Poker Writer
Shiina Okamoto and Annette Obrestad made deep runs at the WSOP Europe Main Event, both finishing in the top 40 out of 2,617 entries. The last two women who were left in the event are both bracelet winners and among the more recognizable women in poker. They both made headlines on Day 4 of the premier event of WSOP Europe in Prague.
Obrestad eventually finished in 35th place and Okamoto in 37th, each taking home €40,000 for their efforts.
Return of the Youngest Ever Champion
Obrestad received the bulk of the attention, as the winner of the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event. She was making surprise a return to poker after a long absence, and looking for her first WSOP cash since 2018.
The Norwegian is now 37 years old, but was noteworthy in part for her young age when she first burst onto the scene in 2007, winning that famous bracelet at just 18 years of age. Not only was she the first woman to win a WSOP Main Event, but she is still the youngest ever bracelet winner. It’s a difficult record for anyone to match, let alone beat, as most bracelet events take place in the U.S., where the minimum age to participate is 21.
Obrestad began shrinking away from the poker world almost as quickly as she entered it. Starting very soon after that win, she began reducing her volume over the years, eventually stepping away entirely in 2018. She pursued other interests such as a YouTube makeup channel and competitive Scrabble. She did not play any competitive poker for almost nine years until a couple of smaller tournaments at the start of 2026.
But this year, she decided it was time to return, and what a return it was. The WSOP posted a tribute to her comeback after she’d extended her Main Event run into Day 4.
Okamoto’s Bid For Third Bracelet Crushed By Cooler
Okamoto was the other woman who was alive on Day 4 of the WSOP Europe Main Event. The two-time back-to-back WSOP Ladies Event winner, who is often undervalued by GPI rankings, continued her hot 2025 when she won another ladies event at EPT Barcelona in September. Her surge in results led to increased popularity and landed her a sponsorship deal with GTO Wizard.
She was looking to push toward the final table and eventually aim for her first open field bracelet. But the Japanese player’s run came to an end in a brutal way. After making a sizable river bet, her opponent jammed all in to force her to put the rest of her stack in, which she did with a call. Her pocket aces were cracked by her opponent’s jack-ten suited hand that had hit quad jacks on the runout.
Okamoto went on X to share a WSOP video of the hand with crying emojis posted to express the sting of losing in such a manner so deep in the tournament.
Field Down to 25 Players
The Main Event field in Prague set a record for the most entries in a €5,000 buy-in event, with 2,617. After four days of play, the field is now down to 25 players. The winner will be decided in the next two days of play and will receive €2 million.
Finnish player Hengtao Zhu leads the chip counts entering the penultimate day of play. American high-roller Chris Hunichen is still alive with the ninth-largest stack, as is the 2023 WSOP Main Event runner-up Steven Jones with the tenth-place stack.m
