blonde poker forum

ME:

I am 23, currently living from home in a small town in Lincolnshire about 15 miles north of Peterborough.

I am a recent graduate with a 2nd class honours degree in journalism.

I am an avid Peterborough United fan and will be found in the same town/city as the team most Saturday’s and Tuesday nights. It’s a horrible addiction, but I love the thrill, please don’t stop reading.

I’ve broken down the blog into aspects that I feel are important for my ‘poker life.’ I really believe poker is one of the most social games around, from local pubs to the World Series scene you see groups of friends that the game has brought together. Admittedly I believe that all poker players and all professionals in any line of work need a life away from ‘the office’ but there is a fine line which should be crossed occasionally to get full enjoyment out of what you do.

POKER:   

My poker story started at about the age of 15/16. At the time I was good friends with Stato_1’s brother and we began playing £5/£10 SNG’s every month or so at each others houses with a few school friends.

I remember the first one of these I played, I’d like to say it was a day during the school holidays, but it might not have been…

I had a brief understanding of the game from online play money games, and woke up with AA in the big blind against a good friend. I flatted his min raise. A 9 x flop. My friend has A 9 and it all went in. Another 9 on the turn and the river bricked. From that hand I went on to crush the game and win something like £40. I felt on top of the world. I cycled home (45 minute bike ride.) and began to review the game in my head trying to establish how I’d won, naively trying to apply strategy with no knowledge. Like trying to write a novel, without having ever read one.

This £5/£10 game continued for a year or so where I’d say on average I cashed 75% of the time, it got to the stage where there were group celebrations if I bust before the money. Of course, it was all luck.

Upon turning 18 I started playing with a few from the group in a local £10 pub league game run by a friend. I established myself making the league final and coming second for something like £100. Again not chunks, but it was like a third of my monthly wages from my then part time job at Morrisons.

This developed into XXL25’s and the occasional Super50 and Grand Prix at DTD and if I’m being honest, I haven’t moved. This for 4/5 years has been my level, not to be a profitable player but to have a good time and win occasionally. Within these years I have flicked in for the occasional £200 Deepstack, Goliath and APAT events all very enjoyable.
Online I follow the same sort of procedure. If I’m bored or feel like and online session I will choose a target tournament on a site, deposit enough to play it and a few side tournaments, if I win, result, if I lose I won’t be too bothered.

I’ve always enjoyed playing Stars from my ‘play money’ days and will admit I’m a child of the Chris Moneymaker era but until I become a consistent profitable online player it is something that will never compare to live. I love the live scene and the social aspect that local business owners can rock up and compete against student have a good chat, enjoy themselves. There are day’s where I’ll rock up with my headphones, flick Netflix on and play while watching a film, there are other days where I am intent on going in with no electrical devices to talk and be ‘that guy.’ Not quite Will Kassouf style, but a chatty player using speech plays for information etc.

I don’t have a fixed style of play; I have nit tendencies at times and then suddenly think 4 bet jamming 78o with 40 bigs is a good idea. I love the variants the game offers and I love getting myself into spots where I’m drawing and play most suited connectors like the nuts pre flop.

My nit tendencies have got me into trouble and cost me in the past. I’d sit at Final Tables 3/4 handed and still sit and wait for a premium. This is something I want to work on. I have the ability to go deep, I’ve proved that in some of my rec comps but I need to convert when I get there.

WORK:

My official job title at Dusk Till Dawn is ‘Marketing Assistant’ but as many of you will know I adapt my skill set to more than just Marketing.

My first job, after the cliché paper round, was cleaning cars at the local car sales garage. £4.50 an hour (including any change I found in the cars) from 9am – 1pm on Saturday’s. I’d finish at 1, run for the train at 2 and be at London Road Stadium for 3. That was every other Saturday for me.

I then moved to Morrisons which was a huge reality check, as a kid I never liked being taken out of my comfort zone but that holds me in better stead nowadays and has taught me a lot. This was part time Sunday and evening work which paid reasonably well and kept me ticking over while studying. Within 18 months of being in the company I had been placed on the fast track to management scheme and was promoted to Shift Supervisor. At 19 I was a shift supervisor on a checkout department that had 70+ members of staff that had all been with the company years longer than me. That was a learning curve to say the least.

During my part time hours for Morrisons I had enough time to find temporary positions, with Bauer Media and work experience with DTD.

