Dublin

Annette Obrestad is just getting started.

By Arthur Crowson

Online poker wunderkind "Annette_15" narrowly missed out on the chance to take down her second major live tournament in a matter of months on Saturday.

Annette Obrestad entered Saturday's final table as the chip leader with $788,000 chips and many poker pundits had her pegged to win the entire tournament.

Things sure started out well for Annette_15. She managed to eliminate Casper Hansen, Michael Durrer, Trond Eidsvig and Reijo Manninen all by herself.

Obrestad went into heads-up play with $2.6 million to Reuben Peter's modest $700,000. After having the slight edge in the first 10 hands that were played Obrestad's aggressive style began to hurt her. She moved in with top pair and was called by Peters who had two pair. It was a quick double-up for Peter and he was on his way up.

In a pivotal hand Obrestad bet $420,000 on a flop of K J 9 but Peter re-raised all-in. Obrestad instantly folded and suddenly Peter was in the lead. The final hand Peter bet big with A T pre-flop and Obrestad re-popped with pocket sevens. The flop went T 6 3 and Obrestad bet $230,000. Peter re-raised all-in and Obrestad called. The board finished out 4 3 and Obrestad herself was finished.

Although not winning first was likely a bitter pill for the Norwegian player to swallow she did win €297,800 for her runner-up finish.

Her second-place finish at the EPT Dublin combined with her first-place finish at the WSOPE Main Event catapults her into the top three all-time female winners. With Obrestad's reported live tournament winnings total now nearing $2.5 million she trails only Annie Duke, in second with over $3.4 million, and Kathy Liebert, in first with over $4 million.

Obrestad, who came to fame as online player Annette_15, would likely be the all-time female winner if you included her online cashes. Amazingly Obrestad has never put any of her own money into poker and never even made a deposit into her online account.

Perhaps most impressive about Oberstad's two gigantic cashes is that she is only 19 and will have a lot of time to catch up with, and probably pass, both Liebert and Duke. Because of her age Oberstad won't even be able to compete in the WSOP for a couple more years.

To learn more about Oberstad's second-place finish at the EPT Dublin check out PokerListings' one and only Matt Showell's exclusive recap blog here.