Hi all i hope that you all have had a fab Christmas Day, and are enjoying a festive Boxing Day.
After much deliberation, chopping and changing i have finally arrived at my " Magnificent seven" to represent the APAT Forum team..
Its very true when you listen to previous captains explaining in length just how difficult it is to pick a squad from so many worthy applicants, it is a complete nightmare!!..
I could of picked three teams of 8 from the applications i received all who where worthy of playing, and many of these are people who i consider to be my friends also, so as you could imagine for me this task was tinged with unhappiness aswell as honor and joy...
In my thread for applicants to apply, i explained that i wanted to base my team around experience, enthusiasm and youth..
So i hope my team will bring all these aspects into the mix. to what i believe to be a winning formula, im sure everyone will give 100% and enjoy the experience to the up most.. I wanted to have youth in my team so that the APAT love i have accumulated over the few years embodies itself within them. so prehaps they can take it forward and share their experience with friends within their circle spreading the word..
So in alphabetical order here is my "Magnificent seven"..
David "pokerpops" Amos (david3103)..
David has been blogging on the forum sharing his poker tales for us all to admire.. with deep runs at DTD twice this year and a very impressive run recently in St Kitts only to be very unlucky bad beated by JP Kelly, close to the money.. im sure David would make a valuable addition to anybodies team..
Liam "The Reflex" Crawford..
Liam will be the first to admit that he has not contributed as much to the forum as many of the other applicants, but he is a relative newbie to APAT and has yet to have the chance to add more input as he is building up his live and online C.V...
I had the pleasure to play Liam on the final day of this seasons ECOAP, and if it wasnt for 2 coinflips which he lost im sure it would of been Liam playing Dean Mardon heads up instead of me.. Also a deep run at Stoke recently shows he has what it takes to go deep, also with Liam being somewhat younger than the rest of the team im sure the experience will kickstart his forum activity a little more and also he can spread the APAT ethos amongst his friends..
Warren "Waz1892" Fenwick
Warren in my eyes is pretty much everything APAT stands for.. I dont think i have ever met a guy who has so much love for the game and APAT.. I was lucky enough to be a player under Warren in team Luton when we played in the national league an amazing captain!! rallied his troops added to his team updated the thread all with the 100% enthusiasm he showed every time.. Warrens enthusiasm will spread among us all im sure and will be a valuable member of our team. and am very happy to have him onboard.
Michelle "HOLDorFOLD" Gascoine
Has had a very impressive run online of late, playing well in the recent POTS league finishing among the prize winners, and having deep runs in the Bunch of Fives also, let alone just missing out close to the bubble in Stoke.. Not only does she play a mean game Mich as most of us call her, will always stay late to rail everyone both live and online.. With a smile that could put the chesire cat to shame i am more than thrilled to have such a lovely person on my team, and thoroughly deserved aswell..
Brian "Erimus" Harland
Brian is another one of our bloggers and his "The Fossil does Vegas" is always an interesting read..
Brian is associated with a bunch who we are all familiar with "Stockton Massive", Phil TC, Stu Ward etc unlike the two for mentioned Brian is pretty good at poker and will not let the alchopops take over
.. Also in his application he mentioned that Phil Tc could "vouch" for him... enough said he was in my team
.. jokes aside i have seen Brian play online and im more than confident that he will score valuable points for the team.
JP "AceOnTheRiver" Round
JP is an APAT stalwart, along with names like Rich Baker, Don Roberts, Ger Smith.. JP will almost always be seen at the live events aswell as online and a blog he eats and breaths APAT, not alot more i can add, a great poker player, a great guy an easy pick for me as some might say a "no brainer".. very happy to have him onboard.
Naz "Smasher37" Wrigley
Naz is another player who frequents most of the APAT games both live and online, although he doesnt post as much on the forum as some do he makes up for it with his light hearted banter at the tables both live and online.. Naz will bring a spirit to the team that i feel will benefit us all, always has a smile on his face a true gent a worthy addition to the team, a good aggressive player who im sure will score us valuable points..
I would like to thank everyone who took the time to apply..its been very hard to read the requests and not justify a reason why you are not picked, basically it came down to two reasons not enough room in the team and i wanted to give at least a few more players a chance to play in their first APAT team event, and thats it..
Im sure all of you will wish the Forum Team the very best of luck, hearing all the positive comments in the updates really helps and will drive the team forward onward and upward to success..
Good luck to all of the other teams at Luton i know that many of them will have many APAT members playing for them, see you at the tables..
Carl "fandango" Pilgrim
