Big development in the poker community.........

Amazing development that will likely change the poker landscape as we know it. A 18 year old Norwegian woman has become the first ever woman to win a main event World Series of Poker bracelet. This is a huge development in the world of poker on three levels.

First, it should provide a monumental boost to female interest in the game. Poker, despite having no barriers to entry regarding sex, is still generally played by men. Most tournaments have at least 90% of the entrants being men. A boost in the female poker population is sorely needed as it's an untapped market thus far. With a woman finally breaking through to win a main event, the interest in poker will grow exponentially, much like the growth in amateurs playing the game after an unknown amateur named Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP main event in 2003.

Second, there's going to be a large influx of both online and live female poker players, especially in Europe. Annette (the woman who won the tournament) is likely to get a contract from an online poker site between $10-20 million dollars. That's an insane amount, but the number of players that she will draw to a website will pay for that contract in a year, if not sooner. It's great for poker because it draws women in to play the game and it also brings more money to the tables.

Third, it may well be the final straw in the battle to legalize online gaming in the U.S. The European countries are likely to see a massive inflow of tax dollars from the increased poker play and resulting tax dollars. There are currently two bills in the U.S. Congress that would legalize online gaming, regulate the industry and tax it. As the revenue from these forms of gaming continues to increase, lawmakers will be pressed further by lobbies and constituents to tax the online gaming in the U.S. that is currently going untaxed. The sooner the U.S. government removed the online gaming prohibition, the better for both the poker community and the tax income of the U.S.

Here's the article from CNN:

Norway's 18-Year-Old Annette Obrestad Stuns Poker World With 1 Million Pounds Sterling Win In First World Series of Poker(R) Europe


LONDON, Sept. 16 -- Annette Obrestad became the youngest bracelet winner in World Series of Poker history early today by conquering the Main Event at the first annual WSOP Europe.

The 18-year-old Norwegian played masterfully over the course of the five- day 10,000 pounds buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold'Em Championship, outlasting a field that included the strongest showing of professionals in European poker history.

"I never expected to win," said the composed and articulate Obrestad, who turns 19 in just one day. "I'm speechless. I really don't know what to say."

"In the end, the Europeans dominated here," said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "But this is the start of a new tradition for the World Series of Poker and the European and global poker communities. WSOP Europe will provide more exciting action in the years to come and we're confident poker greats from all over the world - and across the generations - will shine here, just as they have in Las Vegas."

Obrestad's win capped a series that saw European players - make that young European poker players - shut out veteran American professionals by winning all three WSOP bracelets up for grabs. Her victory over 22-year-old John Tabatabai of London came when her three sevens beat his two pair.

Obrestad won the 1 million pounds, or $2,013,102, first-place prize and the most coveted prize in all of gaming, a World Series of Poker 18-karat gold and jewel-encrusted bracelet created by luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM, the official timepiece of the WSOP. Tabatabai earned £570,150, or $1,147,770, for second place.

With her performance, Obrestad's payday snapped two records held by poker pro Annie Duke. The first was Duke's one-day-old record as the first woman to exceed $1 million in official WSOP winnings, thanks to her 21st place finish in the WSOP Europe Main Event. Duke's 30,770 pounds, or $61,943, payday saw her edge just over the $1 million earnings mark. Duke also held the single- event record win for a woman with her $2 million winner-take-all victory in the 2004 Tournament of Champions staged by Harrah's Entertainment.