I always use the beginning of a new year to reflect on my previous year of poker and write out my poker plans for the forthcoming year. I have managed to play a good amount of poker in 2019 and participated in some really good tournaments. I have also had the pleasure of playing poker in a variety of different countries around the world.
My first achievement of 2019 happened early on in the month of January. I was proud to be a representative of the Essex Home Game team for the APAT team event that was hosted in Blackpool. Fellow Blue Blood Members, Dawn Cooke and Gary Lipman were also in the team. I was even prouder when our team managed to win the event. With a gold medal in the bag and a nice amount of cash to start the year off with, my next adventure led to me playing poker in Vienna. I had been selected to play for England in the APAT World Championships. I had never been to Vienna before. There were many Blue Blood members playing out there. Jo Chillmaid, Warren Brooks, Tom Clark, Dawn Cooke, Gary Lipman, Ricky Buckland and Shug to name but a few. I played in a number of tournaments whilst in Vienna but unfortunately there were no medals or winnings from this trip. This trip actually resulted in me returning home and reviewing my entire game. Things that would normally “work” in England, did not work in Vienna. This led to me studying a number of poker books. I know that whilst in Vienna I didn’t adapt very well to different playing styles of opponents. I subsequently used my Vienna experience as a basis for adding things to my existing game. This education has since helped me to adapt to various different situations at the table and helped me exploit different playing styles. My third achievement was another England selection. This time I headed off to Prague with Dawn Cooke and Gary Lipman to play in the APAT European Championships. We managed to finish in third place and took home the Bronze medal. Another medal bagged and I then headed off to Las Vegas. This led to my fourth achievement. I managed to win the morning Mirage tournament. This was the first time that I had won a tournament in Vegas so I was absolutely buzzing.
I therefore look back on 2019 with a sense of pride. A gold medal with APAT, a bronze medal with APAT, two England selections and my first tournament win in Vegas. I would have happily taken that at the start of 2019.
I have started to formulate my poker calendar for 2020. My first event will be at Dusk till Dawn for the APAT Team Event. Once again, I will be representing Essex Home Game and I sincerely hope that we manage to replicate our victory of 2019. I am planning on playing a number of tournaments that Grosvenor host. This will include a number of 25/25 tournaments and deepstack tournaments that are local to me. I also have my eye on the GUKPT at Luton in July. I will be utilising the satelites on Grosvenor’s website to secure my entry into these tournaments.
APAT have not released their full schedule yet but it goes without saying that I will be at The Worlds wherever that may be. The Worlds is the highlight of my poker calendar every year.
So that’s my plan for 2020. I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead and I wish all my fellow Blue Blood members good luck for the year ahead. (Not too much luck though if you’re up against me).
