APAT MAG LAUNCHES
HERE COME
THE PROS
THUMBS UP AS
SEASON 4 DETAILS ANNOUNCED
WIN FREE SEATS
UKIPT
14
Contents
06
40
Features
Regular
P6: Season 4 Announced
P5: Editorial
APAT announce details of Season 4.
P8: Steve Redfern
We speak to Stever Redfern; Season 3 National Rankings winner, UK Amateur Champion and English International.
P10: Mayvellous!
APAT catch up with Season 4 APAT.tv hostess Maylis Boardman.
P14: UK Team Championship
The final event of Season 3; the UK Team Championship has been won by Team APAT. Read the official tournament report to find out how they did it!
P36: APAT UKIPT Competition Enter our competion to win 2 £550 seats at the DTD leg in May.
P44: Brian Yates
We speak to Brian Yates; Season 3 Online National Rankings winner, Irish Amateur Champion, Welsh Online Champion and English International.
As Season 4 details are announced, we look at why ‘bigger is better’ for APAT.
P14: Live Championship
The latest results and previews of APAT’s Amateur Championship, Professional League and Specialist Series events.
P34: Poker Circuit
The latest news from the UK tournament circuit, in association with uk.PokerNews. com including your chance to win 2 seats at a £500 UKIPT event at Dusk Till Dawn.
P36: Online Preview
We preview the Online Season; which will feature a series of Online Championship events and the return of the National Online League.
P42: Bayliff Collects!
Season 2 Online Rankings winner Steve Bayliff has made the perfect start to Season 4 by winning the Welsh Online Championship.
Editorial Of the new initiatives, we’re very excited to introduce the APAT Professional League, an open series that will welcome professional players to APAT. There are a couple of reasons why we believe the Professional League should be included. Firstly, our own members are developing their game at a tremendous pace. It makes sense for APAT to continue their upward development with the introduction of a higher level series to bridge the gap between our very successful Amateur Tour and the GUKPT, EPT and WSOP. Secondly, we at APAT believe we have a lot to offer the professional game. We’re delighted that we can now bring high quality registration free tournaments to this market, with fantastic value and an organisational experience that will not be found wanting. If playing a professional level event is of interest to you, then check out our competition on page 36, where 2 x £550 seats to the Dusk Till Dawn leg of the UKIPT are up for grabs.
Bigger is better!
Welcome to the launch issue of APAT‘s quarterly magazine. This is just one of the initiatives that we are delivering for APAT members in what we believe, will be a very exciting fourth season. The seasonal announcement will be covered off in more detail on pages 6 and 7, but there are a couple of things I’d like to briefly mention. First of all, we welcome Betfair as our headline partner in 2010. Betfair have a rich heritage in live event sponsorship; having successfully hosted Betfair Live events previously and most notably in their high profile sponsorship of the World Series of Poker Europe. These guys know their poker and are very passionate about the game. APAT will be a key focus for them in 2010 and that’s good news for members. Betfair are bringing a tremendous amount of value to the tour and they support the APAT ethos of player development and fair play 100%.
APAT tv will live steam a lot of our Amateur and Professional Championship events throughout the season and we’re looking forward to building the profile of our players even further through that medium. Our thanks go to the team at TheNutz.tv for their help in this endeavour. Finally, APAT Magazine is here to offer our members a regular look at what is happening across our growing list of properties. We hope you like it and will forward it to as many of your friends as possible and encourage them to join. APAT is growing, and that growth enables the organisation to negotiate the very best deals on your behalf, which is why we’ll offer even greater value in season 4. That strategy has changed the face of the amateur game in the UK and we’re looking to continue our upward momentum. There isn’t anything quite like APAT anywhere else in the poker world - so let’s continue to make waves! Until the next issue - enjoy your poker. Des Duffy Managing Director, APAT des@apat.com http://www.apat.com
Here come the pros as APAT goes continental in season 4... Betfair Partner APAT Pro League Added Specialist Series Added European Legs Added £40k Sponsorship Added 33 GUKPT Seats Added APAT Magazine Launched APAT tv To Stream Events
The Amateur Poker Association & Tour have released details for season 4 of their critically acclaimed tour and the highlights are as follows: New Tour Sponsor: Betfair.com will become the headline sponsor of APAT in Season 4; in a partnership that will bring a tremendous amount of additional value and opportunity for APAT members. Betfair.com will exclusively host all APAT National Championship and National League fixtures online, and satellites for APAT’s live schedule of tournaments. Added Value: The tour will offer APAT members the chance to win thirty three seats to GUKPT main events and twenty three seats to APAT Professional League tournaments. In addition, each of the season’s seventy five amateur, professional and online tournaments will be run completely registration free for players. APAT live tournament events will now typically comprise three events.
Amateur Championship: APAT’s core schedule will feature seventeen international amateur ranking events including three stops in continental Europe; in Austria, Estonia and Spain, with the undoubted highlight being the seven event World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP) at Dusk Till Dawn in August, which will feature the debut of the sixteen country World Amateur Team Championship, plus Heads Up, Six Max, Stud, Omaha and HORSE Championship events, in addition to the 414 runner World Amateur Poker Championship main event. Professional League: The PL will feature seven events capped at fifty players utilising a deep Pot Limit Hold’em structure, which will bring skill to the fore. Featuring a registration free buy in of £250, each event will have a GUKPT main event seat added for the winner and be open to APAT amateur and professional members and be played on a Saturday alongside the Amateur Championship event.
Specialist Series: A six event series in mixed poker disciplines, capped at 50 players. Featuring a registration free buy in of £25 with added value seats to APAT Professional League events for the winners of each leg and played on a Sunday alongside the Amateur Championship event. Online Championship: Ten Championship events with a $50 buy in, each with added GUKPT seats for the winners, plus ten Omaha side events with a $20 buy in; each with added value seats to the APAT Professional League. National Online League: Three divisions featuring thirty poker clubs from cities across the United Kingdom and Ireland offering fantastic prizes including seats to GUKPT, APAT Professional and APAT Amateur Championship events for winning teams. Sponsorship Packages: The winner of the Professional League will win a £20,000 APAT sponsorship package for 2011. In addition, the winners of the Online and National Amateur Rankings will join the 17 Amateur Champions from season 4 and the player with the most points finishes across Amateur and Online events, to compete in the APAT
Champions Final, to play for a second APAT £20,000 sponsorship package in 2011. This event will be held in February 2011 and venue details will be announced closer to that time. Increased Profile: A number of APAT Amateur and Professional Championship events will be streamed live through APAT tv during season 4 while reports from APAT live and online events will appear in APAT Magazine, which will be launched this month and distributed to over 20,000 APAT members online. Des Duffy; Managing Director of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour, commented “APAT launched the UK’s first national poker tour in 2006 and it has become a proving ground for new and developing players, with members winning WSOP, EPT and GUKPT titles, amongst many others. This partnership with Betfair Poker brings a well-known and respected brand to APAT, as well as a tremendous amount of additional value and opportunity for our members”. Matt Mowlam, Head of UK Poker for Betfair Poker added, “Our tie-up with APAT signals our commitment to grass roots poker. APAT are a professionally run, fun tour, and one that has been keenly
contested by thousands of players in the three seasons to date. This partnership offers something to all players from across the Poker spectrum, who previously may not have been able to enjoy Betfair’s famed Live Event hospitality. It’s great for both parties and I’m looking forward to another record breaking season.” The season starts with the Welsh Amateur Poker Championship at Aspers Casino in Swansea on March 20th & 21st. In addition, the first leg of the Professional League will be played on March 20th, while the first leg of the Specialist Series will be played on the 21st - with play in all tournaments starting at 2.30pm sharp. The next leg of the tour will take place at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, where the UK Amateur Poker Championship, Professional League and Specialist Series will be run over April 17th & 18th. Live satellite qualifying will be available on Betfair from Monday March 8th at 8pm, with the direct buy in available on Thursday March 11th, at 9pm.
