Just about everyone knows the story of last year’s World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. In the first year that the event was held, one PocketFiver proved to herself and the entire poker world that she belonged in the same breath with the industry’s elite. In fact, this weekend she’s battling Doyle Brunson in a heads-up match in London. Her name is Annette Annette_15 Obrestad, who pocketed £1 million for winning the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event. On Saturday, the action kicks off once again in the £10,350 buy-in tournament. Deep in the fray will be PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who joins us this week on the Podcast to discuss WSOPE coverage.

The WSOP Europe Main Event comes just two months after the final cards were dealt in Las Vegas in the WSOP Main Event. That tournament is currently on a 100 day break and will pick up again on November 9th for the final table. In the middle of the lull, the WSOP Europe will be played. Harrington comments on the timing: “I’m interested to see what the dynamic is going to be with the WSOP November Nine and the World Series of Poker still going on. Harrah’s has done such a good job branding the WSOP Europe and is making it a huge event as well. Now with the final table being put on hiatus, it’ll be interesting to see what marketing activities they’ll be doing to bring the November Nine to the WSOP Europe… for one big event.”

At the Rio, the site of the American WSOP, a player’s experience was vastly improved over previous years. More restrooms, new playing areas, and a wider variety of food were just some of the changes that tournament officials made. What can you expect in London, the site of the WSOP Europe? Harrington comments, “Last year, the WSOP Europe had a lot of challenges because the casinos there are much smaller. They spread last year’s event out over three casinos. There were a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong and instead everything went smoothly overall. This year, all of the events will be held inside the Casino of the Empire rather than having people running all over.”

PocketFivers and online poker players alike have had a bevy of success in recent World Poker Tour events. Vivek Psyduck Rajkumar just won the WPT Borgata Poker Open and several PocketFivers had outstanding showings in the Legends of Poker. It’s virtually certain that online players, many of whom are versed in playing in the live arena, will be out in force in London. Harrington comments on their recent success, “All of these guys have adapted to the live game a little bit quicker than the live game has adapted to them. Right now, they’re starting to shine and have an edge on the field.”

Harrington has been to tournaments around the world broadcasting the progress of online players in major live events. His position has taken him to three continents. We asked him what differences he’s seen in tournaments around the world. His answer: “Once you get into the tournament, there are not as many differences as you might expect. It is interesting getting to meet people as you travel from location to location. All around, everyone in the poker world seems to be on top of their game. Everyone is doing the best for the game and getting rid of the backroom stereotype of poker.”

Harrington has four WSOP cashes to his name for a grand total of $42,174. He finished 14th in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament this year. He also finished 22nd in the World Poker Challenge during Season V of the World Poker Tour for $11,391. He described his current poker regime: “I still like to play, but not to the point where I want to put myself in $10,000 buy-in events all the time. Because I travel around, I really don’t have a lot of time to put myself into big live tournaments. I transitioned into playing mostly cash games. I don’t have any intention of playing full-time anytime soon.”

Check out the rest of Harrington’s interview by downloading this week’s PocketFives.com Podcast, which is also available on iTunes. For the latest WSOPE coverage, visit PocketFivesLive.com.