Launch of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT)

[londonpokergirl]

But why no norkage questions?

will there be any hot blokes there Tikay?

  If there are will make my job harder

[Rod Paradise]

Wishing all the best with this new venture for all those concerned.

I have to say that this forum is one of the better ones for not having ridiculously negative posts.  Other forums have trolls that seem intent on wasting their lives wishing ill on other people that are trying to make things happen.  Here at least, the questions are fair (if not self-answering on the apat website for some..) and I am sure will be taken in the right spirit.

As with all things, a new venture has to decide on a target market.  This will mean that for many the venue/buy-in/structure/something else won't appeal.  If the marketing is done right - it will appeal to 120 players and the event will be a success.  If it isn't, then they will have to re-think their strategy.  For me personally £75 is too small to take up 2 days and a hotel bill, (not if I am nailed on to win it of course) but that doesn't give me the right to complain that a new venture hasn't been set up with exactly my wishes in mind.

The structure looks ok, there is a bit of a jump as pointed out but there are so many chips in play that average stacks should be something like 60k when they do - so it will speed up a bit but hardly require an all-in frenzy.  Last time I played in one of these deep stack+low buy in tournys, 2 people that were moaning about the poor structure managed to get it all in ON THE VERY FIRST ORBIT with ace-rag -v- a small pair!  No structure in the world will give that sort of player a good tournament.

I agree that the "pro" definition is a little woolly for a court of law.  But this doesn't need to be a court of law. A common sense interpretation and I don't see a problem - if you really think you are on the margin then ask for clarification before you enter.  It is certainly less ambiguous IMHO than "beginners night" with the LNP stars out in force...

So GL to all those behind it and to those that choose to play.  I may well roll up at one or two of them - I'm bloody sure that I don't meet the criteria of "pro" no matter what definition you choose to apply!

[ifm]

I have a couple of questions regarding the online registration but i shall leave those until you have gotten thru the other questions in this thread

[Wardonkey]

Making a distinction between pro and amatuer players is almost impossible, this rule is unenforcable. It will be broken and lead to bad feeling and big problems.

Excluding anyone from a poker tournament who has the buy-in money goes against the grain and in my opinion against the 'ethos' of the game. Unless of course an individual is barred for cheating or anti-social behavior.

I am a professional player and I can see lots of reasons why I would like to play in this type of event, why do you want to exclude me?

[ripple11]

Des,
      I must say the £5/£10 online/offline membership wasn't clear to me when i joined this morning!

I joined thro my pokerstars account ,paid £5 and have a reciept saying " APAT Annual membership"  MEM003

....so do I have to "join" again for "full" membership??

[TightEnd]

But, as Acidmouse pointed out, £75 is still a fair whack for many a recreational player.   If, as someone else suggested, most festivals start at £100 rebuy, are there really that many more people that can comfortably afford a £75 freeze than can't stretch to a £100 rebuy?  I'm not trying to stir anything up here, it just seems that the target membership might be fairly limited.

Claire, I respect your view. However the buy in has been carefully set to offer "festival" type returns once you add the extra value in but at a lower buy in that the smallest festival event anywhere

I know £75 is not exactly cheap, but it still represents great value for money with this structure and these rewards

[tikay]

Is that wrong? Am i a poker snob? Probably, but unless I missed something am I right in thinking that for a lot of people on this forum this apat is not aimed at them?

The association is aimed at all amateurs. As such apat is aimed fair and square at many blondeites.

As to the Live comps, they are designed to deliver "festival" levels of return for a lower buy in, and as such suit those on a more limited bankroll. Again, that seems to me to suit many blondeites

But, as Acidmouse pointed out, £75 is still a fair whack for many a recreational player.   If, as someone else suggested, most festivals start at £100 rebuy, are there really that many more people that can comfortably afford a £75 freeze than can't stretch to a £100 rebuy?  I'm not trying to stir anything up here, it just seems that the target membership might be fairly limited.