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BY FIRST LAST NAME IMAGES BY LAST NAME
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Meet the members:
Season 3 National Rankings Winner: Steve Redfern APAT Magazine: Congratulations on your Season 3 APAT Rankings win Steve. How do you look back on the season now? Steve Redfern: To be honest, even so long after the final event ended, it still hasn’t really sunk in. I set my poker objectives at the start of 2009, one of which was to make day two of an APAT national event - and I would have been happy just to have achieved that much! Having got there in the very first round, every thing that came after was just unbelievable. I love playing live poker, more so in APAT events than any other, and to have achieved such success in 2009 is an incredible feeling. AM: Of course the highlight for you was your win in the UK Amateur Championships at Walsall. Yet you also achieved a number of other good APAT results such as an APAT Omaha final table didn’t you?
SR: I learned an awful lot about myself and live poker back in January 2009 when I read Gus Hansen’s book, Every Hand Counts. Prior to reading this, my live poker usually consisted of me sitting for hours folding everything but Aces and Kings, (although not long before that in Cardiff in season 2, I even managed to incorrectly fold KK preflop). After reading Gus’s book, I deliberately adopted a new style of play, trying hard to identify and exploit weakness, generally attacking anything that moved, and understanding that in the right position, any two cards are good enough. I guess I also learned to accept that it was forgivable to bust out early in the right circumstance, and that scraping to dinner breaks was not the sign of success I had previously thought it to be. Throughout last season, I played to win each and every tournament from its very first hand (and still managed to make every dinner break!).
SR: Walsall sits up there as the principal highlight, but to have done well in Omaha was a bit special - that was my first time ever playing Omaha live, as anyone at my table would have noticed when I had trouble squeezing out so many hole cards, and then having to keep checking what I had, as my memory didn’t seem able to cope with four cards! That said, the absolute highlight of the year for me was representing my country in the European team event. Like most kids, I spent my younger years dreaming of representing England - I just never appreciated it would be in poker that I would realise that dream. Taking a medal home from that event will make for great stories for the grandchildren in a few years.
AM: Any tips for those still searching for those elusive medals?!
AM: What do you put your Season Three success down to? A particular style of play?
AM: Take us back to the final rankings event, the European Team Championship at Luton in November. It went down to the wire didn’t it?
SR: Firstly, APAT medals are great, but in my opinion, just being able to take part in an APAT event is greater. The APAT tournament payout structures are so top heavy, and the medals and trophies are the target rather than the cash, which means that tactics from the outset should always to be go for the win. I see a lot of people in APAT events clinging on for the money, or for the occasional ladder steps in the payouts, and I guess that in a standard tournament this is usually the correct play to maximise ROI. However, in APAT events, I believe it is important to largely ignore the money factor and play for the silverware!
SR: It certainly did!! My Dad was really ill at that time, and just before setting off for Luton, I saw him for what turned out to be one of the last times. He was so proud that I was playing for England, and having become an avid supporter since Walsall, he was rooting hard for me to win the individual rankings title. Knowing how ill he was, and that time was short, I was so desperate to finish at the top of the rankings for him. When I was knocked out, it was a hard blow, and then the way the second day panned out with Brian Martin and Andy Duncan going deep and scoring points to chase me down in the rankings, my fingernails took some severe punishment. I’m just glad that Dad was able to share my rankings victory, and I know that he was proud - I dedicate this rankings title to his memory. AM: I assume you’ll be an active participant in Season 4? What would you say to those players who haven’t tasted APAT live events yet? Why should they try to play? SR: For people new to the live game, who may feel intimidated by the whole casino live poker experience, they could not find a better atmosphere to learn to play in than an APAT event. Secondly, most people, especially those just starting out in live poker, may not have a bankroll sufficiently bulging to buy in to tournaments with decent structures - the typical £10 casino rebuy is ok, but to be able to participate in a 200 runner, 2 day tournament, with a large starting stack and a reasonable clock, all for just £75 is amazing! Personally I can’t wait for season 4 to start. My wife knows that weekends away will be guaranteed again this year, and that on occasion, APAT events will get put before other things in life. I just need to make sure I cash again to keep things sweet at home!
Mayvellous! Maylis Boardman to host APAT tv online coverage
Maylis Boardman Interview
In an exciting development, the majority of APAT Championship events in season 4 will be streamed live through APAT tv. Taking up the baton as hostess is Preston’s Maylis Boardman (pictured left at APAT English Amateur Championship), a young lady with a sense of fun and a keen interest in the game. We caught up with Maylis to learn a little about her and her expectations for her debut season with APAT. APAT Magazine: Hi Maylis, welcome to the APAT community! Maylis Boardman: Thank you! I am really looking forward to becoming part of the APAT team. Everyone I have met at APAT so far is very warm and friendly, there is a real community feel which I love. I am from a big family; the eldest of 5 children - all poker players - and we have always got on really well, so I understand the value or being part of a group of people who support each other.
AM: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for fun? MB: I am naturally a social person so it is always a pleasure to make new friends and to experience new things. I am also a naturally optimistic, vivacious person so I am really passionate about the things I choose to do. I love surprises and not knowing what is going to happen. Spontaneity and variety is much more important to me than security and predictability. To be honest I’m either really lazy or really motivated, there is rarely an in-between for me. I generally only do things I want to do and because I am a perfectionist, I like the do those things well. I was brought up spending a lot of time in Portugal; I have friends and family who live there so I go quite often. I love everything about the country; the culture, the people, the food, the weather and because we have been going for such a long time it feels like home from home for me there.
For fun I suppose I am a typical 20 something year old girl. I like going out with friends, watching movies, going out for meals, going on holiday, going to the Casino and playing poker! I am also really interested in health and beauty. I have a whole room dedicated to all my clothes, make up, hair products, nail varnish, and various beauty lotions and potions. I try to look after myself and go to the gym 4 times a week. I also do Pilates which I really enjoy. AM: You also have a serious side? MB: In mid 2009 I graduated with a degree in psychology. I find this subject really interesting as I am fascinated by the complexity of the human mind. I am really interested in the study of people and how they come to make their conscious and unconscious decisions. Early last year I started two companies with my dad and my brother, which I am now working hard to expand and develop. I love being self employed and it gives me
the freedom and the flexibility to do all the other amazing things that life throws at me, or that take my fancy. AM: You mentioned earlier in the interview that you’re a poker player! MB: Yes one of my main passions in life is poker. I have played card games for as long as I can remember. When we were children we would play card games often as a family. I only really started playing poker when I was 16. At college we used to have long gaps between lessons (like 3 or 4 hours) so we used to play cards. At that time it was before Hold’em was really popular in this country so we used to play 5 card draw. We didn’t have any chips so we used to play using little salt and pepper packets. My friend who is about 4 years older than me went to university in America. When he came back for the summer he said; ‘we definitely shouldn’t be playing 5 card draw we should be playing Texas Hold’em. It’s huge in America and its going to
be huge here soon’. So we started playing Hold’em. After we had all being playing together for about a year one friend suggested we try playing at the Casino. We went to Castle Casino in Blackpool for the £10 rebuy, and from then on I was hooked. Looking back we were not good players and a £10 rebuy game is a pretty harsh game to learn a lot of lessons. But we didn’t know any different and we loved it. I was lucky because the Casino was really friendly and some of the more experienced players helped me improve my game. I also read books, and played online. For about 18 months I played around 4 nights a week in the Casinos around Blackpool and Lytham. The tournaments I mainly used to play were £30 freezeouts and £5 and £10 rebuy games.
