Difficult for me to put into words my thoughts on this Brian but they are very similar to yours.
I have to say, the updates as always are fab, the guys do a bang up job, but its not the same. We maybe railed about 9 players we know of and it is unfortunate that they went out early yesterday.
What seems a shame is that 90% of the field are unknowns who don"t even know what APAT is about, they are there just to play a tournament that is in their local casino, yes they may be APAT members now and we welcome them, but it is not the "normal" spirited APAT event.
It is a worry, moreso there are still a couple of european tours still to come, and have to wonder how many will travel to those events.
I was just mentioning to someone yesterday how APAT is to allow people to play these gr8 tournaments for such a reasonable buy in without the worry of huge added expense. What we have here tho, is good buy-in for tournament and huge costs for travel/expenses.
This is not an unspirited post, love the ethos that APAT represents, but I am not sure these European tournaments can be justified to hold 3 a year, yes 1 would be fine, allowing those fortunate enough to be able to attend the opportunity of overseas tournament and also an increase in european players, but can"t say Im keen.