S8 Live Tour Discussion Thread

[duke3016]

I am going to Dublin, what are they playing again  

Flight & Hotel booked

[Paulie_D]

Nothing other than the venue and dates will be set in stone yet for that event, so let"s do what APAT do best.  Discuss, listen and adapt where appropriate.

I would very much hope that this event including the format ARE set in stone.

If it were changed to NLHE, I would not attend.

I would be especially annoyed if this happened after i had booked flights / accommodation.

If it isn"t locked, this should be made abundantly clear as soon as possible and a "lock" date advised.

[DodgyEnd (Tom APAT.be)]

Nothing other than the venue and dates will be set in stone yet for that event, so let"s do what APAT do best.  Discuss, listen and adapt where appropriate.

I would very much hope that this event including the format ARE set in stone.

If it were changed to NLHE, I would not attend.

I would be especially annoyed if this happened after i had booked flights / accommodation.

If it isn"t locked, this should be made abundantly clear as soon as possible and a "lock" date advised.

Totally agree here; PLO would be the reason why I would make the trip from Belgium to Dublin. If I would book today and suddenly next week they decide to change it to NLH after all, I would be very annoyed!

But since Tom announced it as PLO, that won"t change I guess...

[HERBIEHACKIT]

Nothing other than the venue and dates will be set in stone yet for that event, so let"s do what APAT do best.  Discuss, listen and adapt where appropriate.

I would very much hope that this event including the format ARE set in stone.

If it were changed to NLHE, I would not attend.

I would be especially annoyed if this happened after i had booked flights / accommodation.

there would be alot more who would attend and you would have no trouble selling accommodation.

If it isn"t locked, this should be made abundantly clear as soon as possible and a "lock" date advised.

[Curlarge]

One thing that I would like to point out, is about the numbers of Irish based APAT players that attended recent APAT Ireland events.

Prior to last year, the 3 previous events were held in Cork, and a number of us travelled from the UK to support the event, as indeed we have and had done previously in Dublin, but to my recollection there were hardly any regular Irish based Apaters that came to Cork in any of the 3 years.

Therefore, and considering the poor numbers again last year, I really don"t see how any criticism, constructive or otherwise, is justified. For 5 years APAT have failed to capture the attention of Irish based players in the same way it has in other parts of the UK, so a change of tactics is more than fair.

I will say that these are facts and in no way is it a dig at my friends in Ireland, but if we cant even attract Apat regulars who live in Ireland, to travel to an Irish event, what chance is there of getting newbies to travel?

[KarmaDope]

James, I really am struggling to understand why you are adamant that the Dublin leg should be changed back to NLHE? Do you not believe that APAT should try new things to attract new members? I can understand Brendan"s/Damo"s POV because they live around the corner and it is their "home" leg so to speak, and also that they do not play PLO, but confused as to why you are so against it (and really the only one fighting for it).

You can see from posts above (Paulie, Stu, DodgyEnd, Ger, Rodders etc) that there are more than a few people willing to go to Ireland BECAUSE it is PLO. On top of that, it is well known in the UK that PLO tournaments do not work over here. DTD struggle to get runners for PLO. APAT struggle to get runners for PLO in their side events. If I were in Des/Tom/Matt's shoes, I would much rather try somewhere unknown than somewhere where bigger tours than APAT have tried, and failed miserably. Ireland to me seems the best chance of success for this event. Over the last 2 seasons, Ireland NLHE APAT main events have had <80 I believe each time, with a good number of them being travellers. Something had to be changed.

[Chipaccrual]

Something had to be changed.

But I think Brendan has got this spot on when he said getting an Irish based promoter onboard is the change that was needed.

I think the the bigger deal here is actually APAT hosting an event in a hotel based environment.  I think that is a huge step forward and potentially opens up all sorts of opportunities.

One other thing to add here, and I don"t want to second guess what Tom is planning for the WCOAP, but with the additional days booked in at Aspers Stratford, I can"t see why a 2 Day PLO Side Event would not be included.  This would again be a first for APAT and another great step forward.

[Fatcatstu]

Something had to be changed.

But I think Brendan has got this spot on when he said getting an Irish based promoter onboard is the change that was needed.

I think the the bigger deal here is actually APAT hosting an event in a hotel based environment.  I think that is a huge step forward and potentially opens up all sorts of opportunities.

One other thing to add here, and I don"t want to second guess what Tom is planning for the WCOAP, but with the additional days booked in at Aspers Stratford, I can"t see why a 2 Day PLO Side Event would not be included.  This would again be a first second for APAT and another great step forward.

There has already been alot of support for the OMaha event on this thread? It cant be changed now announced as people have booked flights and hotels surely??

[Chipaccrual]

Something had to be changed.

But I think Brendan has got this spot on when he said getting an Irish based promoter onboard is the change that was needed.

I think the the bigger deal here is actually APAT hosting an event in a hotel based environment.  I think that is a huge step forward and potentially opens up all sorts of opportunities.

One other thing to add here, and I don"t want to second guess what Tom is planning for the WCOAP, but with the additional days booked in at Aspers Stratford, I can"t see why a 2 Day PLO Side Event would not be included.  This would again be a first second for APAT and another great step forward.

