1 - WHO ARE YOU?
Brian Yates
2 - POST A PICTURE OF YOURSELF OR A LINK TO ONE (APAT OR OTHER)
3 - WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?
Wednesbury in the West Midlands
4 - TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF?
I worked for the same firm from August 1977 when I left school, until January 2011, when somebody got jealous of me playing poker and told the management that I was in Gibraltar when I should have been at work. 3 days off without pay was apparantly worth dismissal for Gross Misconduct!!
I spent a year out of work before becoming a postman in November 2011, and I love the job. Funny how things turn out eh.
I have been married to Karen for 33 years and we have 2 children....Nikki (29), who is a doctor in Brisbane and Daniel (25), who is currently working for the NHS.
5 - WHAT IS YOUR POKER BACKGROUND?
Started playing online around 2004 and have been keeping detailed records from 2005 onwards. Have been fortunate enough to be a winning player every year since then .
6 - WHAT IS YOUR PLAYING STYLE?
I think that I am quite a tight player, though once you have cultivated that image, that is when you can mix it up.
7 - WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE POKER PLAYER AND WHY?
I like watching Phil Helmuth, though as far as a favourite goes, that would be Paul "ActionJack" Jackson.....cuz he is a Baggie and was my opponent on my first ever Final Table......and I beat him !! (Though I didn"t know who he was at the time !)
8 - WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE POKER SITE AND WHAT IS YOUR POKER ID THERE?
PKR and Stars (BOINGBLITZ).
9 - WHAT ARE YOUR POKER ACHIEVEMENTS?
I have won more than 200 final Multi-Tables since I began playing. I have reached the final qualifying rounds for the Poker Million, WSOP main event (twice), Poker Stars Carribean Poker Adventure and Will Hill"s Carribean Poker Classic....where I was 3rd of 7 on the Final Table when my A-A-A got done by a 10-flush !!....It was 3.10am on a Sunday morning and I had to be in work at 6am !!!
I finally made the breakthrough July 2007, when I won one of 3 seats that were up for grabs on the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise 2008. I won a $9 satellite to reach the 2nd stage, then had to have a $60 re-buy there before I got through to the $550 final qualifier. There I finished 2nd, winning a $5500 all expenses paid trip for 2 around the Carribean for 10 days. While on the ship, I cashed in the $1000 buy-in tourney and proved to myself that I could play live with the best, coming up against the likes of Claus Mortensen, pokergirl1 and Karl Marenholz.
As an update, I finished 8th in the Virgin Poker Festival 3 at DTD on June 29th and then a week later was 2nd in the PokerPlayer leg 2 event at Walsall, while becoming Latvian Open Champion 2008 online in-between.......what a week that was !!
In the first week of 2009 I won a satellite on Ladbrokes that gave me a $5000 trip to Las Vegas.
Became Welsh Online Open Champion 2009 on February 21st, 2009 and then the next day finished 14th of 128 to just about make the money in my first foray into a GUKPT event. Had my finest hour in May 2009 when I won the APAT Irish open in Dublin. Was proud to have been chosen to play in the England team in the Amateur European Championships in November 09 and even prouder to Captain the team to last place a year later !!.
In the tournament that lost me my job (ECOSTT - European Championship Of Single Table Tournaments) in Gibraltar, I beat the previous year"s Champion from Sweden on day 1 to win the opening event, then came 9th in the Main Event for 4600 euros. Became Welsh Online PLO Champion in September 2013 and Irish Online PLO Champion in October 2015.
I am also now the Secretary of the famous Black Country Poker Club (BCPC).
10 - WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT LIVE POKER CURRENTLY, THAT YOU WOULD CHANGE?
I don"t particularly like re-buy tourneys, though I do understand why the Casino"s do. More freezeouts and especially double and triple-chance ones with long levels please.
11 - HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT APAT?
I think it was in Poker Player......terrific idea.
12 -WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT APAT TOURNAMENTS, STANDARD OF PLAY AND STRUCTURE?
Absolutely superb.....i wouldn"t change a thing with the structure and the standard, the banter and the people are all first-class.
13 - HAVE YOU PLAYED AT AN APAT LIVE EVENT AND IF SO, WHAT WAS MOST MEMORABLE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE?
Am now a regular at all APAT events.
14 - WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF POKER?
WEST BROMWICH ALBION F.C. !! I also follow England, am Secretary of the Black Country Poker Club, and am an avid fan of the New York Giants American Football Team.
Also love live music and am into the likes of Stereophonics, Snow Patrol, Paramore, Kids In Glass Houses and Hard-Fi.
15 - WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK OR FILM?
Only tend to read books on a sun-lounger and then usually Auto-Biographies. I liked Frank Skinner"s as it was very honest.
16 - WHAT THREE MUSIC ALBUMS WOULD YOU TAKE TO A DESERT ISLAND WITH YOU?
Any by the above artists
17 - FINALLY, WHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE FOR YOUR FELLOW APAT MEMBERS?
Take the good with the bad. We ALL make mistakes at some time in this game, although we ALL only remember our bad-beats and never when we get lucky. Enjoy the game and NEVER stop learning.