busy at University, so I had a lot less time and money to play poker. But I still loved it and played as often as I could. As I was doing my degree in psychology I wanted to do my dissertation looking at some aspect of psychology in poker. It worked out really well as the head of psychology at UCLan was also a poker
at the G in Blackpool. I also played the £100 headhunter event as part of the GUKPT Blackpool which I final tabled. I got knocked out 9th as my AA got cracked when 99 hit runner runner to make a straight, which I was pretty upset about [laughs]. I am also playing in a local league which I am currently second in, with one leg to go. I do still really enjoy the lower level games because I have a lot of friends who play poker and the game is obviously a lot more relaxed and fun when you are playing at a lower level. I still enjoy going to the Casino for a game on a Friday night as an alternative to clubbing. But these games are just for fun these days. I think if I really want to improve my game i have to play in tournaments with a proper structure and concentrate properly. I also try and watch a lot of live streaming of big professional games to pick of tips and tricks off the pros. I went to London in September to watch some of the WSOPE which was great. I have also kept in touch with a couple of the professional players who participated in my dissertation and they have been kind enough to help me improve my game.
“I found the local casino games frustrating”
AM: I understand you’ve played on TV? MB: Yes, during that time I qualified online to play in a televised competition for Interpoker extreme poker. I represented the North West. It was great. I got to take 4 friends to a TV Studio in Birmingham, with an expenses paid hotel stay. I had to play in 2 competitions. The first was the ‘extreme’ challenge. I had to play heads up in the back of a 4x4 on an off road track. The driver was purposely driving really erratically so the chips were flying everywhere. The rule was that any chips you dropped, you lost. Fortunately I managed to keep hold of most of my chips and won the heads up challenge when I made trip jacks. There were cameras pointing at me from every angle in the back of the 4x4 so it was pretty embarrassing watching it when it came on TV, but it was all in good fun. The second part was in the TV Studio, on a proper televised poker table with undertable cameras. There was also an audience behind. First prize was entry into the WSOP and entry into the PCA. Unfortunately I didn’t win, but had a great time and I really enjoyed the experience. When I was 22 my circumstances changed. I moved out of the family home so my outgoings were higher and I was
player and he actually plays regularly with APAT. As a poker player, he also agreed to be my dissertation tutor. AM: So how did your dissertation work out? MB: My tutor and I developed a study examining lie and truth detection accuracy to determine whether there would be any differences between non poker players, novice players, intermediate players, and expert players. In January 2009 I went to the Brighton leg of the GUKPT to try and recruit some expert players for my study. Some of the professional players who kindly participated were; Praz Bansi, Ian Frazer, Jeff Kimber, Michael Greco, Dave Colclough, Roberto Romanello, Andy ‘Greekfish’, Paul Zimbler, Marc Goodwin, and Micky Wernick to name a few. The results of the study found that accuracy did increase with expertise. AM: And you continued to play after University? MB: Once I graduated in July I wanted to get back into playing a lot more, like I used to. My game has grown up a lot now. So rather than playing a lot of the fast low buy in tournaments which were just for fun, I am trying to play competitions that have a higher buy in and a better structure. Since I graduated I have played the APAT English Amateur Championship. I regularly play the monthly £100 deepstack competition
AM: How did you find your APAT experience in Bolton? MB: The way I play is suited to deepstack, long level games, so I found the local Casino games frustrating as there isn’t enough room for mixing your play. Out of frustration I even bought a book called the Tournament Formula to help me adapt my game to faster blinds with fewer chips. I think a lot of players felt like this, but unless you can afford to buy into the pro events there was never a lot of choice. I think this is really the brilliance of APAT and why is has grown and become so popular, and well respected so quickly. I had heard a lot about APAT and was always interested in playing, but every time I tried the seats had always sold out. For the English Amateur Championship I made sure I knew when seats went on sale so I could guarantee my place. Because I bought in a month in advance it gave me chance to really look forward
to the competition. APAT has got a very good reputation for being well organised, having a great structure and an amazing atmosphere. When I went to play the competition in Bolton, APAT defiantly did not disappoint. At the start I found myself playing like I would in the fast, low stacked games that I am used to. After about 2 hours I had built up my stack to more than double the average. Then I did something stupid. In my haste, I basically didn’t think a move through and made a bad read. I lost more than half my stack on a bluff. It was at that point that I sat back and thought ‘what am I doing? I didn’t even need to play that hand’. From there I slowed down a lot and adjusted my game accordingly. I really enjoyed the tournament but only managed to last until around the end of the first day. After playing in APAT I was inspired to play less of the frequent fast level comps and more of the long level deepstack competitions. AM: Turning our attention to APAT tv, are you looking forward to becoming a regular fixture on the tour? MB: Yes, I’m really excited in the build up to Season 4. It is an amazing compliment for me that APAT have asked me to take the position of hostess. I have always said that one of the things that I love most about being involved in poker is meeting so many new people. I am really looking forward to meeting lots of APAT members. I also love to travel and visit new places, so I am really looking forward to visiting different cities as part of the tour. AM: You’ll have to listen to bad beats in interviewing exiting players you know! MB: [Laughs] As a poker player myself I understand the pain of a ‘bad beat’, especially when it has just happened. I have just subjected the APAT readers to my bad beat at the GUKPT so I guess it’s only fair that I share in their pain!
AM: What do you hope to gain from this experience? MB: This is something completely new for me and hopefully I will be able to maintain the high standards and uphold APAT’s flawless reputation. Poker is most defiantly my passion and it has been since the first time I played in the Casino. I play, read, watch, talk and think poker. Being part of APAT will help me to be more involved in the UK, European and World poker circuit so that is something which is really valuable to me as part of this learning experience.
AM: Finally, what message do you have for APAT members who’ll be looking forward to meeting you throughout the season? MB: I am really looking forward to meeting and getting to know you all. Through this article, members will have learnt a little about me so I am looking forward to getting the chance to meet and talk to a lot of you at tournaments. So if you see me in the poker room, please come and say ‘Hi’ and introduce yourself.