This started as a little work experience project to market, then report the ISPT and turned out as a career path. To be honest I’m happy it has, I didn’t meet one other early 20’s journalism student that wanted to go into the Gaming or Poker Industry.

After I'd finished my degree DTD invited me in for an interview as a couple of staff had left and that brings me to today.

I’m over a year into the job and really enjoying it, I’ve met some great people, been to ‘The Poker Awards’ and started a making connections within some of the biggest companies in the industry.

Personal:

I’m happy with my personal life; I’m three years into a long term relationship and enjoy my lifestyle. The only change I need to nip in the bud is personal fitness. At Morrisons I was always on my feet, walking to the train station and playing football twice a week. Now at Dusk I’m in the car from 9am at work for 10am then home at 7pm. I’m not walking anywhere and I spend the most of my day in the office chair. When I first started working at Dusk I joined the local gym, paid for three months and averaged visits per month of 0.66’%. Since then I’ve been on three spa weekends with my partner and feel that joining a health club maybe more beneficial, not just for the relaxation purposes but because I’ll be spending more money and will want to use the somewhat better facilities.

(SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED HERE.)

So why write a blog now?

I’ve always had the attitude that one day I will change from a recreational player and step up to learn the game and develop. With work, social life and minimal time to play I have always palmed it off, ‘we’ll have a go next month.’

I’m not rolled to be playing the circuit, nor do I have the time with work, but I do want to take time away from the recreational game all together to learn and improve so Deepstacks and the occasional ‘Big Comp’ becomes a more regular thing.

In a way I feel this blog will not only help me track my progress but will also help me learn from other posters, so please feel free to comment, criticise (not too harsh tho) and leave feedback. I always try to adapt new ideas and if any pro’s fancy offering free coaching then I’m game.

I don’t ever want to rely on Poker as my only source of income, as enjoyable as the GPS>GUKPT>DTD>GPS>25/25 lifestyle maybe it really isn’t for me. I love writing, I love reporting and I love Marketing so if I’m not playing and event I want be reporting on it or advertising it at least. My role at Dusk is great and there are no immediate plans to jump ship, go pro or find myself working on the Isle of Man.

This blog is merely going to act as the catalyst I need to improve myself in the industry and as a player.

Targets before Christmas are as follows:

READ AND STUDY THE GAME, everything from session reviews to books from the pro’s.

WIN the DTD, in house, Monday night Poker League. I’ve won the first two weeks kind of want to follow that through for personal satisfaction.

Play half a dozen events where buy in is between £50-£100 and cash in at least 1.

Improve fitness to a level where I can play a full 90 minute football match.

WIN THE APAT TEAM EVENT WITH BLONDE.
+ Out drink any other team on nights out associated with this event.

Thanks for reading, tempted to limit people to three questions each should they have any.

Glenn

Not read yet. But first

You can't do that! You need to read it first.

you adapt your skillsets huh?!

good luck with this

good luck to kyle vassell too

Customer Service Wizard tho.

Subscribed.

Good luck, read. Will see you at Dtd soon, I'll allow a personal interview to boost your diary subscribers ;)

Confirmed.

You'll have to go some to beat the AWOP team. We're the undisputed APAT team game drinking champions.

Yeah Glenn, that one's not an option. I'm teetotal, blonde cant win.

glenn tho

Subscribed good luck glenn

With regards to poker reading as a rec I've been down the 'story book' route.

I loved The Godfather of Poker and Barry Greenstein's Ace on the River as they had a story focus with some strategy included.

I was 3/4 of the way through Every Hand Revealed till it was 'removed' from my car (not stolen I must add) and am now looking at moving to books that cover a more strategical view of the game. The transition won't be easy but once I've got used to strategy reading I will pick it up and embrace it.

Other books in the past, non poker related, I've absolutely rushed through because I just wanted to end the story or absorb information. A recent example was 'From Hobby to Obsession' which was produced by Peterborough's Chairman and was basically his view on the goings on at the club since his takeover. I drove to the local book shop for 9am, paid £15 for the copy and spent the whole day at home. By the time I left the house to go out for the evening at 6 it was finished. I even toyed with the idea of trying to get a refund as I hadn't even taken the stickers off.

Like I explained in my first post I would love feedback, advice etc so if anyone has any suggestions that they found helped their game please include them.