This is the main event though.

Before I saw this I was looking at playing in a big tournament and the cheapest main event I could find for 2005 was £300. This would be a stretch for me, but next year I might manage it.

But I'm not going to bother spending £300-£400 on a £100 rebuy side event when I might just be outspent by other people anyway.

Thanks Jon MW.

Buy-in levels are entirely subjective, no buy-in "suits all pockets".

We went for this level as we thought it about right, given what we set out to achieve.

We certainly can't be all things to all players.

There may, of course (not my Department, sorry to be vague) be Online Super Sats for the Live Events though.......

Tony Kendall
Chairman, APAT

[Acidmouse]

Online sats for the live events!

[DesD]

Des,
      I must say the £5/£10 online/offline membership wasn't clear to me when i joined this morning!

I joined thro my pokerstars account ,paid £5 and have a reciept saying " APAT Annual membership"  MEM003

....so do I have to "join" again for "full" membership??

Hi Ripple,

If you send the specific details to 'customer@apat.com', I will organise to refund the APAT Online Membership.  You will then have the option to rejoin under a full Membership, which we hope you do!

Regards,

Des.

Des Duffy
Managing Director
Amateur Poker Limited

des@apat.com

[TightEnd]

Online sats for the live events!

oh no, the Chairman has gone off piste

[I, Zimbra]

These are my initial thoughts on this subject (it's taken me a long time to get through this thread, so please bear with me)

Firstly, this whole enterprise seems to me to be a very worthwhile one, in that there must be a market out there for a recreational player who wants to play a proper festival style tournament (i.e. not a fast-structured crapshoot), but who cannot afford to spend £000s to play an EPT event, or even £00s for a British Festival event.

Basically I say this because I am one such player! My bankroll would not extend to a £100 rebuy where I know I'll have to spend £300-£400 at least to have a decent chance. A £75 freezeout, however, is not beyond the realms of possibility for me. It could be a very useful 'springboard' to a higher bankroll - if I do well at the event - or, if I do lose, I will probably only be set back by a couple of weeks.

As Mr. Galloway pointed out, however, it's a bit of a different story when you have to include expenses (travel and 2 days accommodation will probably far outweigh the entrance fee), since I don't live near the Birmingham venue I am not sure whether I will be able to make the first event. The upside though, is that a lot of pros will similarly give the event a miss, being as the rewards will not be high enough to warrant their interest and expenditure.

However, the 'T' part of the APAT is encouraging; if this is indeed a Tour, then I will assume that at some point in the course of the year London will be included. I see from the APAT website's "schedule" page that events in Dublin and Las Vegas have already been confirmed. The venue for the UK Amateur Poker Championship (28-29 December) looks like the most likely possibility.

It's good that the issues of the registration fees/tournament fees are being discussed now, along with the blind structures; it even looks like progress is being made mere hours after the launch! Hopefully, these issues will be ironed out to the satisfaction of all and these events will be all the better for it.

[ripple11]

Thanks for that Des, will do.

I have the Poker Player mag at home for the promo code!

[booder]

Wishing all the best with this new venture for all those concerned.

  Other forums have trolls

we have one also..................dewi

[Claw75]

But, as Acidmouse pointed out, £75 is still a fair whack for many a recreational player.   If, as someone else suggested, most festivals start at £100 rebuy, are there really that many more people that can comfortably afford a £75 freeze than can't stretch to a £100 rebuy?  I'm not trying to stir anything up here, it just seems that the target membership might be fairly limited.

Claire, I respect your view. However the buy in has been carefully set to offer "festival" type returns once you add the extra value in but at a lower buy in that the smallest festival event anywhere

I know £75 is not exactly cheap, but it still represents great value for money with this structure and these rewards

I fully appreciate that - this comment was in reply to a post about the target audience. I was just wondering how large that target would be.

[TightEnd]

time will tell...early indications are the target market is rather large