Team APAT
Win UK Team Championship Team APAT Wins UK Title
The APAT United Kingdom Team Championship was held at the G Casino in Manchester on January 23rd / 24th, 2010. The format saw 20 poker communities from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland compete for the prestigious title in a 10,000 chip, 160 runner, multi-table freeze-out, with a 45 minute clock. As with all APAT events, the UK Team Championship was registration free for members and this event had a £50 buy in per player. Points were awarded to the top forty finishers to determine the outcome of the Team Championship. The prize money was split equally between the Team and Individual Championship. In addition, the owner of the winning Team received an added prize of £1,000 and the Championship Cup, while the winner of the Individual Championship received an entry to a GUKPT main event and the Championship Gold Medal. These added value prizes were courtesy of tour sponsor Blue Square Poker. The seat draw was made so as to ensure teammates were kept apart at the outset and by mid evening on the first day the team best placed, with six out of their team of eight remaining, was Newcastle Poker Forum whilst
the first team to see all of its team exit was ChezGer. Remarkably, the first player out of this year’s event was the individual winner of the 2009 Team Championship, Mary Martin. The end of day one chip leaders, with 31 players remaining, were: Billy Wallace (Punters Lounge) 114,000 Wayne Parker (APAT) 106,300 Patrick Kelly (Bristol & South West Meetup) 103,000 Johnel Bracey (London Poker Meetup) 89,800 Dominic Marley (NI Poker) 84,400
The end of day one team leaders were: NI Poker 41 APAT 33 Newcastle Poker Forum 26
The key hand that led to Johnel Bracey from London entering the final table as a huge chip leader occurred on the final table bubble when his button Ace-King out-flopped Stuart Oliver’s Pocket Queens. Final table chip counts were as follows: Chris Baylis EatMyStack 202,900 David Thompson Sky 139,000 Wayne Parker APAT 114,800
Billy Wallace Punters Lounge 121,400 Johnel Bracey London Poker MeetUp 487,500 Ed DeBaes The Hendon Mob 211,400 Andy Ducrose UKPoker Info 155,800 David Stephenson Newcastle Poker 89,000 Gary Peniket The Hendon Mob 79,000
The overall team result was resolved before the final table with a victory for Team APAT captained by Leigh Wiltshire, with top twenty finishes for Stuart Oliver and Steve Redfern adding to Parker’s final table, which secureed the points required for victory. Second were The Hendon Mob while Newcastle Poker Forum were a very credible third. First out on the final table was Andy Ducrose after nearly ninety minutes of play when his push with pocket Twos met the pocket Kings of Ed DeBaes. In eighth was Wayne Parker, his Ace-Jack outdrawn by Johnel Bracey’s King-Nine. Sky Poker’s David Thompson was next to depart, shoving Seven-Eight in the small blind when folded to him, only for Billy Wallace to find Aces in the big blind. Wallace then took out Chris Baylis in sixth, KingQueen versus Ace-Eight and he had by now moved into the chip-lead. Johnel Bracey eliminated Gary Peniket in fifth, with pocket Sevens against Ace-Five before he also knocked out Ed DeBaes in fourth, with Queen-Jack suited against King-Queen, the Jack falling on the flop. Bracey himself exited in third. with pocket Sevens against Wallace’s Queen-Jack. Wallace flopped a straight and Bracey turned a set to ensure the chips found their way into the middle. Billy Wallace and David Stephenson began Heads-Up even in chips. However the conclusion was swift. Wallace pushed with King-ten suited, Stephenson called with Queen-Jack suited and Wallace flopped a King to take the individual honour. Billy Wallace representing Punters Lounge thus won the Individual portion of the APAT UK Team Champiopnship ahead of Newcastle Poker Forum’s David Stephenson. In addition to the title and a cash prize, Wallace also won the Championship Gold medal and a seat at a GUKPT main event.
The final result of the Team Championship 12 Sky Poker 37 13 FISO 29 was as follows: 13 15 16 17 18 19 20
Voyage In Poker 29 Furness Poker 25 Ace Of Clubs 23 Blonde Poker 19 A World Of Poker 16 PokerPlayer 14 Chezger 0
1 Team APAT 83 2 The Hendon Mob 73 3 Newcastle Poker Forum 71 4 NI Poker 68 5 Eat My Stack 57 6 Bristol & South West Poker Meetup 54 7 London Poker Meetup 50 The APAT UK Team Championships conclud8 UK Poker Info 47 9 Raise The River 46 ed APAT’s successful third season. 10 Punters Lounge 40 11 Black Country Poker Club 39 >Individual Winner: Billy Wallace, Punters Lounge
> Team APAT, the 2010 UK Team Champions Captain Leigh Wiltshire accepts the Championship Cup from Tournament Director, Sara. APAT Team from left to right: Andrew Duncan, Stuart Oliver, Will Young, Wayne Parker, Leigh Wiltshire, Steve Redfern, John Murray and Brendan Byrne.
GALLERY
* > David Stephenson, Newcastle Poker Forum UK Team Championship 2010
GALLERY > Johnel Bracey, London Poker Meetup UK Team Championship 2010
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> Stuart Ward European Amateur Champion 2009 > Derrick Andrews
Stuart Ward
Wins 2009 European Amateur Title The 2009 APAT European Amateur Poker Championships, in association with Blue Square Poker, was held at the G Casino Luton and attracted a field of 195 players from twelve countries including Poland, Hungary and Italy. At stake was a first prize of £3,500, ranking points towards the APAT National Amateur Rankings and, for the winner, added value of a seat into a GUKPT Main Event. First out was Warren Jackman with pocket Kings up against Hugh Nairnie’s pocket Aces whilst through the early levels John Miller from Accrington, an experienced festival player was the chip leader. Soon current APAT Welsh Amateur Champion Simon Auckland ran Ace-King into French International Franck Viollett’s Aces on a King high board. Meanwhile Stuart Ward took Queen-Six to knock out Michael Pemplomiak with Aces and reversed roles when he himself found Aces against Robyn O’Neille’s Queens, the combined effect of which was to propel Stuart towards the chip lead, alongside Derrick Andrews, regular APAT player John Murray and German International Silke Burghardt. The end of day one chip leaders, with 32 remaining and average stack 60,000 blinds 2000/4000 ante 300 were as follows: Derrick Andrews 177,500 John Murray 143,000 Stuart Ward 130,000 Paul Townsend 82,900 Silke Burghardt 80,000 These chip leaders would all final, with Derrick Andrews making significant progress through the first part of day two. Also at the head of the field, Stuart Ward
won a key pot with twelve players left. Leigh Wiltshire raised in the cut-off and Stuart moved all in from the small blind. Leigh called with Ace-King offsuit and Stuart turned over Ace-King of Spades. The flop brought Stuart the nut flush to eliminate Leigh and set Stuart up for what was to follow. Phil Cooklin then bubbled the final table shortly after his Ace-Queen was outdrawn by Silke Burghardt’s KingTen all-in pre-flop.
The final table line up was as follows: 1 Stuart Ward 350,000 2 Derrick Andrews 577,000 3 Richard Baker 108,000 4 Silke Burghardt 183,500 5 Alan McBride 183,000 6 Matt McKinlay 107,500 7 Stuart Fordham 81,000 8 John Murray 183,500 9 Paul Townsend 187,500 Blinds began the final at 6,000/12,000. Stuart Fordham knocked out Richard Baker in 9th, limping with pocket Jacks and calling after Baker pushed in the blinds with pocket Twos which received no help from the board. Fellow short-stack Matt McKinlay then pushed King-Queen offsuit and Paul Townsend was waiting with Aces in the big blind to send Matt out in 8th. Silke Burghardt finished seventh, exiting unluckily after flopping a set, and rivering a full house, losing to Stuart Fordham’s bigger full House. By this stage Ward and Andrews had the majority of the chips in play with the other four remaining players short-stacked. John Murray was knocked
out in 6th, having achieved his sixth cash in an APAT National Championship on his third final table. He took Ace-Queen suited against Townsend’s Pocket Eights, flopped an Ace but an eight also fell on the flop. Stuart Ward then knocked out Alan McBride, Ace-Queen against AceJack following McBride’s push into Ward’s big blind. Stuart Fordham was eliminated in fourth running pocket Sixes into Andrews’ Pocket Queens, followed by Paul Townsend leaving in third. King-Jack against Andrews’ Ace-Queen. Derrick Andrews began Heads Up with a 1.2m to 800,000 chip advantage over Ward. This was not to last long however as both players saw an unraised flop of 8-7-3. Andrews bet, Ward raised and Andrews then announced all-in. With by now roughly even chip stacks Ward faced a huge decision holding 9-7. He made a big call, and was rewarded when Andrews revealed a bluff with Ace-Five. Second pair held through the turn and river and Andrews was reduced to a micro-stack which he lost in the next hand. Thus Stuart Ward became the 2009 APAT European Amateur Poker Champion.
