Perhaps the player with the most pressure headed into the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is newly minted Full Tilt Pokerpro Annette Annette_15Obrestad. The winner of the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event, Obrestad will make her Las Vegas debut this year and has all eyes focused squarely on her. Obrestad even appears in the top 50 in voting for the WSOP Tournament of Champions, an event only open to bracelet winners. On top of that, she won last weekend’s running of the PokerStarsSunday 500 for $87,000. We visited with Annette a few days before the 2010 WSOP kicks off to get her thoughts on competing in Las Vegas along with her continued success at the online poker tables.
PocketFives.com: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on your Sunday 500 win. The final table of the $530 buy-in tournament featured Christian charderHarder (pictured at left), PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner Harrison gibler123Gimbel, and jdpc27, who sits at #86 in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings. Talk about some of your competition.
Annette Obrestad: Honestly, I didn’t know many of them, but soon realized they were all pretty good. Obviously, I knew charder and have played with him a quite a bit, but the others I either thought their names looked familiar or didn’t know them at all. I wish I had been following who is doing well online these days because I think it would have helped me.
PocketFives.com: This has to be a well-timed momentum boost the week before the 2010 WSOP kicks off from Las Vegas.
Annette Obrestad: Yeah for sure. I’m super excited. I just hope I can live up to everyone’s expectations and not disappoint. It’s definitely a possibility that I won’t even cash in any events. It would suck, but there’s so much variance in tournaments that I don’t want to walk around and tell everyone I’m winning a bracelet or think I’m going to crush. Whatever happens, happens. I do feel like I’m on top of my game and my confidence is high, so I won’t be surprised if I at least made a few deep runs or a couple of final tables.
PocketFives.com: Is it tough to know that you’re expected to win a bracelet?
Annette Obrestad: I can’t do more than make sure I play my best and don’t get distracted by everything going on around me. I don’t even know what it’s going to be like to wake up early every day for over a month and play live poker. I have no idea if I'll get burnt out or enjoy it as much as I think I will. This year being my first WSOP is a big disadvantage.
PocketFives.com: Tell us what the media whirlwind has been like leading up to your first WSOP on U.S. soil?
Annette Obrestad: It seems like every magazine, poker site, and radio show wants me to do an interview with them. It’s been very hectic over the last month. It’s mostly just been standard questions like, “Are you looking forward to your first WSOP?” and “What are your expectations?” A Norwegian TV show is actually going to do a documentary with me during the WSOP Main Event, so they'll be there filming for a while.
PocketFives.com: Tell us more about this Norwegian television series.
Annette Obrestad: I really want to try to paint a better picture of poker in general for the public back home since they all just think it’s gambling and luck. I feel like it’s my responsibility to do so, as I am the most well known Norwegian player at the moment and also have a lot of media experience, so maybe I won’t choke like a lot of others who have tried to do the same. As long as they don’t stick a camera in my face 24/7, I think I'll be able to deal with it.
PocketFives.com: We’ve noticed you’ve been doing the tour of various poker tournaments and cash games in Las Vegas.
Annette Obrestad: I really love Vegas and can’t wait to put in lots of volume live for once. I’m working on getting an apartment at the moment so I don’t have to stay at hotels during the whole WSOP. I think that will help me feel more relaxed in between events.
PocketFives.com: Has the Full Tilt Poker sponsorship been everything you expected it to be since departing from Betfair?
Annette Obrestad: I couldn’t be happier about it! I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be when I wear the Full Tilt logo. The fact that a site sponsors me that I actually enjoy playing on and has a lot of games to choose from helps a lot. I also get along with most of the Full Tilt pros, so it’s been very easy to blend in.
PocketFives.com: Finally, can you give us the state of your game?
Annette Obrestad: I know my game isn’t perfect, but I don’t think I'm making a ton of mistakes. I guess I need to learn how to deal better with “aggro stations” as I call them, as I'm sure I'll be playing against a lot of them in WSOP events. I have a really hard time playing against calling stations who also bet and raise a lot. They just give me a headache.