Fair points Pilf, although I still believe that accepting anything whatsoever above cost price for a seat represents a blow to the ethics that are supposed to be in place for this organisation. The payment of £75 should represent the cost of taking part in a national amateur poker tournament, nothing more, nothing less and no gain should be made by anyone not attending.
No, I don"t believe anyone would go through the clickfest with the intention of getting a share of an unknown amateur, but that does not mean the current situation is free from the possibility of being abused. What"s to stop someone purchasing a ticket so they can partake of the national experience, then selling their seat to someone they know to be a better player in the hope that this gives them a better chance of making a few quid? Nothing at present. I"m certainly not suggesting this has happened so far, but if deals of this nature are allowed to proliferate, then people WILL start buying tickets with the intention of selling them on.
The situation is very similar to what has happened to the demand for tickets to music festivals over the last few years. I used to go to these events regularly, but haven"t been for several years because I refuse to pay a large sum of money several months in advance without knowing who is appearing. The reason festivals frequently sell out on the day tickets are released, is that lots of people make a purchase not because they want to attend, but because they can sell their purchases on at a profit. This is precisely the situation APAT will be faced with if above-face-value transactions are allowed to continue. APAT nationals are already so heavily oversubscribed, the potential for abuse needs to be addressed.