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* > Brendan Byrne, Republic of Ireland European Amateur Championship 2009
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> Stephan Kalhamer, Germany European Amateur Championship 2009
Poland Win 2009 European Amateur Team Championship Poland on top in thriller
The 2009 European Amateur Team Championship was held at the G Casino Luton as part of a four day APAT Festival and attracted international teams from twelve countries, each vying for the European Amateur Team title to succeed last year’s winners Ireland. This event was held over two days, with each of the teams comprising four players, battling it out over a series of 80 Six Max Sit & Go and Heads Up matches with points awarded according to finishing positions. Leading throughout the first day was the English team containing APAT National Champions Steve Redfern and Brian Yates, followed by France, Hungary and Poland. England were still leading after the afternoon matches on day two, leaving only two rounds of Six Max Sit & Go matches to come on the final evening. In these games though the English under-performed leaving the way clear for their closest competitors to come through. England would eventually finish third, for Championship Bronze. In an innovative feature of the Championship, Germany recorded the first APAT in play poker substitution when captain Stephan Kalhamer introduced Silke Burghardt against England’s Brian Yates at a crucial point in the match. The German woman repeated an earlier victory over her English opponent to delight a hugely enthused rail and dent England’s chances of the title. With two matches remaining France and Poland were neck and neck for the title, lev-
el on points and each had one player in the final two Heads-Up matches. If one player lost, whilst the player on the other team won, the title would be decided. In front of a huge railing section, Franck Viollett of France beat his German opponent. Now Arie Sinkewiecz of Poland had to beat England to take the event to a play off. After a tense match he achieved this, taking France and Poland into a three match heads up tie break to decide the Championship. In a rollercoaster finish, Poland achieved the two crucial wins, to secure the 2009 European Amateur Poker Team Championship title. The winners received a team prize of £3,200, Championship Cup and Gold medals, with France and England also receiving prize money and Silver and Bronze medals. The prize pool was augmented by generous added value from sponsors Blue Square Poker. The final result was as follows: Poland – 65 (Poland win play off ) France – 65 England – 57 Hungary – 55 Portugal – 55 Scotland – 52 Northern Ireland – 50 Germany – 49 Italy – 46 Wales – 44 Republic of Ireland – 38
> Marcin Rejmak, Polish Captain European Amateur Team Championship 2009
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Polska Wygryw Mistrzostwa E
The Polish team of Michal Pempkowiak, Marcin Rejmak (Captain), Arek Sinkiewicz and Ian Szerlowski won the 2009 European Amateur Team Championship in dramatic style, when beating France in a heads up playoff following two days and 80 matches of intense action at the G Casino in Luton. Eleven countries took part, with England taking the Bronze medal.
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> Poland win APAT European Amateur Team Championship 2009
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* > Fabio Ruini, Italy European Amateur Team Championship 2009
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> Franck Viollet, France European Amateur Team Championship 2009
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Many Heads Up! > German substitute Silke Burghardt defeats England’s Brian Yates European Amateur Team Championship 2009
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* > Gerard Harraghy, Northern Ireland European Amateur Team Championship 2009
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> Silke Burghardt, Germany European Amateur Team Championship 2009
Poker Circuit
in association with
Alan Lake Wins Big
Roland De Wolfe Poker at the Olympics?
Rodent Lands The Cheese Love may well have been in the air for long term APAT member Alan ‘RioRodent’ Lake, who took down the PokerStars Sunday Warm Up on Valentines Day. Alan beat 4,557 players to win a cherished Sunday major and a first prize of $142,980. Read more in Alan’s blog: http://riorodent.blogspot.com/
Jack Ellwood Wins FTOPS David Benyamine Wins Premier League Nick Jenkins of course is a popular member of APAT who came to prominence by winning the main event of the APAT World Championship of Amateur Poker at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in 2008.
Meanwhile, in a week of exceptional online results for APAT members, young Danny Laming took 2nd of 43,000 players in the Full Tilt ‘Big Little’ Tournament, to win $12,500 and the respect of a large rail on the APAT Forum. Roland De Wolfe Chops Les A London UK triple crown winner Roland De Wolfe has added another trophy to his cabinet, as he chopped the Mansion Poker Les A London at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in London. The £2,000 event had a £229,000 prize pool and De Wolfe was declared the winner after a 3 way deal with James Vogl and Nick Jenkins, all three men pocketing around £39,000.
UK Player Jack Ellwood wins FTOPS Main Event and UB $200,00 Guaranteed Amidst Controversy: UK player Jack Ellwood is currently one of the big talking points in online poker. Not only did the 24 year old from Newcastle recently come 2nd in the Pokerstars UKIPT Manchester for £37,500, last Sunday he had one of the biggest and craziest Sundays online ever. Not only did he win the Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed for $51,016.80 under the screen name ELLWOODINHO he also won the Full Tilt FTOPS Main Event. Ellwood took $237,643.69 after a 7 way chop under the screen name JackQKA. This is not only one of the most impressive Sunday feats by
a UK player, it’s up there with the overall biggest Sunday heaters, not many people have took down two majors in one night.
You would think that this would allow Ellwood to celebrate a very successful couple of weeks, but not right away as he would find himself embroiled in one of the oddest stories in online poker for a while. On Tuesday someone called ‘JMaverick’ came onto the 2+2 forum claiming that he had staked JackQKA to play in this event and that he hasn’t paid up the 50% owed. He also claimed that the player behind the FTOPS win was only 16 years old. The post was met initially with belief as it was a convincing and detailed story, although most people were dumbfounded that anyone wanting their 50% would out the fact the player was underage, because that would surely give Full Tilt good reason to seize the funds. The thread was already reaching epic proportions when Ellwood’s friends started appearing on the forum, clearing up that the actual winner was a 24 year old. Eventually Jack came on the forum himself to remove any doubt. Why on earth someone would go to the trouble of making such a ludicrous and difficult to prove lie is hard to comprehend. It could have been an incredibly dumb attempt to get half of Ellwoods winnings or it was possibly an attempt to get Ellwood expelled from the event and move another player up the pay ladder. One poster on the forum claimed that Full Tilt are now investigating that the original poster was in fact someone who cashed in the event, however that has not been verified at the time of going to press. David Benyamine Wins PartyPoker Premier League The PartyPoker Premier League Poker IV concluded in Las Vegas and what a roll-
ercoaster ride it was. Roland De Wolfe and Daniel Negreanu won their heads up heats to join Phil Laak, David Benyamine, Giovanni Safina and Luke Schwartz in the 6 handed final. Amazingly it was leader Phil Laak, who won his first three heats in a row, who would exit first after a cagey start , his pocket tens could not hold up against the ace-king of Benyamine. Negreanu and De Wolfe soon followed but one of the big stories of the event was online qualifier Giovanni Safina who finished in 3rd place. Not only did he overcome inexperience to finish 3rd overall, he had some interesting battles, both verbal and on the table, with Schwartz. The Londoner eventually sent the Italian qualifier packing in 3rd place to set up a heads up match with David Benyamine, who he had more than a 2-1 chip lead over. Benyamine doubled up quickly though when his K10 held up against Luke’s K7, and after taking the chip lead when he made a higher straight than Schwartz, he moved in for the kill. The tournament was over in a final hand where both men made a pair of queens on the flop, but Benyamine has Schwartz outkicked and his hand held, giving him the title in the first tournament he has played this year. “It feels really good winning a title, I’m still not used to doing it,” said Benyamine, who adds $76,000 to his winning prize money from his league performances. “The whole time I never thought about winning, I just wanted to do what I thought was right. I know people always say that when they win but it’s true. Position in these final tables can help and I didn’t do anything special today, I just got hands at the right time and played them properly. Luke is a very impulsive player but I just stuck to my own game heads-up and it was enough. “I’m really, really disappointed – I keep getting second and third in these TV tournaments,” said Schwartz, who pocketed $200,000 for his second place finish plus $58,000 for his 29 league points. “I think I played the best this week and deserved to come first but that’s the way it goes – it just makes me want to take it down more next time.”