These next couple of week's I won't have any time to play (other than Monday's Poker League) as we are hosting the GPS, so it's a great time to start some sort of reading/studying program. I'm going to also look at a few upcoming events and decide which ones I can pencil into my schedule. I think I'm quite fortunate with where I live at the minute. I'm an hour from Notts, Luton and Coventry and an hour and a half from Birmingham, Sheffield and London so I always have plenty of options.

I'm also looking on a professional level 'to put myself out there' and have a few projects lined up that will allow me to produce some stuff alongside my job at DTD which is quite exciting. This will include freelance articles, features and hopefully some reporting.

If anyone is in the club, busts early in the GPS and fancies a beer during the week I'll be about from 6pm.

There's a severe lacking of the questions that we actually want to know the answer to itt. Tal used to be a master at this. So, until he gets involved,

What is your:

1) favorite range
2) Standard nando's order
3) Worst film you've seen at the cinema
4) Dream holiday destination
5) Favorite Disney princess  

Limited to three questions my ass.

1: The one in Reading is nice compared to others I've been to.
2: Don't see the Nandos fascination, there is plenty of better food out there at that price. On my three visits: Plain whole chicken, chips coleslaw, refillable drink.
3: Robin Hood 'starring' Russell Crowe. Me and my company for the evening left 45 minutes in. Which was actually quite amusing as we were sat in front of her ex.
4: The typical Caribbean dream holiday. Ive pretty much wrapped up Europe and would love the beachside hut in the Bahamas type holiday.
5: Rapunzel steals the show in Tangled.

More of these! Love it.

If you were a biscuit what biscuit would you be and why?

May St. Peter judge you for this at the gates of heaven.

Dark Chocolate Digestive. No one likes them = less chance of getting eaten.

Update:

The GPS last week was very successful from my point of view. Its the biggest event in the GPS calendar and I like the working partnerships with Genting and other third parties. Everything is being thrown at the Grand Prix and WPT now. It's going to be a good close to the year! The my birthday is also slap bang in the middle of the WPT so that will be entertaining.

Poker:
I've found that video learning is definitely having more of an impact that anything else. I've watched a number of tutorials and videos* from LIVE pro's and it is very interesting to see how different players target different areas of tournaments. I'm learning new things, some of which are glaringly obvious, but missed by players of all standards. The plan is to try and adopt these methods and develop a style/technique that I can use in my current game.

In the pipeline now are some Sunday afternoon/multi day events that peak around £50 buy-ins. I will probably frequenting Cardroom's around Luton and Coventry so please feel free to say hi if you see me.

I think another point I can progress in is Online Satellites. I'm not rolled enough for GUKPT's, IPO's etc but the satellites are affordable and binking seats this way could be a good route for me. I've been studying some satellite play and tips, some of which were very helpful, others were laughable.

Online, I've just started playing SKY for a bit of fun and actually really enjoying it. The comps are good fun with the 'bigger' events they do once a night. I played the £33 bounty hunter and in level 1 the board was something like A K T T Q. We had Queens and jammed the river, neither of my opponents could lay down their J. I was freerolling, but bubbled. Like I said, good fun though.  I also had a pop at some Mini FTOPS events at the weekend. I think I min cashed two, one of which was a multi day event but I played the last Day 1 which was the same Day as Day 2. Absolutely butchered AQ on the button to lose a double average stack in 166th out of 5261 runners.

Lifestyle:

My partner has gone back to Uni in Leeds. I see her every couple of weeks and we keep a good balance of when we see and chat to each other. It also gives me time to make the changes I need to like improving my fitness.

I'm actually scouting a hotel, spa gym facility tonight just outside of Grantham. The £27 membership is inclusive of pool, gym and spa use which will be good. Its on my commute so I'd be looking to spend an hour a day doing something fitness related there, and on days I get the train to work it doesn't really matter because I walk from Nottm station to Dusk, which is about 5 miles. I have also invested in a fold up bike which will see more use.

One I've done this for a couple of week's I'm going to look at training once a week with a Sunday League team to make up the numbers.

Targets:
I'm slipping behind in the Poker League :( It is merely a case of tiredness. I love these £5/£10 games with Pub League guys but I stopped playing my own local one because I was working 10-6 and I probably need to stop playing this. It amounts to being in the building from 10am - midnight, which is too much.

The APAT Team Event looks like it going ahead which will be good fun.

I've had no time to play LIVE but will report back when I do! I suspect I will find something Sunday Afternoon (suggestions?)

*This did not include Rehman Kassam's two hour cameo on the GPS stream.

