blonde poker forum

I've really enjoyed the series so far. I've made some great friends and picked up more experience. I like the idea behind APAT, in trying to develop amateur players like myself, in providing an opportunity to enter larger tournaments and the like.

One suggestion I have is this: Would it be possible in future series to tournaments such as Omaha, Stud, Razz, 2-7 Triple Lowball, and HORSE events? The reason I'm asking is I've never had an opportunity to play any of these games live. I really enjoy playing all types of poker for the variation and challenge, and feel these formats are massively under-represented at present. If APAT wants to stand out from the rest, this could be another good way of doing so.

There's so much more to poker than Hold Em. It would be encouraging to see if APAT would be prepared to host different poker tournaments, as this could send a clear message to the various casinos that there is a demand for such games.

I can imagine my thoughts on this matter are in the minority, and most people feel more comfortable just playing Hold Em. Anyone want to share their thoughts on this?

All for new things for season 2 but I do think extra events in disciplines not many are familiar with is unrealsitic.

One idea I would like to see would be a heads up event - either managed by PS or live over a cpl of days.  I dont know how easy it would be to organise but no doubt this would be extremely popular!!

Des/Tighty/Tikay - get to work!!

Thanks fior all the suggestions guys, keep them coming. (Eyes, sorry I missed your Post originally).

Season Two plans are well advanced, but we will take a look at the things you gave suggested.

As well as what you can see is happening in APAT, there is a huge amount of "Association" work being done right now, stuf that's critical to our wonderful game of Tournament Poker. The nature of some of it means we need to stay under the radar for a while, but we are talking to all sorts of people, & progress is, to be honest, way ahead of target. The public face of APAT are the Tour Events, but we have a lot of work to do to meet with the Association's aspirations. We are on the way! Many of you have seen how we run our Tournaments, and your feedback from these continues to tell us what we need to know.

We are on the case Mr Champion!

Has a certain ring to it!

Looking forward to season 2 already, sounds like it should be fun!

Has to be said, "maxward" is the UK Amateur Poker Champion.

Along withWelsh Amateur Champion  janjellis, & English Amaterur Champion kinboshi, APAT have been blessed with three great Ambassadors for poker already.

Long may the trend continue.

how do you play k8

Taxi for Mr Fisher, taxi for Mr Fisher......

Now that's what i was waiting to hear  ;applause; ;applause; ;applause;

Thanks Rich.

100% with you Sauren.
As the live events are completely over subscribed surely filling another discipline shouldn't be too hard?
Or perhaps at least some alternative events on Stars?

All aboard the Horsey?

I too agree with EOS, I personally would like to compete to be the APAt season 2008 seven card stud  or omaha Hi/Lo champion. Variety is the spice of life and these could be additional comps to run alongside the tour championships. 

Maybe an APAT Festival at DTD, with more than just holdem?
Im sure that would work.
I havnt had chance to play any of teh APAT events and im hoping there will be plenty of room if they can tie up with DTD.
Fingers crossed.

These are wonderful suggestions, & we shall see. We are in talks with numerous people, but we want to ensure tht....

a) The APAT Hold-Em Series is not diluted by losing our focus.

2) If we do go down the route of other poker variants - & I love the idea - then we will add money.

We are on the case.

Brilliant, I'm already excited about season 2, this one has been brilliant (when I've managed a seat), and it's sounding like it's only going to get better.

Here's to the DTD WSOAP festival type thingy!!!!!!

The problem with HORSE events its staff who know how to deal it!

are you volunteering?

lol

Having tried to enter all of these so far i would suggest you concentrate all efforts on the rediculous capacity issues which lead to an even more rediculous way of people getting seats.
I was genuinely interested in the association part of APAT but have seen nothing on this as yet and we are how long down the road?
I actually joined up with several others from another forum and there was a recent querie regarding the association and most folks didn't even know this was supposedly the main focus of apat!
Sorry to sound a little frustrated but there are many members out there who are and as this seems to be the main APAT concentration i assume it's the right place to mention some "issues"?

APAT already have razz, stud, omaha, limit and no limit tournaments as the last five online series events to complete the
player of the year.  With 45 points up for grabs I think a lot of players will be trying hard to learn
the disciplines.  A natural progression would be to run non ranking events in stud and omaha on Saturday
evenings and Sundays at Championship events, for players busting out, or the specialists.


capacity in season 2....well we expect to have a wide range of regional live qualifiers to give far more members a chance to play their way into events. In addition there remains the possiblility of multiple Day 1s etc and the odd big venue coming onstream within the industry. Put all this together and I hope some of  the issues surrounding entry and capacity will be significantly alleviated next season. 

association...there is a lot of progress being made with venues and authorities but these discussions take time. They are though ongoing. The impact though is of course longer term than the tour, where there are regular events and more short term profile

ysoglum..no problem...you can raise issues here or via email to any of the APAT people richard@apat.com or des@apat.com just to give you a couple of addresses.

