1 - WHO ARE YOU?
Billy Johnstone
2 - POST A PICTURE OF YOURSELF OR A LINK TO ONE (APAT OR OTHER)
3 - WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?
Norn Iron (or as I"m assured better known as - God"s own Country!!) - originally from Scotland - came over as a boy
4 - TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF?
Am just over 6ft tall and somewhere around 5ft 8 started growing through my hair while attempting, much like a gas and liquid, to occupy as large an area of the space I live in. Married to Jill who thankfully knows zero about poker/cards in general but is very accomodating on my
addiction (ahem hobby). Have two smashing stepkids - David just graduated and living/working near Manchester and Sarah (or Sera to her pals!!) has just gone to Uni in September past.
5 - WHAT IS YOUR POKER BACKGROUND?
Played 5 card stud just about every Friday in life as a student. When we won we got to take girlfriends out for a meal/bevvie on Saturday night. Lose and make up an excuse why you can"t go out!!! When we all went our seperate ways, poker was lost to me until someone bought me entry into a local tournament for a 40th birthday present. Texas holdem was introduced to me and we"ve been inseperable ever since!
6 - WHAT IS YOUR PLAYING STYLE?
Santa System - got beat to the book rights by some oul fella with a similar title but safe to say the style is very much a giving style.
7 - WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE POKER PLAYER AND WHY?
Locally, Marty Smyth is a smashing bloke. Also had the pleasure of sitting beside a few pros over several attendances at at the Irish Open in last few years. Downtown Chad Brown was very friendly and quite funny, Dave Coloclough was a gent but Padraig Parkinson is just mad and horrible to play against if you are trying to concentrate in any way lol
8 - WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE POKER SITE AND WHAT IS YOUR POKER ID THERE?
I can lose on most sites so hate them all equally! playing right now on betfair just because I won a small tournie there and have some money in it now!! Name now is BigBlin63
9 - WHAT ARE YOUR POKER ACHIEVEMENTS?
Updated: Now I can boast a decent cash - 3 of us chopped the 800 euro side event at the Irish Open 2013 for 20k each. Apart from that normal service has been resumed
.
Nothing major. A few wins online for a few grand here "n" there (but more here than there
). 11th in Northern Ireland Open in December 2005 (before club was shut down), in fact won the £100 side event that weekend too (which is how I got into the main event) so was lovely profitable weekend (for a change!!). Was 10 spots away from the money (and leading the online qualifiers paddypower last longer) in the Irish Open 2007 when I got moved to the tv table - promptly lost two massive hands (AA beat by QQ, and 99 beat by 66 all-in pre and both times opponents flopped sets) for a total of 200,000 chips and was dismissed to the rail - crushed.
10 - WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT LIVE POKER CURRENTLY, THAT YOU WOULD CHANGE?
Laws in N.Ireland around live poker are antiquated. Seriously there are bigger issues deserving of laws than like minded people sitting around playing a fifty quid game of texas holdem.
11 - HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT APAT?
Through a poker colleague - think it was actually Colin O"Prey.
12 -WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT APAT TOURNAMENTS, STANDARD OF PLAY AND STRUCTURE?
Been to 2 or 3 APAT tournies now and the standard has varied from woeful to highly skillful - there are some tremendous players playing at low levels due to roll/lifestyle restrictions. Without exception they are always very forgettable events because I have yet to remain sober all through for any of them and the old cells struggle to recall how I lost several hundred quid at a £100 buy-in!!!!
Structures are excellent and staff are hard working and very approachable - a pleasure.
13 - HAVE YOU PLAYED AT AN APAT LIVE EVENT AND IF SO, WHAT WAS MOST MEMORABLE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE?
Think I answered this above, yes played in several and can"t tell you a damn thing about half of it!!! We were 4th in last years forum team event after being overnight leaders - wheels came off completely on day 2 - perhaps answers above help with the reasons?
14 - WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF POKER?
Family, dining out, Football (watching) and red wine (drinking).
15 - WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK OR FILM?
mmmm - bit of a sci-fi fan - so loved the likes of Matrix etc - also a Robert Ludlum fan so like his books.
16 - WHAT THREE MUSIC ALBUMS WOULD YOU TAKE TO A DESERT ISLAND WITH YOU?
Parallel Lines - Blondie
Still on Top - Van Morrisson
The Wall - Pink Floyd
17 - FINALLY, WHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE FOR YOUR FELLOW APAT MEMBERS?
Be gentle and speak quietly on day two of events
