18 year old winner makes WSOP history

At the first European World Series Of Poker final, held in London in September, 18 year old Norwegian Annette Obrestad walked away with the top prize of £1 million (over $2 million) after beating 22-year-old Londoner John Tabatabai when she played three sevens to beat his two pair. 

This five-day event, sponsored by Betfair.com, attracted a new generation of European poker players. Obrestad displayed great skill and coolness of mind over the five-day £10,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold’em Championship to beat a strong field that included seasoned professionals like Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. Like the other young top players, Annette Obrestad gained much of her poker experience by playing online. She overtook the earnings of poker pro Annie Duke, who finished in 21st place with £30,770 pounds, taking her overall earnings over the £1 million mark – but only for a day. 

Annette was slightly overwhelmed by her success, saying that “I never expected to win”. Together with the cash prize she also collects an 18-karat gold and jewel-encrusted bracelet created by luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM, who is WSOP’s official timekeeper. Three gold bracelets were awarded at this event , the first time it has been held outside the USA. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack foresees a lot of media attention in poker now shifting to Europe: “WSOP Europe will provide more exciting action in the years to come and we're confident that poker greats from all over the world - and across the generations - will shine here, just as they have in Las Vegas.” 

Second place, with £570,150 went to John (Kunkuwap) Tabatabai, who beat Matthew McCullough’s top pair on the flop by calling with two pairs. McCullough got £381,910 for coming third. Other placings were Norwegian Oyvind Riisen, who won £257,020 for finishing fourth; Swede Johannes Korsar, who got £191,860 for fifth place and Londoner Dominic Kay with £152,040 for sixth place. The last three places were Swede Magnus Persson with £114,030, Dane Theo Jorgensen with £85,070 and finally Londoner James Keys with £61,540. Keys managed to stay in the final day for just a few minutes before being eliminated, but this five-figure prize was surely compensation that anyone would be happy to get!