Annette Obrestad

From the moment she started playing online at the age of 15 right up to her final victorious hand at the WSOPE, Annette Obrestad only knew one style of play: aggressive. But while experiencing a dry spell in 2008, she realised that having only one gear was too restrictive for the nuances of live play.

As of 2009, Obrestad has addressed the weaknesses in her deep-stack game with impressive results. In January she finished 21st out of 681 at the Aussie Millions and in April she just missed out on the final table of the EPT Grand Final. While soaking up the atmosphere at the World Series (she’s not old enough to play till next year), Annette explained the changes she’s made to her game…

ONLINE TO LIVE

When I started playing live I was basically playing the same style as I do online – super-crazy, constantly bluffing and three-bet shoving. It worked when I won the WSOPE but the style is really high variance.
Tournaments last for days and if you’re all-in once a day you will lose eventually. I constantly keep working on my game and try to learn from mistakes I’ve made, and I’ve stopped taking so many unnecessary risks. I’m definitely a better player now than when I won the WSOPE. I think I could have played better in London.

IMAGE

Other players still think I’m nuts, which is good because it means I get paid off on my big hands and can value-bet really light. The only thing that sucks is if I can’t get any hands at all, I’m screwed. I can’t make too many moves because people never give me credit for having a hand. I definitely wouldn’t try to move someone off top pair; I just get called down. It’s tough to play against.
If you have an image as a really aggressive player you shouldn’t be three-betting with too many hands because people will call you a lot and play back at you, but if you’re viewed as a really tight player that’s when you should be opening up your game. A lot of people aren’t good enough to mix it up though I guess.

LIMPING

I actually think limping is fine so long as you’re not the first one in the pot. If someone limps then I’ll often limp behind. If you limp after someone the pot will usually be three-way and you shouldn’t be put under as much pressure as heads-up because the guy won’t be continuation-betting as much. When I limp I have a wide range of hands. Just because the flop is King-high doesn’t mean I can’t have a big hand. I could have K-Q or a set.

SQUEEZING

Until recently people used to squeeze a lot and that was the cool thing to do because it made people fold. But that’s not the case any more, because everyone knows what you’re up to. If you squeeze now many opponents will play back at you and it becomes more of a levelling battle. This means the squeeze play has pretty much gone out the window.

PATIENCE

A lot of the online guys have started playing live now, which means the games are getting tougher and more aggressive in general. Even if I think someone’s reraising me really light, I don’t always want to play back at them because I know I’m going to have to risk a lot of chips to do so. I’d rather fold that one time and wait for a better spot.
I’ve played so many huge pots in tournaments before when I didn’t have to. I three-bet a guy with J-T suited from the blinds in one tournament and he four-bet me back. I was super-sure he didn’t have anything and all of a sudden I was all-in for 200 big blinds with J-T suited! Sometimes you have to make those moves to let people know you’re capable, but it’s really stupid to risk that much. People are just much better at tournament strategy now.

VALUE-BETTING

Value-betting is so important because you want to make sure your range is balanced. If you’re on the river and your opponent knows you will only value-bet with the nuts or as a bluff it’s far easier to play against than if you are capable of value-betting middle pair. You want to be able to represent marginal hands when you’re value-betting or bluffing and not just really strong hands.
If your opponents are really good this strategy of range-balancing is essential. But if people aren’t so advanced it doesn’t really mean anything. If you’re playing stupid players then keep it simple and just bet bluffs and the nuts.

BIGGEST LEAKS

The biggest mistake people make is calling way too much out of position. They say, ‘Oh, I had Q-J in the big blind and was getting good odds to call.’ Yeah, you had good odds preflop but what’s going to happen postflop? You’re going to be in a lot of trouble if a Jack flops and your opponent keeps betting. It’s stupid to play out of position like that as you’re going to have to give up on lots of pots.