Nice Annette Obrestad MTT Article

Annette Obrestad's poker strategy
Annette Obrestad's tournament tips

At just 20 Annette Obrestad is already one of the best tournament players in the world but how does she do it?

By Annette Obrestad
February 2009

Annette Obrestad made history when she won £1m at the 2007 WSOPE Main Event aged just 19. Incredibly she nearly won back-to-back majors but just missed out on the EPT Dublin title a month later, finishing second for another $ 429,181. However, she cut her teeth playing thousands of MTTs online, where she learnt the secrets to going deep and cashing big. Now she spills the beans...

1 'Try and build a stack early otherwise you're going to find yourself having to shove all-in to survive, and you don't want to do that. It's definitely worth taking some risks to achieve this. You might have to shove all-in as a bluff sometimes or risk chips, but it's the best way to ensure a deep run. Don't be afraid of going out early.'

2 'The more hands you play early on the more reads you'll be able to get, and attacking limpers in position is a good way to get chips. I think the earlier into the tournament that you start doing this the better!'

3 'I'll never limp in if I'm first to enter a pot, but I'll open pretty much any suited connector, any pair, or any two broadway cards. When blinds are low it's only costing 60 chips or so. If someone calls then you can make a continuation bet on the flop. Often this will get opponents to fold, but if not, you're not going to be putting a lot of money in the pot unless you hit something big.'

4 'At the beginning of tournaments, opening to three times the big blind is standard. But as the tournament progresses there's a trend now to open for 2.5 times the big blind or less. But when should you change? It depends on your stack and the average stack. If I have more than 40 big blinds and the average is more than 40 big blinds, I'll open for 3x, but if it's less I'll make it 2.5x, and if both of those figures are about 20 big blinds or less sometimes I'll just make it 2x.'

5 'Position is crucial, especially when used in conjunction with picking up weaknesses on other players. Look at their betting patterns and what they've done when they show down a weak hand or a strong hand and take advantage of what they're doing.

6 'Generally I'll never fold to a shove if I open a pot when I've got less than 15 big blinds. I know people don't like to do it, but now and again it's possible to find a fold. For example, if you've got a stack of 12 big blinds and raise to 2.5x only to get shoved on by a really tight player who you know is never shoving light, then you might have to consider folding, unless you've got a real hand of course.'

7 'The presence of antes in play doesn't make a huge difference to the hands I play. I might be more inclined to open suited connectors just because there's more in the pot, but that goes for every hand really. Don't worry about the better odds the blinds are getting to call with antes in play, because you want them to call! You'll have position on them for the rest of the hand and they'll miss the flop two out of three times, meaning you'll often pick up the pot with a continuation bet.'

8 'Once antes are in play don't start opening for 4x or 5x simply because you want to give the blinds worse odds. What if they raise and you have to fold? That sucks. You'll get the exact same result by raising to 2.5x. Also, if you open for more and get called, you'll have to make your c-bets bigger and put a larger percentage of your stack in on future streets, when you're likely to be up against bigger hands.'

9 'Increasing your stack in line with the rising blinds during the middle stages of tournaments is tough. One effective course of action is to three-bet pre-flop. On that basis it pays to be aware of who is raising a lot and who is tight. Also, be aware of your own table image, as if you have a crazy image you're liable to get shoved on lighter.'

10 'In online tournaments the bubble is overrated - nowadays everyone knows what you're up to so be very careful!'

#8 is one of the better lessons I've learned over time. Very good advice.
#6 to me seems a bit confusing the way it's worded. i am probably just confused

thanks for posting this

I think she's coming from the standpoint that if you open raise with less than 15BB and someone shoves, it's absolutely standard to call unless the shover is a nit. It's an exception to the rule or something.

Nothing I already didn't know, this is all standard lol.

you can't really expect to learn anything earth shattering from this kind of articles. it's targeted at a really wide audience so it can only focus on general principles.

The real trick is in the details of how she applies it, and that what makes the whole difference.

That's why people pay coaches hundreds of $ per hour while they could pick up a book from any well known pro for a couple of $ on amazon. The devil is in the details.

Yea definitely, its all about the reads and timing and stuff like that.

Well, this article wasn't just for you, Bob.

right...sowwy.

Phil, that article is "borrowed" from a commercial magazine, isn`t it ? I recognise it because I am a subscriber.

I think that you would be wise to at least credit your source. Lawsuits are never much fun imo.

Just so I don't do anything wrong, how would I go about doing that? I linked the source of the article in my OP, but if there is anything else I need to/should do, please tell.

My apologies, m8, I didn`t check the link and didn`t realise that`s where it went. Doh.

you're still not really supposed to quote an entire article, imo. You can summarize and/or quote parts + link, but quoting the entire thing is wrong, imo.