Glenn, should probably watch that vid of rehman. If not for the poker then at least for the raw sex appeal.

I'll have you know that video was wonderful.  I managed to not bust too.

Are you not capped on name changes on here?

Small update:

On the poker front I've only flicked in for the XXL at Dusk and Poker League (still top.) I'm going through a few books now after session reviews and video/conference learning. I will be buying 'The Mental Game' over the weekend.

Simplistic decision making, adapting to situations, and thinking ahead, have been key in my development. We'll see how this goes early next month in a few bigger events.

On the work front its now all Grand Prix and WPT. My first piece of out sourced work (BUT DTD related) was published today. Wiii.
http://www.partypoker.com/blog/dtds-rob-yong-anything-less-complete-success-unacceptable.html

I've joined a health club in Grantham (as part of a hotel) which is ideal. Great size, got a swimming pool and all the perks and just £27 a month.

Things are looking good!

Belton Woods?

Nope bit out of my way that.

http://www.urbanhotelgrantham.co.uk/gym-membership-grantham/

The above. Perfect for me, just off the A1. Breaks up the 50 minute car journey pretty much at the halfway mark.

READ AND STUDY THE GAME, everything from session reviews to books from the pro’s.

WIN the DTD, in house, Monday night Poker League. I’ve won the first two weeks kind of want to follow that through for personal satisfaction.

Play half a dozen events where buy in is between £50-£100 and cash in at least 1.

Improve fitness to a level where I can play a full 90 minute football match.

WIN THE APAT TEAM EVENT WITH BLONDE.
+ Out drink any other team on nights out associated with this event.

We're getting places, slowly. Gonna need some new targets. I know the top one is ongoing but I have started and am making progress which was what the blog was aimed to do. I hope in a few months time I'll have poker bink and drunken stories every other day.

read the beginning and the end  ;whistle;

Smallest brag ever.

Final tabled the Poker League Finals Day.

Very turbo'y. All good fun. Best moment of the day was UTG shoving Ks Kh getting 4 callers and turning quads.

Put me in good stead for the final. In the end busto'd with Ahrt Kh against  Kd Jd.

8th place got me £160 and a cheeky little FT trophy.

Overall I'm about £350-£400 up over the 5 weeks of the league which is nothing to be sniffed at considering they were only ever £5 games.

That'll be me done for playing now until the next Titan in Cov at the start of November.

Lots of work ahead though with the GP, WPT and some exciting projects.

An interesting week on the Poker front.

I won the Poker League on Monday night. This is a comp I will always have time for. A good chat and just spin up a £5 RB.
On Tuesday night I busto'd first and ended up in the Super50.

I sat down to a very talkative lively table which was great for a s cold Tuesday night in November, full of characters.

First hand flopped a set vs 2 pair and won a big pot.
Second hand  Ahrt Ad vs  Ts Th on a  Jd high board for a bit more.
Third hand Qd Qh vs  9s x on a  9d high board.

I think I about doubled my stack and then some.

Played some standard ABC poker from then until the final table. Weirdest hand/read I've every had.

UTG limps and has been very active. We are in the BB with 9 10, small blind jams about half my stack. My read here was bizarre and having seen the UTG limper's hands earlier I put him on a weak Ace. The SB's right move with a weak Ace is to also jam here so I went over the top and somehow UTG found the call. I was against A 4 and A 3 and hit my Ten.

4 handed we did a chip count deal which basically meant I got just above 3rd place prize money and the seat.

This meant I was now permitted to play the Warm Up having got permission from the powers that be.

UTG has been involved in plenty of pots and limps UTG. We're in the BB with 910, the Small blind then jams for roughly 1/2 of my stack .

Promising start to this diary.  Good luck with it.

What sort of angles have you got in mind for freelance articles?  If and when you can share, I'm interested.  Not for plaguirism's sake so, only divulge when you are happy to of course.  I write a little for 888poker.  Might like to write more, but not sure if I can continue to write about poker as I haven't played in a year online or offline and I'm mainly just writing web content now.  Not written a strategy article for some time.

I'm not a fan of regurjitating descriptions of tournaments and the other work I'm getting.  It's not the creative type of writing I want to be doing, but it pays pretty well, so...

