Good morning.
I wanted to comment on this thread sooner, but I"ve been away in Vegas for a month, (I returned yesterday afternoon) working & playing, & so time did not permit, sorry.
A few points.....
1) First up, congratulations to all involved. I think APAT will continue to go from strength to strength, & this move finally gives us - sorry, you!..... - some independence. An excellent deal for all, & I congratulate everyone, & wish them well.
2) I want to stress that I did not wish to resign from APAT as such, but commercial considerations & clashes meant the position was untenable. I need to keep my hands clean in all matters, & whether I made it known, or kept it private, holding Management stakes in competing Online Rooms was not really right for any of the parties. So, after agonising over it, I decided I had to resign.
3) I have done very little (item 4) apart) for APAT for 3 or 4 years now. As Des & Tighty will readily confirm, I did offer my resignation on numerous occasions, as I felt guilty that I was not contributing much, but it was always refused by Des. That man is a fool....
4) Despite my resignation, I will continue to support, & big up from the rail, so to speak, all things APAT. I have always done this on blonde, on the TV Channel, on the Sky Poker Forum, & when out & about. In that respect, nothing has or will change.
5) Back in 2005, 6, & 7, when Tighty & I, led by Des, were helping set up APAT & get things moving, it was THE most exciting thing. Some of you will recall the hostility we faced, literally scores of pages of it, on loads of different Forums, it was extraordinary! I"ve never understood that, but I think it was really people thinking "it"s too good to be true". I actually look back on that opening skirmish with much affection, as a battle won, though it was not much fun at the time! Must be said, when a battle goes off, you DO want Des on your side, he is pokers answer to Billy Bremner. But, together, we did it. My time at APAT will always be at the very top of my Poker CV, nothing else I have done, or helped do, in poker even remotely approaches it.
So, a huge thank you to everyone, not just Des, & Tighty, but especially to the Membership - I made so many friends via APAT, & I will always be immensely proud of what we, all of us, achieved together.
Good luck & congrats to Des, to Matt, to everyone else on the Management Team, & to the Membership. I wish you all well.
Remember, it was APAT that first gave "grown-up" structures to regular recreational players, until APAT come along, we regular players were confined to dreadful tourney structures. 10,000 chip well-structured tourneys were confined to £1,000 buy-ins & up. Now everyone can play decent structured Live Poker. They have APAT to thank for that.
APAT IS the greatest, & I don"t see that ever changing, it is in safe hands.