Two keys here:
"The more hands you play early on the more reads you'll be able to get"
and
"Position is crucial, especially when used in conjunction with picking up weaknesses on other players. Look at their betting patterns and what they've done when they show down a weak hand or a strong hand and take advantage of what they're doing."

It's a lot like the videos and articles from DN - it explains the more obvious 5% of their strategy but the reason they're so successful is what they do after the flop/continuation bet and how good they are at reading/manipulating other players. That stuff is hard to even get into a series of books.

It's still helpful though - there's a few things in there I haven't been doing as much as I should.

Pretty sure it's fine as long as the article is available to the public. If it was from a magazine and there was no easy way for the public to read the entire article without paying that would be one thing, but when the article is right there I don't see what's wrong with posting the entire thing here.

when you read it here, you don't read it on the original web site and you don't see the ads next to it, i.e. it's lost revenue for them.

To Zach's point, if it was published on a public internet site (which it was), wasn't restricted to paying customers (which it wasn't), and the author was given credit (which she was..directly in the title of this thread as well), then there is no legal issue. The fact there is a link to the original article is even a bonus. No one here is claiming they wrote the article or that the ideas are theirs...in fact, Phil sided on the side of full disclosure and named both author and website.

No issue imo.

Except for the people who have never heard of that site, read the article and went there looking for more of the same. Making up for what may or may not have been lost

they are obviously very good points because they work for her, but i dont like number 1 as much. i do not see it as a necessity to build your stack in the beginning. as long as you wait for good hands you will be fine

Did Annette's strategy last fall for 20 mtts broke about even. I still love her game though if you search hard enough you can find many videos of her playing online. But you have to search I am not telling... But yes that is the basic strategy but what it doesnt mention is how much she focuses on her OPPTS! Which I believe we all must do more of.

Smashing Donks
DonkeySmash

Great article. Obrestad isn't as well known as some of the older, more seasoned pros, but she can play with the best of them. She has the potential to be one of the best pros in the game when she has some more experience.

Thanks, all useful. I wish I played more like her lol.

This is a really interesting article with 10 nice pointers on how she likes to pla MTTs. I really like the first and tenth ideas. On MTTs i always feel that I am too tight early, passing on hands I might play later on because I'm afraid of getting donked on. Also, trying to buy chips in the buibble, ya...., not for me anymore online.

Does it works in freerolls?? Cuz players are too crazy!

Thanks for this post. She is unreal. I think she is a true prodigy.

I noticed how general this advice is. It should be taken that way too. Poker is so situational that applying the same strategy for every tourney really hampers your effectiveness. There are times when playing tight is an advantage and other times it won't work. But I think that this goes with the current pattern of MTT players being much looser than they were a couple of years ago. It was a nice article and I enjoyed reading it.

You have to play the good hands correctly as well. Sometimes when I try the strategy of just waiting for good hands I find myself playing catch up almost the entire time...Like I finally have AK and I have 10 BB let's shove. So I win the blinds and antes and now I'm pretty much where I was before. Then twenty hands later it's repeat the process. Until I can do this three or four times in a row it's tough to get to a comfortable spot on the leaderboard. Sometimes this strategy backfires.

I generally favor playing more pots early where it is comparatively cheap considering what you start with. Good to establish table image early, as well as getting reads. I also find that some people in the low limit MTT's have a win big or go home attitude early in the tourney. You don't need big cards all the time to take advantage of that and build a nice stack early.

She forgot to mention how many 1000 hrs she spent kibizing. That's probably why she is so good at determine what kind of player she is up against.
She also forgot to mention how unbeliviable tight she can play, when its called for.

Did not see in the article any comment on tyhe program she uses to analze game. Any hints on what software she uses?

i played a lot at ps with her and most of the tips she gave she doesnt play that way.

what do you mean by "kibizing"?annette is an tournament miracle.so i am very interesting in how she play.

in Skidmark's thread he said he played a lot at ps with annette.i want to know how to find her and play with her?

Ok, I know you all want to belive the "miracle" picture that media sends out, about this little girl that came from nowhere and made millions never depositing.
She is one of the most talented players, and she did do it, but it wasnt a miracle, she ate, lived and dreamt poker. How do I know this? I asked her when she was playing.
Kibitzing: railing

If you want to find her you can search on her screen name: annette_15
She is often playing big tourneys on all the big sites.

I love points 4, 8, and especially 10...you can gain a lot of chips in the bubble mode but she is right, if you get played back at , it can cost you chips...and it is all relevant on chip stacks

Thats a very good article.Thanks for posting. Its incredible that she manages to play so well at such a young age.Way to go girl!