Poker prodigy Annette Obrestad reinvents herself as YouTube makeup guru

Poker players turn up in the strangest of places when they retire from the game, but former teen poker prodigy Annette Obrestad’s new career surely tops the list – as a YouTube makeup guru!

When the rather well-kept secret of her new passion was revealed this week, Annette_15, as she was known in the heyday of online poker, took to the poker internet to respond to criticism. “Okay before this gets out of hand, please be respectful’, she wrote on the 2plus2 forum. “I will delete any comments on my channel that are poker-related or that I deem inappropriate”.

The Norwegian’s incredible poker career started when she was only 15, her nickname a nod to those under-age days of fearlessly grinding her way up the stakes from a bankroll of exactly zero.

Within a few short years, Annette Obrestad would be a millionaire many times over, with a WSOP Europe Main Event title to her name, as well as sponsorships and endorsements aplenty – a pure freeroll rags-to-riches tale.

Her reincarnation as a ‘beauty guru’ may be a strange one for many, but she said of her transition away from poker ”… this is honestly so much fun for me, and I feel the same fire for this as I did when I first started playing poker and I’m excited to see where I can take it!”

Her poker years took her from the microstakes to almost $4milllion in live tournament earnings, and stardom that she struggled to live with.

“I didn’t know how to handle the media, or the attention that I was getting at the time”, she explained of some of her youthful mistakes and miscues, adding: “I never chose to ‘become famous’. It’s not what I signed up for when I started playing poker ya know?”

Her WSPE title win in 2007, one day before her 19th birthday, propelled her straight into that limelight – a £1million ($2million) scoop in London making her the first woman to ever land such a title.

Despite sporadic success in the following years she never quite managed to reach the very top of the game, and even courted controversy that remains to this day.

Highstakes amateur Talal ‘raidalot’ Shakerchi brought it up again on 2plus2 this week, writing: “The one thing I found disappointing and difficult to understand is why did you continue to represent Lock Poker long after it was obvious the site was stealing players money?”

That question may well remain unanswered, Obrestad “scarred” by the unkind comments about her looks and weight from many in and around the poker community.

“I’ve honestly been scared of the poker community finding my channel because of all the hate I’ve gotten on here in the past,” she says.

Annette reveals this as well as much more in this very honest ‘life story’ for her new makeup channel followers…

Annette Obrestad is extremely honest about her departure from the game, although she did play a little at the WSOP last summer.

“I don’t play poker anymore because I lost my passion for the game and it resulted in me not putting much time and effort into it,” she revealed, adding: “I cut my losses and moved on.”

Annette Obrestad addresses her decision to leave

Now 30, married and still living in Vegas, Annette added: “I wasn’t ready to put in the hours and energy on something that I didn’t love anymore, and the games had gotten so much harder that just being ‘good at poker’ wasn’t enough anymore.”

“I had really just been searching for a reason to quit for the past couple of years, but there was nothing I was passionate enough about doing so I just forced myself to play for the longest time”.

From online poker prodigy to millionaire champion to makeup guru – Annette Obrestad will always remain in the poker history books for her achievements. Asking her about poker, however, isn’t likely to be a fruitful endeavour from this point on.

“If I wanted to talk about poker, I wouldn’t have made a makeup channel” – and those who grew up with her as an inspirational poker hero of the noughties should be happy to leave her legacy that way.