What might have been a slow weekend in the poker world through Twitter exploded on Saturday with the news of Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad’s surprising move to Full Tilt Poker. Soon after the announcement, players burst with congratulations and a few challenges.
Obrestad, who is recognized as one of the top young players, both online and live, was excited about her new home. “So, as I’m sure some of u have seen already, My name is Finally in red on ftp! Sooo excited to be part of my favorite online site,” Obrestad Tweeted on Saturday after the announcement. Tournament director Matt Savage was one of the first to offer his congratulations to the Norwegian superstar: “@Annette_15 signs with Full Tilt, Congratulations on the new deal!.” “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott chimed in, “Congratulations @Annette_15 – You are phenomenal! Can’t wait to see what you do this year!”
Other players took the opportunity to offer their congratulations, along with a bit of a challenge for the inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion. “@Annette_15 congrats!,” Tweeted DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija, before adding, “Can’t wait to get my first t-shirt for busting your ass!! (JK I’m sure that will be an elusive shirt to get).” New teammate John Juanda was also pleased that Obrestad had joined the team because it gave him a new excuse at the tables: “Welcome to the FTP family, Annette! Next time I lose my chips to u, I can at least try2 claim 2 be team player!”
Twitter was also abuzz over the weekend over what some call the best weekend of poker on the internet. With the finale of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) and the beginning of PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) occurring on Sunday, top pros warmed their computers up for a day of action. For many in the poker playing world, there wasn’t much rejoicing, however.
Presenting an interesting thought for his followers, Makhija fired off a Tweet early Sunday that said, “At the gym gearing up for easily the biggest tournament weekend in online poker history. Ready to run like Joe Cada and Liv Boeree’s lovechild!” By the end of the day, however, he was less than enthused to report, “Day fell apart. 2 mincashes in 7 tournaments. Only left in the ftops main, super sigh. At least only lost a little on this mammoth Sunday.” There were several top players that felt Makhija’s pain.
“Horrible 1st day of SCOOP,” Tweeted Jon “PearlJammer” Turner. “Literally cashed 1 tourney all day (scoop $200) for $400. Had good stack in 2k, ran KK into AA, lost 14k on day.” Former World Poker Tour Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little had a similar day, “Got it in good in almost all the tournaments I played. Lost all of them. Yay for another -$5000 day.” Joe Sebok noted the carnage when he Tweeted, “Always such change in player’s bravado between the pre-poker sunday mornings & the post-poker sunday nights. Online poker claims souls.”
One of the best exchanges of the week went to pro Liz Lieu and Savage. After Lieu tweeted about her workouts in London (“An afternoon jog through hyde park … passing by the royal guards”), Savage asked “The Poker Diva,” “Why all the exercise… are you trying to get down to 70 pounds?” Lieu cheerfully tweeted back to Savage, “It’s called staying fit, keeping healthy, and clearing the mind… something we all need. Ha!”
There are several contenders for the best Tweets of the weekend. Erik Seidel let his followers know through Twitter, “Honored to be in top 20 for the WSOP Tournament of Champions so far. 100% of any money I win in TOC will go to charity.” On Saturday, Annie Duke’s partner Joe Reitman came up with the jewel, “What sucks is I know what ppl in their 20s do on a Saturday nite in LA… but what the hell R u supposed 2 do if u R ovr 40?”
On tour in New York, UB.com sponsored pro and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian informed his followers, “Do u like black mold? Do u like bugs in your bed? Then the Rodeway Inn Kingston NY is for u!” Finally, Jean-Robert Bellande responded to last week’s Doyle Brunson Tweet by chirping, “Some of my fans/haters aren’t familiar with @TexDolly sense of humor and believed the joke about the hooker and the head-ache. LMAO. Wow!”
