Good to know that people have such strong opinions on this subject !
I am not going to say too much yet, but I will say this.
I know that I run the BCPC and that you all know that too but I would never let my position in that organisation influence any of my choices relating to my position of England Captain.
Having said that it has given me the chance to view first hand some very good poker players of which I class Steve Redfern as one.
I decided on my selection process early on and Steve Redfern was one of the applicants. Steve is a member of the BCPC, as are certain other people who have applied to play in the team.
I didn"t tell ANY of these people to apply. They applied because they believe they are good enough to be in the team.
If I believe they are good enough then I will choose them and if anyone thinks I have chosen them because I know them then please feel free to say so on here. I won"t take offence (I am pretty thick-skinned ) and we are all entitled to our opinion. Even if yours would be wrong.
Let me just quote you a few facts here.....
"In last year"s team event I was undefeated on the first day, winning all of my STTs and HU games, and then ended up after two days as one of the top scoring players overall"
"I was part of the champion APAT team in January 2010, and of the 8 man team, was one of the 3 who contributed the points".
"I am around $10k in profit since March"
"I am passionate about my poker beyond measure, am equally passionate about England, and suspect I"m one of those most passionate about APAT. Pulling on the England shirt last year was up there with the birth of my kids etc - and I desperately want the chance to repeat".
" I have a sponsorship deal playing SNGs, which is where I am best profitable"
I wont tell you who this is. But does this sound like a player you want in your team......especially at a tournament that has a mix of SNG"s and Heads-Up matches ?
Whoever it is, he has put forward a strong case for selection, wouldn"t you say ?
He wont know for around 10 days if he has been picked as I will announce my team starting on MONDAY AUGUST 2ND and announce 1 player per day thereafter.
And it will be a team that I believe will be good enough to win the Tournament.
COME ON ENGLAND !!