Chris Hiam interviews recent UK Amateur title winner Barry Simpson, for his new site
RosesPoker.co.uk.
Chris Hiam : Hi BarryBarry Simpson: Hi Chris
CH: Congratulations on your recent Apat Uk Main Event win, for those of us that don't know you very well, where are you from, how long have you been playing and how did you get into poker?BS: I'm from Skipton in North Yorkshire,I've been playing poker for about 7 years now, mostly online but quite a few live events mainly APAT. I first got interested in poker by watching on tv late night viewing.
CH: What games do you usually play online?BS: Usually NL Holdem Tournaments
CH: What is it you enjoy about Apat and how have you done in previous Apat Events? I'll take some of the blame for you not making day 2 in Edinburgh a few seasons ago!BS: APAT are very well run with a good blind structure giving plenty of play. I have been playing with Apat since season one, but missed a couple of seasons when I lived in spain. This season is the first season that I have actually made day two, Coventry & then of course nottingham
CH: You did of course have some form making day two's coming into Nottingham, Coventry as you said but you also had a good run in the GPS in Sheffield which fellow Apat player Ian Szerlowski final tabled.. Just tell us a little bit about your experience in that?BS: GPS is also a well run series with 1 hour blind levels, I have only played in two of them but they have both been very enjoyable.I was very low stacked for a long while but just kept grinding away until I made the money & then just went on from there, finishing 29th.
CH: The buy in for the GPS Series is about five times that of an Apat event, was there a big difference in the standard of play?BS: Yes the standard is different because there are quite a few pros playing, having said that I find the standard of play at the Apat events very good also.
CH: Moving onto Nottingham, did you play the side events or did you come down solely to play the Main Event?BS: I played the Saturday in the 6 Max, but didn't last too long.
CH: So how did day one of the main event go?BS: Day one was a bit of slog, up one min then back down the next. I came back for day two with about 74k.
CH: I shared a table with you for a little while on day one, I think it's fair to say neither of us were involved too much during that time, would you say it was a fun table for you? What nickname were you given?BS: Thanks for that chris, I was trying to forget that name [victor meldrew] thanks to Chris Webber] but yes it was a very fun table with a lot of friendly table banter & noisey! lol
CH: Was there any drama during day one?BS: Just one bit, towards the end of the day I was involved in a hand all in pre with AK v 22, as the board ran out all low cards and the deuce hit the river to give him his set I had my coat on and was heading to the door after not seeing that the 2 on the river had completed a straight for me. Even the dealer hadn't seen it but the player sat two to my right spotted it thankfully [only know his first name is Ross].
CH: At least in the end the right hand won, was it smooth sailing from there to the final table?BS: No not at all, second hand of the day I lost over a third of my stack before finding what turned out to be a good fold with a pair of nines on a low flop [opponent had KK].
CH: What sort of stack did you have in comparison to the rest of the table?BS: I think at the start of the final I was about 5th or 6th in chips.
CH: What was your strategy were u just playing for the win or trying to ladder?BS: I was just happy at first to have made the final table but as the game went on & a couple of players went out my thoughts turned to winning it.
CH: So what do you remember from the final table? Any big hands?BS: When I had built my stack up, the one time chip leader raised my BB, he had done this most hands. I looked down at JJ and pushed, he instantly called showing 77 but the Jacks held up.
CH: Onto the last hand what happened and how did you feel once it was over?BS: We only played about 6 hands heads up when I got Kings, I pushed to a raise & got called by AT. Luckily the Kings held. Unbelievable, relieved & proud! As victor would say " I don't belive it!"
CH: lol and it couldn't happen to a nicer bloke, will you be playing any more Apats this season?BS: Yes hoping to go to Glasgow in November.
CH: Hopefully see you there Barry, thank you very much for your time and once again huge congratulaations on the win.BS: Thanks very much.
If you"re a member of the Yorkshire poker community, then feel free to visit Chris" new site -
RosesPoker.co.uk
