Poker is largely a boys club, but that doesn't stop talented women from succeeding at all levels of the game. Barbara Enright has been in the game longer than many of the players today could walk, and with the poker explosion and TV exposure came stars like Jennifer Harman and Annie Duke, as well as crossovers like Jennifer Tilly who have been quite impressive. That makes it no surprise at all that sooner or later we would have a female face on the wall of champions who have achieved the Pocketfives Triple Crown. The fact that an 18 year-old girl from Norway was the first to do it might be a bit surprising if we weren't talking about Annette_15, who's one of the hottest players on the net right now. This young woman hails from Sandness, Norway where she lives with her mother, aunt and cousin, who are all poker players! She is the biggest winner from the family thus far, but it's no wonder she has done so well in such a supportive atmosphere and growing up playing the game.
Anette_15 has been a rising star in online poker for some time now, as she has been posting big wins and impressive scores for the last few months. Her Triple Crown, or Tiara as I like to think of it for this Ice Princess, consisted of three wins in $100+ buy-in events and a total win of almost 20k. She took down the 14k Guaranteed on FTP, the 12.5k on UB and the 100 R&A on Paradise which was her biggest win this week for $11,000. This comes off an impressive showing in the Ultimate Bet Aruba Classic where she finished 37th out of 512 players in her first major live tourney! I was lucky enough to be in Aruba covering the event for PocketfivesLive and I witnessed her play some very impressive short-stack poker.
Lenny: I was very impressed with your play in Aruba. Your swings were a little gut wrenching but you seemed to always be moving your chips and winning pots when you had too.
Annette_15: I think I was above the average one time during the entire tourney and that was right before the bubble, but the structure made it possible to stay alive when you were short. It’s like sheets says, I’m comfortable playing shortstacked because I know I’m not going to make any big mistakes.
Lenny: Have you bought anything special for yourself or your family with your poker winnings?
Annette_15: Not really, I just keep building my bankroll.
Lenny: Have you not cashed out anything? C’mon, you should have a little fun, you’re 18!
Annette_15: I have cashed out, but only if I had a reason to. I don’t like to spend money on things I don’t need.
Lenny: That’s a very mature attitude. Do you play many cash games or strictly MTTs?
Annette_15: Mostly MTTs.
Lenny: Any poker goals for yourself this year? Next? Are the EPT events 19 and up?
Annette_15: I'm definitely hoping to crack the top 15 on the rankings in not too long and I also want to play some more live events starting with the EPT tourney in Copenhagen in January. The European Poker Tour is 18 and up to play. Oh, and I plan to win the World Series in 2010!
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There are many success stories in online poker of people building impressive bankrolls from one small deposit or even freerolling their way to the big time. Annette is one of the latter as she started her real money poker career last year after winning a freeroll on Ultimate Bet. The amazing thing about this to me is that she didn’t really win cash she won a TEC freeroll! Most people I know would have taken that $109 tournament only chip and blown it all in one shot. This disciplined young woman took the $9 cash which is paid out separately on UB and played $1 sitngos. With a steady profitable grind she worked her way up from $9 to $150 before she ever used the TEC!
I love the confidence with which this young woman is pursuing a very promising poker career. She is finishing up high school and plans to take next year off to work on her game and “see what happens from there”. I wish her the best of luck and look forward to many more opportunities to report on her success!
