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Annette Obrestad is a Norwegian poker player, born in 1988, who won the first World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in London in September 2007 for £1,000,000. She won it the day before her 19th birthday, which made her the youngest person to win a WSOP bracelet and the first woman to win a WSOP Main Event title. She had built her bankroll online from freerolls, left professional poker in 2018, and returned in 2026 with a 34th-place finish in the WSOP Europe Main Event in Prague. [1][3][6]
Annette Obrestad: key facts
| Full name | Annette Obrestad |
|---|---|
| Online name | Annette_15 [4] |
| Country | Norway [1] |
| Born | 1988 [1] |
| Lives in | Las Vegas [6] |
| Known for | Youngest WSOP bracelet winner; first WSOP Europe Main Event champion [3] |
| WSOP bracelets | 1 (19 WSOP cashes, 3 final tables) [2] |
| Major titles | WSOP Europe Main Event 2007; EPT London £5,000 Heads-Up 2010 [1][3] |
| Live tournament earnings | $3,996,713 as of October 5, 2026 [1] |
Early life: from bowling to online poker
Obrestad grew up in Norway and, in 2007, lived in Stavanger with her mother. [4] As a teenager she was a competitive bowler for six years. She found poker when she saw an advertisement for a poker site while watching a bowling tournament on television. [5] She began playing at 15, which is where her screen name Annette_15 came from. [4]
Because she was under age, she started with play-money games and freerolls. When she asked her mother to make a deposit for her, the answer was no, and she later told Card Player: “I’ve actually never deposited any money that I didn’t make playing poker.” [5] In a 2026 interview with WSOP.com she said her first games were Stud Hi-Lo six-handed sit-and-go freerolls, before she moved on to Hold’em. A freeroll prize of a $100 ticket with $9 in rakeback became the start of her bankroll, which she grew in $1 sit-and-gos. She left school at 17 or 18 to play full time, with her mother’s support. [6]
Beginning in poker: the online years
By 2006 and 2007 Obrestad was a regular winner in online tournaments. Card Player reported that she won $163,000 for reaching the final table of the 2006 World Championship of Online Poker main event on PokerStars, and $117,000 for winning a $500,000 guaranteed tournament on Full Tilt Poker in August 2007. [5]
The best-known story from these years is a 180-player online sit-and-go that, according to Card Player, she won without looking at her cards. She admitted to peeking once, and she posted a video replaying every hand of the tournament. [5]
Playing style
In her 2007 Card Player interview, Obrestad described a feel-based tournament game: “I play mostly by feel, and I don’t really care if I have the pot odds to call.” She said she focused on no-limit tournaments because “I find cash games online kind of boring,” and named Daniel Negreanu as the live player she admired most. [5] Recalling her heads-up match for the 2007 WSOP Europe title, she said: “The heads-up match I know was very aggressive, that’s why the final hand ended up being a cooler either way.” [6]
Greatest achievements
2007 WSOP Europe Main Event
The first WSOP Europe was held in 2007 at the Empire Casino in London. [6] Its £10,000 Main Event drew 362 entrants for a $3.7 million prize pool. [3][10] On Day 1, Obrestad’s 20,000 starting stack fell to 10,000 before she recovered. [6]
She reached heads-up play against John Tabatabai and won on September 17, 2007. On the final hand the flop came 7♣️ 6♣️ 5♥️. Obrestad led out, Tabatabai raised and she moved all in with 7♥️ 7♠️ for top set; Tabatabai called with 6♦️ 5♠️ for two pair, and her hand held. She won £1,000,000 and Tabatabai £570,150. [3]
PokerNews listed several firsts from that night: she became the youngest person to win a WSOP bracelet, the first woman to win a WSOP Main Event title and the first woman to win a WSOP event with a buy-in over $10,000. It was also the largest buy-in Main Event in WSOP history at the time. PokerNews also noted that, because of the minimum age in Las Vegas, she was still too young to play the 2008 WSOP there. [3] In March 2026, WSOP.com described her youngest-bracelet record as still standing. [6]
Tournament results
| Year | Event | Result | Prize | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | WSOP Europe £10,000 Main Event, London (362 entrants) | 1st | £1,000,000 | [3] |
| 2007 | EPT Dublin €7,700 Main Event | 2nd | €297,800 | [1] |
| 2011 | Wynn Classic $5,000 Main Event, Las Vegas | 2nd | $215,922 | [1] |
| 2010 | EPT London £5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up | 1st | £120,000 | [1] |
| 2010 | Aussie Millions A$10,000 Main Event, Melbourne | 7th | A$175,000 | [1] |
| 2013 | WSOP $10,000 Main Event (6,352 entrants) | 89th | $71,053 | [2] |
| 2026 | WSOP Europe €5,300 Main Event, Prague (2,617 entries) | 34th | €40,000 | [8][11] |
| 2012 | WSOP $3,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em / Pot-Limit Omaha (317 entrants) | 8th | $28,409 | [2] |
