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World Series of Poker Europe
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The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the European expansion of the prestigious World Series of Poker (WSOP). September 2007 marked the beginning of a new era for the WSOP, when the first of its bracelets was awarded outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The first WSOPE took place in The Casino at Leicester Square, London, England. The event turned out to be a historical one for more reasons than its location.
In 2004, Harrah's Casinos of Las Vegas purchased the rights to the WSOP label. Being the largest gaming company in the world, with over US$7 billion in yearly revenue, they were looking to expand their action into Europe. During 2005, the Harrah's Entertainment group purchased London Club International, a casino group which operated 3 Casinos in the London area. With this purchase, the road to a European version of the WSOP was paved.One of the advantages the WSOPE has over its American counterpart is the ability to accept funds from online card rooms. Due to the new online gambling laws in the US, the WSOP is unable to accept payment from online poker and gambling sites. The problem is more serious than merely loosing good sponsors - this prevents the WSOP from acknowledging qualifiers from various online satellite tournaments. During the past few years these online qualifiers have become a significant part of the landscape at the WSOP. In fact, the main WSOP event, the No Limit Texas Hold'em $10,000 buy-in tournament, has been won by online qualifiers in two out of the last five years. The winner of this event walks away with the informal Poker World Champion title, and the chance of winning that title after qualifying from an online card-room has inspired many amateurs to start their online poker careers.
Another advantage, or disadvantage, to holding such an event in Europe is the lower age of gambling allowed. In Nevada, the youngest legal age to gamble is 21. In the UK, however, gambling is legal from 18 years of age, so the WSOPE is opening the doors for a younger generation of poker players. Judging by the firs ever WSOPE event, it seems as though this younger crowd has eagerly accepted the invitation, and is definitely up for the challenge. Specifically, one 18-year-old Norwegian player named Annette Obrestad.
Annette ‘Annette_15' Obrestad took the poker community by surprise, when on September 17th 2007 she walked away from the L10,000 No Limit Texas Hold'Em tournament with the WSOP bracelet. This happened only one day before Obrestad turned 19, making her the youngest person in the world to ever win a WSOP bracelet. And that wasn't the only record she set on that day.
Annette Obrestad took away one million pound sterling as her prize, which was the equivalent of US$2.01 million at the time of the event. This places her at the very top of the charts for a single event payout to a female player in poker history. She just passed the previous record of US$2 million set by poker professional Annie Duke in 2004.
Though the WSOPE main event was only the fifth time she cashed in a live tournament, ‘Annette_15' was in no way new to the game of poker. As suggested by her user name, she started playing online when she was 15. She has always been very serious about her game, and apparently a very gifted player as well. She is considered be one of the best online multi-table tournament players in the world, and she has topped many ranking lists on various online sites during her short career.
Annette ‘Annette_15' Obrestad has proven once more to whoever needed proof that online players have become the most dominant force in poker. The WSOPE was a great opportunity for her to show her skills, and to assure us once again that someone who is considered ‘one of the best online players in the world' can translate that success into live tournament success, a WSOP bracelet and over US$2 million in cash.