I love Omaha, but whenever I play it live i'm all fingers and thumbs with having to handle a whole four cards and remembering them all !

ALL popular events have problems with capacity.  The EPT events sell out almost immediately, and people who want to play have to miss out.

There are no venues in the UK that can hold more than c.200 (not until DTD opens), so how do you suggest they cater for the demand?

Well for a starter stick to venues with higher capacities than 120, let people who have been trying from the start have a better chance of getting a seat than those that have already played.
2 First days.

can you name a casino in scotland with more room than the maybury?

They have been trying to get hold of venues that hold as many as possible.  It just hasn't been possible this year.  I'm sure the plan is to secure venues of the largest capacity possible.

If someone had really wanted to get into the two tournaments I played in - they could have.  On both occasions people turned up on the day to secure places.  A friend of mine wanted to play in the Cardiff event, but missed out on the 'click-fest'.  So he travelled over from London, got to the casino early in the morning and was right at the front of the reserve list.  A reserve list that saw about 15 people get seats on the day.  People also got in on the day in Brum.  I was 69th on the initial reserve list for Brum and got in.   

It would therefore be unfair to say that people who've been trying from the start to get a seat deserve one more than those who have been lucky enough to get a seat. 

Two first days is a good idea, and one that was mooted.  Not sure what happened there, but I'm sure someone from APAT will be able to shed light on it.  I guess that next season, when the venues are secured well in advance, we'll see 3-day tourneys.

I don't think anyone's saying APAT is perfect.  But it's not a bad effort for a first season - and no one else is doing it...

I don't see they can do 3 day events, I mean its an amateur event and therefore its held over the weekend - allowing people who do the 9-5, Monday-Friday. Right?

That's been the problem (I think) this season, as they haven't been able to give people enough notice.  But if you have 3 months notice about a tourney that's a 3-dayer, then you can book the Friday off in plenty of time.

bank holidays?

The Stanley in Glasgow

with access for all?

Yeah I know but that wasn't the question  ;)

ok let me rephrase the question

can you name a suitable liecenced card room that has more room than the maybury

If you remember guys we were goinG to Glasgow Stanleys last autumn until we discovered the unsuitability for our diabled players and despite strenuous attempts to resolve it the fact that the venue is listed prevented alterations to the building to enable us to hold the event there


Two day 1s? it was an issue of notice...as we know in season one we have planned one event at a time, including dates

I know the plan for season two is to publish dates and venues for the whole season in advance allowing people plenty of time to plan. Add in regional qualifying, more online qualifying and possibly multiple first days and we should get round some of the capacity issues.

I know the Poker schedule is quite full now, but can you try and avoid UK Main Fessie events? Or is that impossible?

Sadly I will miss the Scotland Leg as it now clashes with Lutons Spring Fest.

I think you will find that's not really a problem for APAT as almost all of the members don't play festivals. Something to do with the first A in APAT.

That's quite a sweeping statement you make their flushy... I think you'll find a fair number of APATers play in more festival events than you are insinuating here.

It was a point made by Tikay or Tighty, i can't remember which.

Going back to the poker variants theme, what would be nice would be a regular online MTT on the same day every month (say the first Thursday of every month) where you could play for the APAt season 2 trophy in a one off tournament for the right to be called APAt champion in one of pokers disciplines. Winner would get a nice trophy and coverage on the APAt website which would be a nice!, Could also cover limit and pot limit games as well.

quick example;

So 1st thurday Jan APAt Season 2, 7 card stud championship
Feb Season 2 Omaha
March Season 2 Limit Hold'em
April Season 2 Omaha Hi/Lo
May Season 2 Pot Limit Hold'em


  

Ok I musta missed that. the sarcasm that is

Nevermind James, continue the way you are, and you will need to get a job.

THEN you too can play APAT events ;)

I would also extimate that over 60% of runners in festival events are NOT Pro's ;p

Its not impossible but in April it was a case of "pick your poison"....week before is Easter, week after is GUKPT Manchester and then week after is bb4....

not easy to find a free week at all

We will always try and book for free weekends but not always possible

Its a sweeping incinuation but i do not belive it is possible to hold a multi variant format in APAT, especially live.
As Flushy, who made a very good point, lead at was it will not be possible to train the dealers here (in APAT cardiff) some had problems dealing hold em and knowing the basics. I think it may be a good idea to do online as i belive stars covers most or all of the variants mentioned anyway but not possible live. Omaha PL might be plausible but i still dont nelive the quality and standard of play will be as good as the holdem events (LOTS of holdem players like to think they can play omaha but simply cant!)

Not likely, i understand the concepts of bankroll management and game selection.

Hi Guys,

Most of the points made here have been answered, but just to reiterate......

Venue Capacity

Next year, there will be larger Venues available - I can think of one at 500+, one at 400+, & one at 250+, all of whom we are already in discussion with. It's good though that so many want to play the APAT Events, & those that do seem pleased with the way it works. The UK Venue capacity, to be fair, is outwith our control.