The EPT Dublin final table came six weeks after her London win. [4] In the years that followed she travelled the circuit as a sponsored player; she has said her Betfair deal covered flights, hotels and buy-ins for two or three years. [6] She also played in the partypoker Premier League and on Late Night Poker in the late 2000s. [1]
World Series of Poker record
Her WSOP.com profile lists 1 bracelet, 19 cashes, 3 final tables and $2,704,146 in earnings, a total that includes the EPT events shown on that profile. Her best finish in the Las Vegas Main Event is 89th, in 2013. [2] According to PokerNews, which uses Hendon Mob data, her live tournament earnings stand at $3,996,713, second on the Norwegian all-time money list behind Felix Stephensen. [1]
Time away and the 2026 return
Obrestad has said she lost her passion for poker around 2012. [1] She left professional poker in 2018, after more than ten years in the game, explaining to WSOP.com: “I realized I was not in the right headspace to play anymore.” During an eight-year break she settled in Las Vegas, where she plays competitive Scrabble twice a week, and ran a YouTube makeup channel, Annette’s Makeup Corner. [1][6]
In March 2026 WSOP.com announced her return at WSOP Europe in Prague. [6] In the €5,300 Main Event she reached Day 4 and finished 34th for €40,000, 19 years after her London win. She went out with 2♦️ 2♣️ against the K♥️ J♦️ of Sondre Stormyr, who paired his jack on the flop. [8] The event drew 2,617 entries. [11] In July 2026 she also played Day 1c of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, her first WSOP appearance in eight years. [9]
Notable TV appearances
After her WSOP Europe win, Obrestad appeared on televised poker productions including Poker After Dark and NBC’s Heads-Up Championship. [6]
In her own words
- “I’m going to be the next Doyle Brunson, just wait and see.” Asked in 2007 whether she saw herself playing poker for life. [5]
- “I didn’t want the fame, I just wanted to play poker.” On the attention that followed her 2007 win, 2026. [6]
- “I never in a million years thought that I would play in such a big tournament again. Maybe this is the comeback of all time, right?” Before WSOP Europe, March 2026. [7]
- “It’s been nice to feel so welcome again.” On returning to the poker rooms, 2026. [6]
FAQ about Annette Obrestad
How old is Annette Obrestad?
Annette Obrestad was born in 1988, according to her PokerNews player profile. She won the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event on September 17, 2007, the day before her 19th birthday. [1][3]
Where is Annette Obrestad from?
She is from Norway. In 2007 she lived in Stavanger, and in 2026 she was based in Las Vegas. [4][6]
Is Annette Obrestad the youngest WSOP bracelet winner?
Yes. She won the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event aged 18, the day before her 19th birthday, and WSOP.com described the record as still standing in March 2026. [1][6]
How many WSOP bracelets does Annette Obrestad have?
One, from the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event. Her WSOP.com profile lists 19 cashes and 3 final tables. [2]
What is Annette Obrestad’s net worth?
There is no reliable public figure for her net worth. What can be verified is her live tournament record: $3,996,713 in earnings as of October 5, 2026, according to PokerNews. Online results are not included in that total. [1]
Did Annette Obrestad really win a tournament without looking at her cards?
Card Player reported in 2007 that she won a 180-player online sit-and-go without looking at her cards, apart from one peek, and that she posted a video replaying all of the hands. [5]
Does Annette Obrestad still play poker?
Yes. After leaving the game in 2018, she returned in 2026, finishing 34th in the WSOP Europe Main Event in Prague for €40,000 and playing the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas in July. [6][8][9]
What does Annette_15 mean?
It was her online screen name, taken from the age at which she started playing poker. [4]
Related Poker Legends
Read more about Doyle Brunson, the player she said she wanted to emulate, Daniel Negreanu, whose live game she studied, and Vanessa Selbst.
Sources
- PokerNews, Annette Obrestad player profile (earnings data from The Hendon Mob), accessed October 5, 2026.
- WSOP.com, Annette Obrestad player profile, accessed October 5, 2026.
- PokerNews, WSOPE, Event 3 – £10,000 NLHE Final Table: Annette Obrestad Makes History, September 17, 2007.
- PokerNews, The PokerNews Profile: Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, December 11, 2007.
- Card Player, Oh, to be 18 Again, November 1, 2007.
- WSOP.com, Annette Obrestad Set to Make Her Return at WSOP Europe 2026, March 24, 2026.
- PokerNews, Kabhrel in Red Hot Form as Obrestad WSOP Return Confirmed, March 25, 2026.
- PokerNews, Shiina Okamoto Busts to Quads; Obrestad WSOPE Main Event Fairytale Ends, April 8, 2026.
- PokerNews, 2026 WSOP Day 40: Annette Obrestad Returns For Day 1c Of Main Event, July 5, 2026.
- PokerNews, History of WSOP Europe Part I: Annette Obrestad Storms Onto the Scene, October 16, 2017.
- PokerNews, 2026 WSOP Europe Main Event, Day 3 live reporting, April 2026.
Last verified: October 5, 2026. Figures that change over time, such as career earnings, are given with the date they were checked.
