At 1.30pm on 16 September 2007, nine players took their seats in London’s Casino at the Empire for the final table of the inaugural WSOP Europe main event. Over four exhausting days, the finalists had negotiated one of the toughest fields ever assembled, as the cream of the poker world vied for the first World Championship bracelet ever to be awarded outside of Las Vegas.

From the outset it was clear that the vast majority of support and attention was focused on the players in seats three and four: Welshman John Tabatabai and Norwegian internet prodigy Annette ‘Annette_15’ Obrestad.

Not only was chip-leader Tabatabai the most promising hope for a British victory, he was an exciting and fearless player who loved to pull off big moves.