The 40th Annual World Series of Poker is only weeks away. Between now and the start of the Main Event BluffMagazine.com will be presenting the 40 Greatest Champions in WSOP history exclusively on WorldSeriesofPoker.com.
Annette Obrestad earned her spot in the 40 Greatest Champions presented by BluffMagazine.com when she became the youngest WSOP bracelet winner in history after winning the inaugural 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event. She won the event the day before her 19th birthday when she also set the record for largest prize won by a woman and became the all time money winner for females at the WSOP. Obrestad was also the first woman to win any $10k buy-in event in the world.
Still too young to play in America, she won’t be making her U.S. WSOP debut until 2010. She has had two more final table finishes in European Poker Tour events and is also the all time tournament money winner for any Norwegian.
Before she won the prized tournament in Europe Obrestad was a well known online player, playing under the screen name “Annette_15.” She began playing online at only 15 years of age and claims to have never deposited any money on a site; she started her bankroll by winning a freeroll and grinding it up from there. Since 2007 she has had 34 five-figure cashes and a first place in a major online tournament where she took home a $117k prize.
Obrestad even won 180-player sit-and-go online without ever looking at her cards. Using her position and tendencies of other players she navigated through a field to prove that someone could win on strategy alone.
With more than $2 million in online winnings and nearly $2.5 in live earnings Obrestad has to be one of the most successful 20 year-old poker player in history.