A PartyPoker spokesman said: “Congratulations to David - it has been a fantastic week and was such a spectacle at a fantastic location in the form of the M Resort.” Eddie Hearn, Director of Matchroom Sport , said: “Bringing the PartyPoker.com Premier League to Las Vegas has taken the world’s best distributed poker show to a whole new level – this is simply must see TV, it has been amazing. Everybody has also enjoyed the fantastic facilities and service of the M Resort. I would like to personally thank Richar Fitoussi and all the team there for being such wonderful hosts.” Final Table result and total prize money (one league point equals $2,000 in prize money) 1 David Benyamine $476,000 (38 points) 2 Luke Schwartz $258,000 (29 points) 3 Giovanni Safina $158,000 (29 points) 4 Daniel Negreanu $132,000 (26 points) 5 Roland De Wolfe $114,000 (22 points) 6 Phil Laak $146,000 (48 points) Beaten heads-up players: Ian Frazer $52,000 (fifth spot with 26 points) JC Tran $40,000 (eight spot with 20 points) Failed to qualify: 9 Phil Hellmuth $38,000 (19 points) 10 Yevgeniy Timoshenko $32,000 (16 points) 11 Vanessa Rousso $32,000 (16 points) 12 Tony G $22,000 (11 points)
2 x £500 Seats to the DTD leg of the UKIPT to be won in our competition! Click link to enter competition: http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=5372.0
Win 2 Seats to Nottingham leg of UKIPT with APAT Joeri Zandvliet Wins UKIPT Manchester European Poker Awards Rupendir Bedi Wins DTD Deepstack Jake Cody Wins EPT Deauville
APAT / PokerStars UKIPT Competition Our friends at PokerStars have donated 2 seats worth £500 + £50 each, to the Nottingham leg of the UK & Ireland Poker Tour, being held at Dusk Till Dawn between May 13th & 16th. To win one, all you have to do is answer the following question:
The next leg of the tour is in Coventry between April 8-11 and you can win your seat now at Pokerstars.
Which APAT player won the Season 3 National Rankings? If you need help, you’ll find the answer on page 9 of this issue! Click through to the competition thread on the APAT forum using the link above and type your answer. 2 lucky APAT members will be picked at random and awarded the UKIPT seats. The closing date for entries is Friday April 16th. Joeri Zandvliet wins UKIPT Manchester A 21 year old Dutch college student navigated through one of the biggest and toughest UK poker fields of the year to take down the Pokerstars UK & Ireland Poker Tour Manchester Title. 518 players took part in the £550 main event and it was Joeri Zandvliet who defeated Englishman Jack Ellwood to score the £63,200 pay day and the title. It was a gruelling three day tournament which saw every days play go into the late levels. The final table also included the in form Chris Brammar who went deep in the last UKIPT event and a name you seem to see a lot in the deep stages of the major UK tournaments. Young player Dean Lyall also looked poised to win it, however a few too many drinks led to 4 orbits of penalties that cost him dearly, no doubt he will have a hangover in more ways than one today. The tournament ended in the atypical coinflip hand that played itself, as Ellwood got his money in with Ace-Queen vs the pocket nines of Zandvliet, a queen on the flop looked like it would be forced to extra time but a nine on the river won it for the Dutchman.
European Poker Awards Results Last weekend the 9th annual European Poker Awards took place in the Aviation Club in Paris and this writer was lucky enough to be there on the judging panel. It was a fantastic lavish affair with some of the cream of the European Poker scene there in attendance. The big winners were: PLAYER OF THE YEAR Vitaly Lunkin (Russia) EUROPE’S LEADING LADY Sandra Naujoks (Germany) ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Antoine Saout (France) OUTSTANDING TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE Jeff Lisandro (Italy/Australia) INTERNET PLAYER OF THE YEAR Patrick Antonius (Finland) POKER STAFF PERSON OF THE YEAR Edgar Stuchly (Austria) ROB GARDNER AWARD FOR INNOVATION Eddie Hearn and the Matchroom Sport Team (England) LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT Bruno Fitoussi (France) There were lots of UK and Ireland players nominated but the only one to take a gong was Eddie Hearn and the Team at Matchroom Poker, who have just completed the PartyPoker Premier League in Las Vegas.
Eddie commented: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won the award for innovation at the European Poker Awards. The news broke as we began the first heat of the PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker IV in Las Vegas and it gave the team a real lift. We always feel we have a responsibility to grow the game and our innovative formats coveted with our global distribution will hopefully help the game go from strength to strength.”
has took down this coveted title. He was also joined by Champion of Champions Winner Haitao Wu and Nottingham regular James Moult at the final table. 1 Rupinder Bedi £28,811 2 Haitao Wu £16,844 3 Tim Blake £10,106 4 Oluwashola Akindele £7,092 5 Barrington Nicholas £5,319 6 John Connolly £3,989 7 Paul Lammas £3,103 8 James Moult £2,216 9 David Cooke £1,773 Jake Cody Wins EPT Deauville UK poker has a new star as Jake ‘Neverbluff67’ Cody of Rochdale was crowned the Pokerstars EPT Deauville champion last night. Cody is already well known in online poker circles as a fierce MTT player and he has proven he is the real deal live, beating a 768 player field that included 13 EPT champions and a final table that included Peter Eastgate and Mike ‘Timex’ McDondald.
Rupinder Bedi Wins DTD Deepstack Fears of an overlay were soon scuppered by a big turnout once again at the Dusk Till Dawn Monthly £80,000 Guaranteed Deepstack Event. 327 players made it for the 2 day £300 monthly festival creating a £98,100 prize pool. The event was won by longstanding APAT member Rupinder ‘George’ Bedi, who held onto a big chip lead after day one to snatch the prestigious monthly event.
