I love playing for England. I love leading the England team. BUT, I hate turning people down when they apply for places on the team, particularly given that everyone who applied is so deserving of a place. I could have picked five teams, and all would have been super-competitive at the WCOAP. To those that applied - thank you, although you gave me such a headache.
I hope that everyone will now get behind this England team, and will support us in our quest for English victory at DTD in March. I will be a playing captain again, and the four team mates that will make up the England team are as follows:
Asa McGrath
Asa has had a tremendous season, particularly online, and is currently leading the APAT S6 online rankings, having scored consistently in the online league, and going deep many times in the online championship and PLO events. Away from APAT he"s had several deep runs on Pokerstars in large field MTTs, and surely that big bink isn"t too far away. He is the reigning UK Amateur Online champion. Here"s hoping for a Blue Moon over Nottingham in March.
Stu Ward
Stu made his mark on the APAT scene back in 2009 when he won the European Championship. Since then he has been a regular face at most APAT events, both live and online, and has also supported APAT in most of its foreign tours. At the recent Home Internationals, he captained England to a silver medal, and was just a couple of HU flips away from gold. Stu plays much of his online poker on the new APAT client, and is doing particularly well in PLO cash games.
Carl Pilgrim
Carl"s had an incredible season, not just on the tables, but within the APAT community too - his charity gestures have been heartwarming. On the tables, he"s established himself as one of APAT's finest, winning consecutive gold medals in National events. At ECOAP in 2012, he didn"t make the England team, and then showed me the error of my ways by winning the Main Event.... I took note. Carl is currently the number one ranked player on the APAT Live tour in S6.
Tony Trippier
Tony won his seat in the England team by being the highest placed English player in the Individual rankings of the recent online league. Not only was he the highest placed English player, he won the league overall, taking a £440 Genting seat in the process. His consistency through that league programme was phenominal, making several final tables, and scoring points in most rounds. Tony represented England at ECOAP 2012, where he was one of the highest scoring players in the competition. We now have both Mancunian Red and Mancunian Blue in the same team.... fireworks?
(http://www.warstore.co.uk/ekmps/shops/marlina/images/england-st-george-charger-5-x-3-flag-2937-p.jpg)
We are England