Teenager Player Wins WSOPE

The World Series of Poker Europe main event has been won by Norwegian Annette Obrestad, an eighteen year old online poker player who will no doubt set the poker world alight over the next few years. Annette, who plays online as Annette_15, was in fifth place at the start of the final day, but played like a true professional to go head to head with Londoner John Tabatabai.

The final hand of the tournament is one that Annette will remember for the rest of her life - not only because it enabled her to win her first WSOP bracelet, but because the cards just seemed to fall in the right way at the right time. With a pair of 7s in the hole, the flop came down 5, 6, 7 and Annette moved all in with trips. Tabatabai called with two pair but didn't improve on it, making Annette a poker superstar and £1 million richer.

Betfair.com, which hosted the World Series of Poker Europe tournament, has signed Annette to act as a "poker ambassador", and this looks to be a wise move. Annette started playing in freeroll tournaments online at the tender age of fifteen (hence her nickname, Annette_15) and just three years later she is a WSOP bracelet winner. If she continues making that kind of progress, Annette could make an even more dramatic impression on the game, and whatever fee Betfair have agreed with the Norwegian poker prodigy will no doubt be viewed as a stunning investment.

Annette winning the main event meant that all three WSOP bracelets that were up for grabs in the World Series of Poker Europe tournament were won by European players - something that will have surprised many of the US professionals who participated. And because of the law regarding poker in the states, where one needs to be at least 21 years of age to play, Annette's title as the youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet is not likely to be in jeopardy for quite a while.