Bedi first came to our attention in 2008 when he won the 2008 GCBPT Nottingham Main Event and now just two years on and as many miles down the road, he
21 year old Cody was playing his first ever EPT event, having cashed in the first Pokerstars UKIPT event last month in Galway. He commented after the win “This is so overwhelming. It’s the sort of stuff I dreamed about with my mates just a few weeks back. I feel like I should be asleep as I can’t believe this is happening.” Cody went into the final table 2nd in chips but lost a bunch of them early on, only to get them back to set up a very close three handed battle with Mike McDonald and Teodor Caraba, eventually McDondald would bust in 3rd place which would set up a tense and swingy heads up match. Caraba started with the chip lead but Cody battled back and the match was eventually over with a hand that played itself, when the ace-king of Caraba was no match for the pocket kings of Cody. With the €847,000 first prize (Plus a seat in the EPT Grand Final) Cody has really put himself on the map with this big win and continued a tremendously successful period for UK poker that started in 2009. Congratulations to Jake Cody and if you want to see how he did it, check out the live updates archive at PokerNew.com.
1 Jake Cody €847,000 + EPT GF seat 2 Teodor Caraba €516,000 3 Mike McDonald €295,000 4 Craig Bergeron €221,000 5 Claudiu Secara €165,000 6 Stephane Albertini €129,000 7 Michael Fratty €92,000 8 Peter Eastgate €70,000 Priyan de Mel Wins 2nd GUKPT Title Priyan de Mel has become the first player to win back to back GUKPT £1,000 main events, after capturing the opening Bolton leg of the 2010 season. 146 players went to the G Casino in Bolton for the main event, which created a £44,600 first prize for the Londoner who snatched the GUKPT Blackpool title in November. Priyan also came 9th in EPT Prague in December making it an excellent last three months for property developer.
“I’m really happy to have done back-toback titles, but three titles is a good target to aim for. Most of my friends are in Australia now so I didn’t have many people here supporting me, but I guess them being away made it easier for me to win this one.” 1st Priyan de Mel £44,600 2nd Andrew Purser £30,300 3rd James Sykes £19,000 4th Terry Owens £11,700 5th Marc Wright £9,100 6th Justin Devonport £6,900 7th Philip Booth £5,500 8th Jeff Kimber £4,000 9th Aaron Barry £2,900 10th Mark Robinson £2,200
Season 4
Online Preview National Championship Added Value National League No Registration Fee
Season 4 will see an expanded schedule of National League and Championship events online for APAT members. As with previous seasons, APAT’s online events will offer a fantastic structure for all players with some amazing added value. The games are well renowned for the spirit in which they are played and the competitive, yet friendly atmosphere that is created at the virtual felt. Online National Championship The ten event season kicked off with the Welsh Online Poker Championship on Saturday February 27th. The entry fee for all National Championship main events is $50, and players entering will start with 10,000 chips on a 12 minute clock. The winner of each main event will receive a significant cash prize, National Title, Gold Medal and a Grosvenor UK Poker Tour main event entry. The next event scheduled is the United Kingdom Online Championship on March 27th at 8pm. Satellites will be available at Betfair as follows: Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd of March at 8pm. Monday’s satellite will be a $10 + $1 freezeout, while Tuesday’s will be a $5 + $0.50 rebuy. Alongside the main event starting at 8pm, will be an Omaha Championship starting at 9pm. The entry fee will be $20, with an APAT Professional League seat as added value to the winner of the event. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will also be awarded. Ranking points will be awarded for the On-
line National Championships (Top 18) and Omaha Championships (Top 9), with the player finishing with the most online ranking points at the end of the season invited to participate in the APAT Champions Final against all of the Season 4 Champions to compete for an APAT sponsorship package for 2001 worth £20,000. Season 3 Online Rankings winner, Brian ‘Boingblitz’ Yates will be back to defend his title again and if this season is anything like the last, it will go down to the wire. Brian secured his position at the top of the rankings by making the final table of the last event of the season, but even then things weren’t secure as it went down to the final three players on the table before the year’s rankings were decided! Season 4 Schedule Saturday 27th February: Welsh Online Championship Saturday 27th March : UK Online Championship Saturday 1st May: Central European Online Championship Saturday 22nd May: Scottish Online Championship Saturday 3rd July: South European Online Championship Saturday 24th July: WCOAP Online Championship Saturday 4th September: Irish Online Championship Saturday 2nd October: English Online Championship
Click link to download Betfair Poker: http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/7022-79030-24769-0 Saturday 6th November: European Online Championship Saturday 11th December: North European Online Championship Online National League The Online National League will be back on Sunday March 7th, following the success of its inaugural season. This season will see the 30 competing poker clubs split into three Divisions based on their performance last season, with promotion and relegation across each division. Season 3 Online National League champions, Walsall Poker Club, will line up in Division One alongside Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Liverpool, South London, Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester. Division Two will consist of Dublin, Birmingham, Plymouth, Sheffield, Dundee, Newcastle, Brighton, Stockton-on-Tees, North London and Southampton.
Whilst in Division Three will be Thanet, Luton, Swansea, Aberdeen, Nottingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Stoke, Carlisle and Sunderland.
position will receive 3 National League points, with second receiving 2 National League points and third receiving 1 National League point.
Each online national league season will consist of ten matchdays played fortnightly on Betfair Poker. They will take place on a Sunday evening at 8pm with a $10 entry fee.
Existing players need to confirm their Betfair Poker alias on the APAT forum, whilst new players can register for their local club and join in at anytime during the season by registering their details on the relevant club pages of the APAT forum.
Along with the promotion and relegation, the top team in each division will receive 4 added value seats to live events. Division One – GUKPT Seats Division Two – APAT Pro Seats Division Three – APAT Amateur Seats Each division will hold one multi table tournament for every round of the National League, with the final nine players scoring between 1 and 9 points towards their club’s total in that round. Club scores will be totalled at the end of each round, and the club in the highest scoring
No Registration Fee! And in an unprecedented move, all Online National Championship events, Omaha side events and Online National League matches will have no registration fee this season, courtesy of APAT’s sponsor, Betfair Poker. This brings the online events in line with the live events in ensuring maximum value to APAT members. Remember to register with your online poker club before March 7th! You can use the link below.
Click link to register for National League: http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=5205.0
Bayliff Collects! The first Online Championship event of APAT’s fourth season featured a high quality field and provided a final table packed with some long standing APAT members. One hundred and forty four players entered the APAT Welsh Online Poker Championship. The $50 buy in gave them all a shot at a $2,500 first prize, Championship title, Gold Medal and an entry to a £1,070 buy in Grosvenor UK Poker Tour event. As normal in Championship events, players started with a 10,000 chip deep-stack and 15 minute blinds. Within fifteen minutes of the start we had already lost one player as ‘Robmc01’ had fallen foul to the kings full of jacks of ‘Miiiiiikeee’ and after four and a half hours of play, ’Roscopiko’ burst the final table bubble and exited in tenth place. This left the final table line up as follows: Ayendell (256k) Adidap (249k) Squirrel69 (204k) Marmite3465 (200k) Bobyrabit (137k) Suzy666 (131k) Thinker28 (129k) CH3LS3A (68k) SJW1970 (53k) The first exit on the final table saw ‘SJW1970’ depart in 9th place. Short stacked to start with, the rivered straight of ‘adidap’ won the all-in pre-flop pot, moving ‘adidap’ to over 300k. ‘Bobyrabit’ finished in 8th place as the action continued, with most three-bets were enough to take down the early pots. ‘Squirrel69’ then doubled through off of ‘adidap’ when pocket jacks won the coinflip against AQ. Those chips didn’t last long for ‘Squirrel69’ as next hand ‘CH3LS3A’ got the same result when 77 came up against AQ of ‘Squirrel69’. Out in 7th place was ‘Ayendell’ who had lost over half their stack on an earlier coin-
flip and was now the short-stack. ‘CH3LS3A’ raised it to 25k, ‘Ayendell’ shoved allin from the big blind and ‘CH3LS3A’ made the call. A flopped straight was more than enough for ‘CH3LS3A’, leaving ‘Ayendell’ drawing dead. Down to six players, and by far the quietest player on the table had been ‘Thinker28’. He had played aggressively leading up to the final table and made the most of the bubble situation to build his short stack. He got his double up when his AK came up against the AJ of ‘Squirrel69’ and the flop of TKK sent him up to 240k. The short-stacked ‘Squirrel69’ then calls the 30k bet of ‘marmite3465’ from the big blind and finds their AQ in good shape against the K2 of ‘marmite3465’. However a deuce on the flop is enough to finish ‘Squirrel69’s game in 6th place. With five players left, the chipleader was ‘marmite3465’, who had 650k of the 1.4m of chips in play. Quietly going about his business, he had built up the stack gradually. With the blinds at 10k/20k/2k, the action was becoming quick. ‘CH3LS3A’ min raised and was called by ‘adidap’ in the big blind. On a flop of QAJ, ‘adidap’ goes allin and eventually gets called by ‘CH3LS3A’. The A3 of ‘adidap’ was enough to knock out ‘CH3LS3A’ and his Q9 in 5th place. A few hands later and ‘marmite3465’ is raising up the pot with a 4 and a 5. The King Ten of ‘Thinker28’ was looking good until the river card completes a straight for ‘marmite3465’ and ‘Thinker28’ departed in 4th place. The three way battle saw chip stacks fluctuate dramatically, eventually ‘suzy666’ who had been chipleader earlier in the tournament, went all-in with King Jack and got a caller in ‘marmite3465’ with Ace Eight. An ace on the flop meant that ‘suzy666’ finished in 3rd place, collecting the bronze medal.
