Poker Boom

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Poker Boom. Will there be another poker boom after Anette Obrestad win in the WSOPE Main Event???? The Poker Princess. Less than 24 hours later, they're calling it the best thing to happen to poker in years. Norway's Annette Obrestad, all of 18 years, 363 days, won the World Series of Poker Europe main event in London on Sunday, shocking the live poker world and simultaneously confirming what the online world had already known. Obrestad's story is legend now. Raised in a card-playing family, she asked her mother for her credit card number to start an online account when she was 15. When Mom said no, Annette signed up anyway and promptly won $9 in a freeroll on Ultimatebet. She built her bankroll from there, reaching six figures before she was 18. ImageMasters Photography Online or live at the felt, Obrestad will continue to make an impact on the poker world. According to the official coverage at worldseriesofpoker.com, Annette has "won more than 23 major online tournaments and made just under 100 final tables," earning $845,000 in her career. The fact is the young woman the online poker world knows as "Annette_15" has been one of the top tournament players in the world for the past couple of years, ascending to the top spot on pocketfives.com's online tournament rankings earlier this year. Annette's win is without much in the way of historic precedent. With a first prize of 1 million pounds ($2,013,102 U.S.), consider: • She's the first WSOP Europe main event champion. • She's the first woman to win a WSOP "main event." • She's the first woman to win a bracelet in Europe. • She's the all-time WSOP money leader among women, with almost twice as much earned as runner-up Annie Duke. • She's the youngest main event winner ever, breaking Phil Hellmuth's record with more than five years to spare. • She's also the youngest person ever to win a bracelet, beating Steve Billirakis' record by 2 years, 11 days. • She's the youngest person to win a $10,000-plus buy-in event. Every one of those accomplishments is obviously exceptional, and to have done it all in one grueling five-day event with a field that could only be described as elite makes what she's done all the more stunning. Of course, there will be questions: How was it a 15-year-old girl was able to play online? How legitimate is the American edition if the young woman they're now calling "The Queen of Europe" can't even play? Does that make the European event the more legitimate one? Call her the Queen of Europe or the Princess of Poker -- it doesn't matter. It's the player that counts, and she's here for the long haul. In a scene reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger's cameo in "Walking Tall" (in which Arnold basically passes the action-star baton off to the Rock), Annette was the one who took Annie Duke out of the tournament in 21st place. Amazingly, she also removed Jennifer Harman from contention in the early going. This isn't to say the live-game ladies are obsolete, but Annette is part of a new breed of player engineered by the boom itself. They've learned the modern game at a younger age, and therefore with a greater learning capacity, not to mention the convenience of being able to play a million hands in a year if one were so inclined. Imagine where poker's going to be 10 years from now, tactically speaking. By then, the ripple effect of this win will be looked back upon as the good old days. As poker continues to expand throughout Europe and get younger, Annette is going to be viewed as the new poker poster child … literally. She'll be the proof that anyone can win, and at the same time, that skill prevails. Young players will flock online trying to be like her, and the old sharks (the Moneymaker generation) will feed on those new fish like the older sharks (the "Rounders" generation) fed on them. And so the endless circle continues. Congrats, Annette, and we can't wait to see you in the U.S. in 2010!