There has already been alot of support for the OMaha event on this thread? It cant be changed now announced as people have booked flights and hotels surely??

Yeah, I think you would be correct there, and Tom has done his research, so let"s all go play a crazy four card game in Dublin whilst drinking Guinness.

What could possibly go wrong ?

[Fatcatstu]

Something had to be changed.

But I think Brendan has got this spot on when he said getting an Irish based promoter onboard is the change that was needed.

I think the the bigger deal here is actually APAT hosting an event in a hotel based environment.  I think that is a huge step forward and potentially opens up all sorts of opportunities.

One other thing to add here, and I don"t want to second guess what Tom is planning for the WCOAP, but with the additional days booked in at Aspers Stratford, I can"t see why a 2 Day PLO Side Event would not be included.  This would again be a first second for APAT and another great step forward.

There has already been alot of support for the OMaha event on this thread? It cant be changed now announced as people have booked flights and hotels surely??

Yeah, I think you would be correct there, and Tom has done his research, so let"s all go play a crazy four card game in Dublin whilst drinking Guinness.

What could possibly go wrong ?

This sounds like possibly the best idea anyone has had ever

Are you coming?

[Chipaccrual]

Something had to be changed.

But I think Brendan has got this spot on when he said getting an Irish based promoter onboard is the change that was needed.

I think the the bigger deal here is actually APAT hosting an event in a hotel based environment.  I think that is a huge step forward and potentially opens up all sorts of opportunities.

One other thing to add here, and I don"t want to second guess what Tom is planning for the WCOAP, but with the additional days booked in at Aspers Stratford, I can"t see why a 2 Day PLO Side Event would not be included.  This would again be a first second for APAT and another great step forward.

There has already been alot of support for the OMaha event on this thread? It cant be changed now announced as people have booked flights and hotels surely??

Yeah, I think you would be correct there, and Tom has done his research, so let"s all go play a crazy four card game in Dublin whilst drinking Guinness.

What could possibly go wrong ?

This sounds like possibly the best idea anyone has had ever

Are you coming?

Will see what the Aer Lingus flights from Bournemouth are priced like, so it"s definitely a possibility.

[Fatcatstu]

Something had to be changed.

But I think Brendan has got this spot on when he said getting an Irish based promoter onboard is the change that was needed.

I think the the bigger deal here is actually APAT hosting an event in a hotel based environment.  I think that is a huge step forward and potentially opens up all sorts of opportunities.

One other thing to add here, and I don"t want to second guess what Tom is planning for the WCOAP, but with the additional days booked in at Aspers Stratford, I can"t see why a 2 Day PLO Side Event would not be included.  This would again be a first second for APAT and another great step forward.

There has already been alot of support for the OMaha event on this thread? It cant be changed now announced as people have booked flights and hotels surely??

Yeah, I think you would be correct there, and Tom has done his research, so let"s all go play a crazy four card game in Dublin whilst drinking Guinness.

What could possibly go wrong ?

This sounds like possibly the best idea anyone has had ever

Are you coming?

Will see what the Aer Lingus flights from Bournemouth are priced like, so it"s definitely a possibility.

Best news of the whole announcement

[Des]

It can"t reasonably be changed at this stage, and in fairness we need to run it and assess the result.

Two other things that I would add.

1)  Ireland is a very competitive market and one that we haven"t achieved traction in, for a number of reasons, some covered above.  One of our barriers to suceeding in Ireland is our lack of guarantees, which a number of our competitors offer. So we are looking for a point of difference this year and PLO will give us that in a multi day event.

2)  it may well be that the event will run as PLO, but the APAT Irish Amateur title is still up for grabs. Players have six months to perfect their game and can potentially create a greater edge in this field during that time than they might have with NLHE. 

I do know this event won"t be exactly what some of you want this year, but as always we"d appreciate your support. Having a successful event will increase our options in future seasons and going the hotel route, bringing Larry in and creating a newsworthy and relevant point of difference is our attempt to break through.

[KarmaDope]

I have been doing some basic research. All of the following flights are with Ryanair. They fly Friday 9 Jan and return Monday 12 Jan. No checked in bags - hand luggage only. Pretty sure most of you know the rest of Ryanair"s rules.

Leeds Bradford - leave 6.30am, rtn 8am - £48 (can leave at 7pm same return for an extra £6)
Birmingham - leave 8am rtn 6.30am - £48 (can leave 12pm or 3.50pm for an extra £6)
Bristol - all flights cost £57
East Midlands - all flights cost £48
Edinburgh - cheapest flight combination £53 (all outward flights with rtn at 6.35am - later returns for an extra £6)
Glasgow - all flights cost £50
Liverpool - leave 6.30am rtn 7.50am or 10.05pm £48
Gatwick - all flights cost £61
Luton - all flights cost £61
Stansted - Most flights cost £61. There is one combination that costs more.
Manchester - leave 7.50am rtn 6.20am or 8pm £47. The other combinations cost £57.
Newcastle - all flights cost £57.

Other airports that Ryanair dont use:

Cardiff - £91 with Aer Lingus

[MonkeyMagic]

From what I saw travelling from Bristol to Cardiff by train one sunday morning, Welsh folks, um, enjoy, saturday nights in Bristol very much.