Annette Obrestad is just 21 years old, and yet she is already a Poker legend in the eyes of many.

In this hub, I plan to share her story with you and introduce you to an incredible example of a young girl who had the confidence, skill and audacity to take on the overwhelmingly male-dominated world of Poker, and come out on top!

Annette_15 - The Early Years

Annette Obrestad was born in Norway in September 1988.

She began her poker career as a 15 year old, hence the name Annette_15, which has now stuck. She claims that she has never had to deposit cash into an account because she has always been able to build her bankroll through free poker tournaments that are often offered as incentives to new players.

Annette learned quickly that, far from being a game of luck, Poker was a game where strategy and skill are everything. Annette would research and explore different tactics and techniques and then test them in online tournaments. Her most famous example of this came in July 2007 when, in an attempt to demonstrate the importance of position and studying your opponents' play, she won a 180-person tournament without eve looking at her cards (although she later admitted that she did actually look once when faced with an all-in bet).

Annette's Arrival On The World Stage

It was not until September of that year that Annette really burst into the limelight. As an 18 year old, Annette was still too young to play live tournament poker in America, but with British minimum age being just 18, Annette decided to fly to London for the first ever World Series Of Poker Europe.

Annette took the event by complete surprise and blew away some of the biggest names in poker, to win the £10,000 entry Main Event, and pocket the £1,000,000 first prize.

Why Is Annette such a heroine?

Just imagine the impact that this girl had... for an 18 year old girl to come and destroy a field of seasoned pros took unbelievable amounts of courage and confidence. This is why, I believe that, regardless of people's interest levels in Poker itself, Annette acts as an incredible role model and example to young people, and especially girls, that neither age, gender nor anything else other than ability, should stop you aiming for and achieving your loftiest goals.

Annette is now old enough to play in the USA and I can not wait to see her rip up the field at the 2010 World Series Of Poker in Las Vegas!

Find out more about Annette:

If you want to learn more about this amazing woman, or follow her future progress, then I definitely recommend reading her blog, where she shares all of her latest thoughts and strategies (if you're reading this Annette then we'd love to hear from you more frequently!).