by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Apr 23, 2012 | Updated on Apr 23, 2012Annette Obrestad has been one of the most successful female poker players in recent history – and one of the most successful young players of any gender, too. Now, she’s signed a deal with the poker representation agency Poker Royalty, a move that should open up plenty of sponsorship deals for the popular young pro.This isn’t the first time Obrestad has signed a promotional deal. In the past, she has played for online poker rooms such as Betfair and Full Tilt Poker, though the shutdown of the latter has left her without a “home” in the online world for close to a year now. The deal with Poker Royalty won’t tie her down to a specific room (unless they help her negotiate such a deal), and should open the door for a wider range of promotional deals.Obrestad should be an attractive client for many sponsors looking to have a presence in the world of poker. According to Obrestad, she began playing online poker at age 15, and started her bankroll by winning freerolls – never having to actually deposit any money into her accounts. She has won significant amounts of money at many online sites, with one of her more infamous achievements being winning a 180-player $4 sit-and-go tournament at PokerStars without looking at her cards for most of the tournament.Her live achievements are also impressive. Just days before her 19th birthday, Obrestad won the first ever World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, winning £1 million and becoming the youngest WSOP bracelet winner ever. She leads the all-time live money list for Norway, having won over $3.7 million in her tournament career.Both Obrestad and Poker Royalty expressed excitement for the deal.“I am thrilled to announce I am officially signed to Poker Royalty,” Obrestad said. “I am relying on them to help me advance my poker career to the next level.”“Annette is without question one of the biggest names in poker,” said Jim Erwood, Poker Royalty’s director of European operations, “and certainly one of the top few females in the world playing the game today.”
