A few weeks ago, I sent an application in to Carl Pilgrim asking to be considered for the role of Captain for England B.
As soon as i got a message off Carl asking me to do it, I have been thinking about this moment.
It has (as always) been massively difficult to pick a team out of all of the fanstastic players that had put themselves forward. At one point it was so tough I considered being a non playing captain.
Carl will be able to verify that I was still conflicted about team selection until about 20.30 tonight!! However, after much brain-wracking I can confirm that the team to represent England "B" at this years Home Internationals are as follows...
Paulie DavisPaulie is a returning member of my Home International from last year, when he came 3rd in the overall individual points table, a great performance. When i was asked by C arl to captain the team, I knew that I wanted Paulie in again.
Paulie has a great NLH and PLO game, and is ideally suited to the points gaining style needed in these events.
Having recently been inducted into the APAT Hall Of Fame, he was really quite an easy selection to make.
James BarberJames is another returning member from last years "C@ team and a vastly experienced APAT international.
James finished 8th in the points table last year, including a strong, team orientated, performance in the final MTT, where he ground the short stack to ensure points were gained for the team.
He had a superb run in the APAT Masters at Wemberly at the start of the season, so is showing some good form, and with his skills in PLO as well as Holdem I am sure that he will again be successful.
Dann WilliamsThe 4th member of our team will be Dann Williams.
Dann is relatively new to APAT, and the first time i met him was the European Championships when I was picked by rob Swindells to represent England for the first time, since then, he has become a regular on the APAT circuit and has a very entertaining blog in the Blogs section of the APAT forums.
I love Danns energy and enthusiasm for the game, and felt that his style and personality will contrast really well with the other players in the team.
He has a number of very good results, with a final table at the APAT MAsters in Wembley particularly standing out.
He is a great, thinking player, with a difficult style to play against, and both myself and Carl were keen to get him into our teams.
I am the final member of the team.
I am really really excited by the potential this team has, I am convinced that we are going to be one of the strongest teams at the event, and have a great chance of going all the way.