Heads Up, ‘marmite3465’ had a 2:1 chiplead over ‘adidap’. Both players had gone all-in a few times before a hand where ‘adidap’ raised from the small blind. ‘marmite3465’ went all-in, putting ‘adidap’s tournament live on the line and after a short pause, he makes the call. ‘marmite3465’ showed A3, whilst ‘adidap’ showed A2. The hand had split pot written all over it, but it wasn’t to be for ‘adidap’, as the three on the flop meant that he finished in 2nd place and picks up the silver medal. That meant ‘marmite3465’ took the APAT Welsh Online title for this season, along with the gold medal and GUKPT added value seat. The final prize allocation was as follows:1st – marmite3465 – $2,160 – Gold Medal – APAT Welsh Online Title 2nd – adidap – $1,440 – Silver Medal 3rd – suzy666 – $857 – Bronze Medal 4th – Thinker28 – $576 5th – CH3LS3A – $468 6th – Squirrel69 – $360 7th – Ayendell – $252 8th – bobyrabit – $187 9th – SJW1970 – $122 The top 18 players received Online Championship ranking points. The top three players were Season 2 Online Rankings winner Steve Bayliff (‘marmite3465’), from Liverpool, Paul Haycock (‘adidap’), from Kenilworth and Suzanne Hayward (‘suzy666’), from Bristol. Elsewhere, the Pot Limit Omaha Championship had 82 competitors and was won by Chris Peers (‘gomarrahh’), with Linda Iwaniak (‘linsiwan1’ taking Silver and Pete Rodgers (‘Buck Pete’) taking Bronze. In addition to the Welsh PLO title & Gold medal, Chris won $492 and an APAT Professional League seat.
> Chris Peers, Winner Welsh Online PLO Championship 2010
> Steve Bayliff, Winner Welsh Online Championship 2010
Meet the members:
Season 3 Online Rankings Winner: Brian Yates APAT Magazine: Brian congratulations on winning the APAT Online National Rankings for 2009. Looking at the calibre of players that were close to you in the final table, that looks to be some achievement! Brian Yates: Thank you. I look upon winning the APAT Online National Rankings as a fantastic achievement and one that I am really proud to hold. I always set myself several targets every year and one of them for 2009 was to break into the APAT Top 20, so you can imagine how I feel having made it to number one online. The final game of the season was the World Championship of Amateur Poker Main Event and I came into that one without any real thoughts of winning the Online Rankings. It was only when we got down to the final 30 players that I began to think that I had a shot at it and once I got into the points, then I realised that it was on! When I made the final table, both Alan Armitage and myself knew that we had to finish at least third to win it and the weird thing was that we both reached the final three! It then became winnertakes-all and soon after we had agreed a little saver bet on the GUKPT seat that was on offer to the winner, Alan was knocked-out by Tod Wood’s aces to give me the Rankings Title. I was over the moon at that point but the heads-up lasted just one hand as “luckbox” Tod followed his aces with Ace King to crush my King Queen suited ...seriously though, Tod deserved a win and at least we kept it in the Black Country Poker Club “family”. AM: You became the Welsh Online Champion and finalled in the Online WCOAP. What do you put your success down to?
BY: I play most days and read books and articles on the game and I am always interested to hear people’s opinions on their play as well as my own. The forming of the BCPC in 2008 had a big influence on my 2009 success as playing regularly against players of the calibre of Steve Redfern, Tod Wood, Steve Bayliff, Will Young, Andy Duncan and Matt Mckinlay - all successful APAT players has without doubt improved my game. AM: I gather 2009 brought you other successes online. Tell us a bit about those? BY: 2009 was a phenomenal year for me, giving me eight of my top ten wins of all time. Obviously my win in the APAT Welsh Online Championship in February was fantastic but a month earlier I started the year by winning a $5,000 trip to Las Vegas with Ladbrokes during the World Series in June. I also won a trip to Killarney with them and on both occasions my wife was able to enjoy my poker success with me, which was great. December though, brought me my biggest disappointment in poker. I won a $420 seat through a turbo event to the final qualifier for the Pokerstars Carribean Adventure (PCA) late one Sunday night. The turbo ended at 11.30pm but the main event had started at 11pm so I was seated immediately. At 6.15am the next morning, there were 30 players left with 28 of them getting a $15,500 PCA package to the Bahamas in January. But somehow, after the two shortstacks had both tripled-up on other tables, I went out, and never have I felt so gutted after winning $600 ! So near, yet so far! AM: Of course Season Three brought you live success too, winning the APAT Irish Amateur Poker Championship in
Dublin and the Omaha side event at the APAT European Amateur Championship in Luton. Which discipline do you prefer, live or online? BY: My success in Dublin also won me a seat (and a cash) in the GUKPT Champion Of Champions event and also helped cement my selection for England in the APAT European Team Championships; an experience and honour that i will cherish forever. I love to play live, providing it is in a freezeout with a decent clock and starting stack, which will allow you to actually play the game. You also get the table-banter and are able to pick up reads and tells from other players, which you cannot get on the internet. AM: How do you adjust your game accordingly? BY: Live, you have more time to think about your decisions, which is the biggest advantage over the online game. Therefore, I take more time and am more analytical about my decisions. AM: Do you intend taking an active role in APAT’s fourth season? What are your poker hopes for the forthcoming year? BY: I hope to reach the APAT top 10 again, although I think that will be more difficult than ever this season as APAT continues to grow. I hope to qualify for my second Ladbrokes poker cruise but above all I hope to continue as a winning player as I believe a big-one isn’t far away. If you want to play in well-run events with great structures and reasonable buy-ins, then APAT is for you. Once you have experienced it, you wont want to ever miss another event, unless you happen to be heads-up against a girl, and she is German!!
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