Clickfest/Draws

It's just not possible to find a way that pleases everyone, but we do try our best to make it fair.


Scotland Venue Capacity

We could not find a bigger venue, except one which did not have Disabled Access, & so this was not acceptable to us.

Three Day Events.

A possible, not discounted, but it's a problem for folks who have to get days off work. We aim squarely (though not exclusively) at recreational players, so 3 day events are not in the best interests of most of our members. This is also why we start & end our Tournaments at "reasonable" times - usuallly 2.30pm until Midnight or 0100am Day One, 2pm or 3pm to 10pm Day Two, so folks can get home & back to work on the Monday.

Other Poker Variants

Difficult, but not out of the question. As Flushy noted, finding dealers who know HORSE is not easy, for starters!

Asociation Isssues

As I indicated in a Post yesterday, these are proceeding ahead of target. An Interim Review of where we are is with me to do, & I'll publish it on the APAT site as soon as time permits.

Keep the feedback coming, please.

lol

A suggestion which ties these two together is to have separate clickfests for the 2 day 1's of a 3 day event.

If people can't take the Friday off they can try and get their seat in the day 1b allocation, if they can  - they can try for both. Although this obviously favours people with more flexibility over their working hours, I think the extra capacity this would generate more than makes up for this.

Great solution!!!!!!

bank holidays have the final on a bankholiday monday

...but there are only so many Bank Holidays, & many folks treat Bank Holidays as family occasions, with their kids. And another Poster asked us to try & avoid "clashes", and on Bank Holidays, every Card-Room worth it's salt holds Events.

Not all employers give bank holidays as holidays...

Not all UK countries share the same bank holidays...

:)

Don't hotels charge more for Bank Holiday weekends as well?

yep!

we get something like 12 bank holidays a year

we would proberly need only use 2 of them (scotland and wales)

as the UK and english events could be held at bigger casinos or dtd

ireland i believe has more room vegas as many as we want and europe all depends on where we go

now giving up 2 bankholidays to fullfill your hobby isnt that bad

and as its only 2 you can make them UK wide bankholidays

the PROs will all be at min festivals so that gets rid of them wanting to play

and as for not all people get bank holidayd off

alot of people work weekends and have to take days off if they want to play

problem with 2 1st days though is that it might make the 2 day very long not finiishing till the early hours of he morning

unless we alter teh levels or we could play till 2-3 am on the day 1s

depends on your location

some hotels reduce there prices on bank holidays as they havent got the business trade and they arent in tourist locations

I'm not a huge fan of the Bank Holiday idea, but I also think that it would be worth trying it out.

If, for example, the Wales tournament in season 2 was held over a bank holiday weekend then the demand and feedback from that could be used to see if it had an overall positive or negative effect.

Based on the definition many gave on the original APAT thread re: what the definition of a pro I would say 99.9% of festival players are not pro's.

Yes, but you still need to pull in your MTT cashes, as you yourself admit you cannot play cash.

So,so so many sites now show FULL MTT stats as well ;)

In the UK there are 8 Bank Holidays this year & 3 of those are Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Day. Of the other 5, 2 are on the same weekend (Easter) which is generally in April & the other 2 are in May!

HU SNG's pay pretty well!

Got to say I am suprised nobody else seems to really have got behind my idea of a heads-up event being added.  Be it online or at a live venue.  I think itd be great and its one of those events that everyone could enter, be drawn and have progressing over a numbers of weeks, culminating in say the last 10 matches.

Headsup online would be a good event (but only online). Maybe it could be added to the last major event online. I would look forward to that.

At least this shows the APAT has massive interest, and will continue to grow, everyone wants to play in the events, and it is moving forward (thanks to Des, Tighty and Tikay).

One thing I would like to know is how many people registered an interest in playing in the event in Edinburgh.

Heads up would be an interesting addition - as would a Omaha tourney.

But I think the Holdem tournaments need to be sorted first, and then they can consider looking at adding further formats.

Adding Heads-Up Comp to the APAT Schedule, Live or Online, as noted by two APAT reigning Champions, & APAT stalwart Flying Pig.

These, & other variants, WILL be considered for Season Two, & very seriously.

But we would say that our first priority in this area (we have many priorities!) is to refine & improve the headline Hold-Em Tour, and we will not sacrifice it by diluting the effort that is invested in this. And with Venue Capacity so stretched relative to the demand that has been evidenced in Season One, adding other variants is quite problematical. It does, however, as we have said, not rule them out, & they ARE under serious consideration.

I speak as Chairman of the Live Event side of things, not the Online Events, where I imagine there is less difficulty in accommodating additional variants & no capacity restraints. I am not involved in the Online side of APAT, so it is for Des or Rich to comment on their thoughts on your suggestions as they apply to Online.

150-300 level?