My freelance work at the minute is mainly all WPT and DTD related stuff for the partypoker blog so I'm covering a different side of things that people don't usually see e.g the latest is a background view on how the whole festival was set up. I completely agree with the creative side of it., poker can get so repetitive, GPS this, GUKPT that. I think its beneficial for the game, players and those outside poker to be fed more interesting content, to learn what's going on and to learn about 'the scene.'

Obviously being in my position at DTD I get plenty of background info and behind the scenes stuff. Other topics I'd look at would promote poker in stranger ways e.g:
A feature on a player's weekend as a whole, where did he stay? did he splash out for a hotel? Did he nit it up and go cheap? Was it a professional weekend or was there a big Saturday night out? Eventhough you are writing poker content you still want the average everyday man on the street to be interested.

Sounds interesting Glenn.  Point me at your work when it becomes publicly available please.

Will do. :)

WPT Warm Up.

This was a good event for me for a few reasons. I was picking spots and winning races and peaked at about 200K during Day 1 which was actually my Day 2 target.

Unfortunately I had a sick spot where I three bet, a jam from a short stack to try and isolate. Managed to lay down Jh Js when the BB went over the top. He had Ahrt Aspades so we made Day 2 with 137K which was about 23bb. I was pretty happy knowing that it would play like the GP and getting a few shoves through would cruise me into the money. Unfortunately I saw 5c 3d 9 times before the bubble and was basically all in when it came round. The bubble burst and I had 7bb. Got it in with 5d 5h against two bigger stacks who checked it down, somehow I held.

The play was then very much jam/fold for the majority of the comp. . The seat bubble burst and we managed to ladder.
I got a few jams through then managed to find two callers. I had  Ts Th. They both had AQ. I held and was looking good value for a deep run.

A few hands later I doubled again with  Ad Qd vs 99.

Went back to being card dead when we broke to final two tables with the chip leader to my immediate left. He had sat down for 3/4 hands and had been involved in them all. He min raises UTG and I jam 5h 5d from the BB with 11/12 bigs. He has to call and we're racing Ac 6s but unfortunately A in the window does it.

The comp was a good experience and allowed me to put some serious thought process into the game. In the end it was a £1,000 cash and a £500 seat. It is my birthday on Sunday so I have the weekend off and unfortunately I have a funeral to attend Friday so it looks like  I will have to late reg Friday for the 500 if everything goes to plan.

Hopefully this could be the start of an epic spin.

Misc things learnt this weekend:
Rexas has awful banter.
Rexas has awful hats.
Rexas may/may not own an iron.
If he does he does not know how to use it.

All confirmed :D

Also, contrary to how OP presents himself, his table described him as a "bully".

Due to time planning etc it looks like I will be playing the WPT500 Thursday.

Toyed with the idea of swapping a bit of action but decided I'm practically freerolling off included seats so may as well ride it.

Good news for Team Blonde Poker at the APAT Team Event, winning that is the only poker related target not ticked off on my check list before xmas, the best of omens.

Also just invested in a PS4 which is keeping me sane during the WPT. Long hours and always something to do. All very good experience and will look v good on the C.V. I'm actually enjoying mixing working and playing.

If anyone wants my PSN Name for a whooping on COD or FIFA drop me a PM.

Busto the 500 in non spectacular fashion. Constantly folding to 3/4 bets and had a pretty strong table. We were down to 18K, doubled with Ahrt Aspades v Ad Ks back up to average then lots pots with big hands like JJ, AQ and just couldn't really get going.

I wanted to hit Day 2 with average and then some and took a few punts eventually getting it in with Qd 9d v Aspades Ks.

Should I have played it today, or at all? Probably not. I'm shattered and had semi plans for the weekend which affected my decisions. I'm on 24 hour watch during this tournament constantly checking emails and Facebook to ensure people are registered off numerous lists etc. I just felt I should 'ride it' so to speak with the Super50 > Warm Up > 500 run. I'll learn not to do it again.

The tournament and experience is something I will learn from. Time management and tiredness is often overlooked in the game especially by people like me.

Two weeks off live poker now until the APAT Team event. I will probably play a few Sky Poker Mains and the Micromillions Main Online but that will be about it.

Plans for the rest of the festival.

Day off tomorrow (sort of) my Uncle (Nan's brother) passed away and he was a top chap and a true old fashioned gentleman so I will be attending it funeral and then coming in.
Saturday is my birthday warm up, I'm going to watch Walsall v Posh and then on the train back to Notts for the VIP party. Ideal to have fun and network at the same time.
Sunday will be a day with the family and the Mrs.

