19-year old Annette Obrestad Makes Poker History at World Series of Poker Europe
Who would ever think that a 19-year old would win the £10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event?
Well, Annette Obrestad at age 19 became the youngest player ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, and also was the first woman to ever win the World Series of Poker Main Event.
The Empire Casino in London was the setting for some relevant poker history when the World Series of Poker Europe hosted a £10,000 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold’Em Main Event just last weekend. There was a lot of firsts in terms of poker accomplishments. First of all, the WSOPE Main Event was the largest buy-in for a main event considering that the £10,000 is roughly around $US20,000, double the buy-in of the WSOP main event at Las Vegas which goes for $10,000. The field wasn’t as enormous as the 6,000+ players who registered for the 2007 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, won by Jerry Yang, but the 362 entrants is valid competition. After all, before 1999, the WSOP Main Event field didn’t even reach 350 players, and still no one will ever discredit the bracelets won then.
So, topping the field of 362 poker players in the first annual WSOPE Main Event was no other than Norway’s Annette Obrestad, who made poker history by being the youngest player (she just turned 19!) and the first woman (she definitely is!) to ever win a WSOP Main Event title, and of course the wonderful 18-karat gold and jewel-encrusted bracelet that comes with the title.
The WSOPE Main Event went on for 5 days, and brought in some of the biggest names in poker including Liz Lieu, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth Jr. representing Ultimatebet.com; Ace on the River author Barry Greenstein, 2004 Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu, 2-time WSOP bracelet winner Humberto Brenes and 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer representing PokerStars.com; professional poker superstars Gus Hansen, John Juanda, Farzad Bonyadi, Paul Wasicka, , Eric Seidel, Lee Watkinson, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren and Jennifer Harman of Team Full Tilt Poker; 1987 and 1988 WSOP Main Event world champion Johnny Chan, 1976 and 1977 WSOP Main Event world champion Doyle Brunson, 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold, Patrik Antonius, 1999 WSOP Main Event winner Noel Furlong.
To accommodate the crowds, the field was divided into 3 poker card rooms on the first day. Some took to the Empire Casino while the rest were spread out at the Sportsman Casino and the Fifty Casino. And after 4 days of intense poker action, the field was trimmed down to the final table, which played at The Empire in Leicester Square.
THE £10,000 WSOPE Main Event final table brought a bunch of fresh names into the poker scene with the likes of Johannes Korsar and Magnus Persson of Sweden; Oyvind Riisem and Annette Obrestad of Norway; James Keys, Dominic Kay and John Tabatabai of the United Kingdom; Theo Jorgensen of Denmark; and Matthew McCullough of New Jersey, USA.
Short-stacked James Keys was the first to get busted from the final table, earning a 9th place finish and a pay of £61,540 for his 9th place finish. The next elimination was Theo Jorgensen, the oldest at the final table at 35 years of age. Jorgensen’s pocket 10s couldn’t improve against John Tabatabai’s Kings and he busted out on 8th place and earned £85,000+. The next victim was Magnus Perrson whose stack deteriorated slowly and was forced to go all in with
only to be called by Tabatabai with another pair of Kings. Perrson’s hand couldn’t improve and he busted at 7th, earning £114,000+.
The sixth place of the tournament went to Dominic Kay, who went all-in on his big blind with 
and was called by Matthew McCullough with 
. McCullough’s pockets found a set on the flop, and Kay couldn’t improve and went out at 6th for £150,000+.
Johannes Korsar was the next to get knocked out by Tabatabai when Korsar’s pre-flop allin with 
couldn’t improve against the 
of Tabatabai. Korsar earned £190,000+ for his fifth place finish. Out on 4th was Oyvind Riisem who called McCullough’s all in with pocket nines. Unfortunately for Riisem, McCullough was holding Aces. Riisem earned £250,000+ for his 4th place finish.
Three-handed play lasted a while, but eventually a flop of 
found Tabatabai and McCullough in a raising war that eventually found McCullough pushing all-in with against Tabtabai’s 
. An ace on the turn improved Tabatabai and eventually his two-pair eliminated McCullough at 3rd place, earning £380,000+.
The heads-up match between Tabtabai and Obrestad lasting a long time, and the final showdown to determine the WSOPE Main Event champion was a classic. On a flop of 
, Obrestad led out with a bet raised by Tabatabai and re-raised all-in by Obrestad. Obrestad showed a set with 
while Tabtabai showed two-pair with 
. Tabtabai was drawing nearly dead and needed runner-runner of the last 2 fives or the last 2 sixes to make quads in order to win.
John Tabatabai earned £570,000+ for his second place finish.
Meanwhile, Annette Obrestad’s victory made her the winner of the WSOP Europe Main Event, gave her a much-coveted pieced of jewelry with a WSOP bracelet, earned her a whopping £1 Million, and made her the first woman and the youngest player (by far!) ever to win a WSOP Main Event bracelet. At age 19, Obrestad is the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet. She can’t play in the 2008 WSOP in Las Vegas because American law states that she has to be over 21. So Indeed, the win at the Empire Casino in London is special for Obrestad.
“I never expected to win. “I’m speechless. I really don’t know what to say,†said Annette Oberstad, who is usually a bit more articulate, but must’ve been in total shock.
WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was excited about the inaugural season of the World Series of Poker in Europe, and knows that it will eventually continue to grow in the future.
“In the end, the Europeans dominated here… But this is the start of a new tradition for the World Series of Poker and the European and global poker communities. WSOP Europe will provide more exciting action in the years to come and we’re confident poker greats from all over the world – and across the generations – will shine here, just as they have in Las Vegas,†said Pollack.
The success of European poker players, having shut out the veteran American pros by winning all the three WSOP bracelets up for grabs, is a good sign for the development of European poker. Eventually, it’ll only keep growing from there, and perhaps European poker will see more games and more events in the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe.
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