Then next week for the Main I will switch it up and maximise DTD publicity trying to squeeze out what I can.

Hope to see some of you for a beer over the weekend/next week when I am in the club.

Glenn

Enjoy the weekend and I hope you give your Uncle a great send off.

Good luck on the online tournament hunt.

Nearly a month since an update, either shows my laziness or the fact I've been busy.

Fortunately it is the latter.

So I've played 2 events since my last update both of which were great fun and different comps.

The first was the Genting Luton Monthly. £150 buy in £28K GTD inc some GPS Sheffield seats.

We weren't very lively on Day 1 but found a few good spots. At 200/400

UTG limps, UTG +2 3 x's and we have  Ad Ac.

We bump it up to 4.2K to see the button shove for like 11K.

UTG and UTG+2 get out of the way.

We're against 8h 9h and hold. This hand was so bizarre but gave me a quite a bit of info when the board ran out  4d x 7d Ahrt Tc. 

UTG +2 showed JJ as he folded.
UTG hit the table when the four came in the window and the guy to my immediate left looked so perplexed at the river saying he folded Ts Th, all of which I believe.

A few hands later and after a few exits I won a huge pot with Ahrt Qc on a Q 5 5 x x board.

I barreled every street with 2 callers on the flop and turn. A player I considered to be a bit of a station says he laid down QJ on the river when I jammed my last 25K into a 50-55K pot. I didn't believe that.

We made Day 2 with average and knew we'd have to get creative to make it anywhere.

I got locked into a pot with a player who was on my table for the entire WPT125 so knew what I was up against. He min raised UTG and I was playing 15-17bb and flatted with  2s 3s. My choice here was to either get away on any awful flop or gamble for a double up. The flop came  Ks 4c 7s which wasn't the worse in the world. He bet about 34 of the pot and my insta reaction was KJ, KQ, so I jammed over the top. I was correct but it was Ks Qs. I exited in undramatic fashion kicking myself a bit but not too wound up because I know it was speculative and I was chasing chips.

The second event was the APAT Team Event for Blonde.

I chose to go up the night before and stay with my girlfriend who lives in Leeds which was roughly 45 minutes away.

I was at first going to base myself there all weekend but the Day 1 would have finished far too late so booked a little hotel just north of Manchester. A great find for £50. Nice little countryside place.

I got to the G after contending with North Manchester and Prestwick traffic. Introduced myself to the team who were all a great bunch of guys. I chose not to drink, as did most of our team, other teams on the other hand did love their Sammy Bucca. In fact as a side note I did read on Facebook after the event this was the best day the Manchester G bar had had since a record breaking New Year party.

This was reflected in the play. As fun as the event was in the first two levels we saw:
A dealer verbally abused for saying something about 'Poker Leagues'
A 35 minute wait for a beer and an agitated player wanting said beer (he eventually eliminated me, top guy btw)
Someone three barrel and jam into the river to be called down with the nuts, twice.

I loved this event as I felt I could confidently try and build a stack. We were up and down all day sometime 5 x average, sometimes with 10bb.

I actually became Mr Unpopular in about level 6. We defend a min raise from UTG where the button and SB have also completed. We have  8d 6d.
The flop comes   8h  5d   5c. We lead out for 2/3 pot and the button calls. Everyone else is out of the way.  4d on the turn means we aren't getting away. I bet big again to which he min raises my bet so I jam.

He goes into the tank for 4 min 15 seconds and I know he is a reasonable player and has a decision on his hands here. After the 4 min or so I call the clock to A) speed things up and B) apply a bit more pressure. With 5 seconds to go he folds and I show him my cards. He becomes very agitated saying he folded  Ts Th and then a lot of tutting and debates ensue about the etiquette here.

I was fully aware it was a well structured comp but we were 6 x 45 minute levels in and I wanted to apply pressure to my opponent and speed the game up a bit. What do people think here?

This is actually the first time I've called the clock.

Calling clocks fine, wouldn't worry about it. I got slowrolled twice on my table, I think the villain was drunk (or possibly high) :)

I don't see anything there that I would describe as bad etiquette, 4 min is plenty long enough. Not sure whether general etiquette at an APAT event differs from other poker events.  It was all very friendly and enjoyable which was a refreshing change to be honest.  Myself and hutch also got a bit of a scowling for refusing the £2.50 a man bubble saver!  I maybe shouldn't of laughed at the suggestion though!