APAT/ WSOPE news from blonde

thought i'd beat betfair to it

APAT ANNOUNCE DETAILS OF SEASON FOUR

February 17th, London: The Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) is delighted to announce details of the fourth season of its critically acclaimed tour for developing poker players.

Seasonal highlights include:-

New Tour Sponsor: Betfair.com will become the headline sponsor of APAT in Season 4; in a partnership that will bring a tremendous amount of additional value and opportunity for APAT members. Betfair.com will exclusively host all APAT National Championship and National League fixtures online, and satellites for APATs live schedule of tournaments.

Added Value: The tour will offer APAT members the chance to win thirty three seats to GUKPT main events and twenty three seats to APAT Professional League tournaments. In addition, each of the seasons seventy five amateur, professional and online tournaments will be run completely registration free for players.

APAT live tournament events will now typically comprise three events.

Amateur Championship: APATs core schedule will feature seventeen international amateur ranking events including three stops in continental Europe; in Austria, Estonia and Spain, with the undoubted highlight being the seven event World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP) at Dusk Till Dawn in August, which will feature the debut of the sixteen country World Amateur Team Championship, plus Heads Up, Six Max, Stud, Omaha and HORSE Championship events, in addition to the 414 runner World Amateur Poker Championship main event.

Professional League: The PL will feature seven events capped at fifty players utilising a deep Pot Limit Holdem structure, which will bring skill to the fore. Featuring a registration free buy in of £250, each event will have a GUKPT main event seat added for the winner and be open to APAT amateur and professional members. Played on a Saturday alongside the Amateur Championship event.

Specialist Series: A six event series in mixed poker disciplines, capped at 50 players. Featuring a registration free buy in of £25 with added value seats to APAT Professional League events for the winners of each leg. Played on a Sunday alongside Amateur Championship event.

Online Championship: Ten Championship events with a $50 buy in, each with added GUKPT seats for the winners, plus ten Omaha side events with a $20 buy in; each with added value seats to the APAT Professional League.

National Online League: Three divisions featuring thirty poker clubs from cities across the United Kingdom and Ireland offering fantastic prizes including seats to GUKPT, APAT Professional and APAT Amateur Championship events for winning teams.

Sponsorship Packages: The winner of the Professional League will win a £20,000 APAT sponsorship package for 2011. In addition, the winners of the Online and National Amateur Rankings will join the 17 Amateur Champions from season four and the player with the most points finishes across Amateur and Online events, to compete in the APAT Champions Final, to play for a second APAT £20,000 sponsorship package in 2011. This event will be held in February 2011 and venue details will be announced closer to that time.

Increased Profile: A number of APAT Amateur and Professional Championship events will be streamed live through APAT tv during season 4 while reports from APAT live and online events will appear in APAT Magazine, which will be launched this month and distributed to over 20,000 APAT members online.

For a complete schedule and a free APAT membership, please see www.apat.com.

AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

2 day events - £75 buy in - unless stated

20/3 - Welsh Amateur Championship - Aspers, Swansea
17/4 - United Kingdom Amateur Championship - Grosvenor Victoria, London
15/5 - Central European Amateur Championship - Austria
19/6 - Scottish Amateur Championship - G, Aberdeen
31/7 - Northern European Amateur Championship - Estonia
27/8 - World Amateur Heads Up Championship - DTD, Nottingham - 1 day - £50
27/8 - World Amateur Team Championship - DTD, Nottingham - £100
28/8 - World Amateur Stud Championship - DTD, Nottingham - 1 day - £50
29/8 - World Amateur Omaha Championship - DTD, Nottingham - 1 day - £50
30/8 - World Amateur Six Max Championship - DTD, Nottingham - 1 day - £50
29/8 - World Amateur Poker Championship - DTD, Nottingham - 3 day - £100 - 414 runners
31/8 - World Amateur HORSE Championship - DTD, Nottingham - 1 day - £50
25/9 - Irish Amateur Championship - Dublin
23/10 - English Amateur Championship - G, Luton
27/11 - European Amateur Championship - G, Coventry
8/1 - Southern European Amateur Championship - Spain
29/1 - United Kingdom Team Championship - G, Bolton


PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE

1 day events - Pot Limit Hold'em - £250 buy in - 10,000 *****- 40 minute clock

20/3 - Professional League Swansea - Grosvenor, Swansea
17/4 - Professional League London - Grosvenor Victoria, London
19/6 - Professional League Aberdeen - G, Aberdeen
28/8 - Professional League Nottingham - DTD, Nottingham
25/9 - Professional League Dublin - Dublin
23/10 - Professional League Luton - G, Luton
27/11 - Professional League Coventry - G, Coventry

SPECIALIST SERIES

1 day events - £25 buy in - mixed structures to be advised a month prior to events.

21/3 - Specialist Series Pot Limit Omaha - Grosvenor, Swansea
18/4 - Specialist Series Razz - Grosvenor Victoria, London
20/6 - Specialist Series NLHE - G, Aberdeen
26/9 - Specialist Series Omaha Hi-Lo - Dublin
24/10 - Specialist Series Stud - G, Luton
28/11 - Specialist Series Draw - G, Coventry

ONLINE CHAMPIONSHIP

1 day events - $50 buy in (main events) $20 buy in (Omaha) - Saturday 8pm (main) 9pm (Omaha)

27/2 - Welsh Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
27/2 - Welsh Online Championship - Betfair
27/3 - United Kingdom Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
27/3 - United Kingdom Online Championship - Betfair
1/5 - Central European Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
1/5 - Central European Online Championship - Betfair
22/5 - Scottish Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
22/5 - Scottish Online Championship - Betfair
3/7 - Northern European Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
3/7 - Northern European Online Championship - Betfair
23/7 - World Online Six Max Championship - Betfair
24/7 - World Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
25/7 - World Online Poker Championship - Betfair
14/8 - Irish Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
14/8 - Irish Online Championship - Betfair
21/8 - UK Online Team Championship - Betfair
2/10 - English Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
2/10 - English Online Championship - Betfair
6/11 - European Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
6/11 - European Online Championship - Betfair
11/12 - Southern European Online Omaha Championship - Betfair
11/12 - Southern European Online Championship - Betfair

ONLINE NATIONAL LEAGUE

Three Divisions - $10 buy in - Sunday 8pm - 2 leagues run over course of Season 4

7/3 - National League 1 - 1 - Betfair
14/3 - National League 1 - 2 - Betfair
28/3 - National League 1 - 3 - Betfair
11/4 - National League 1 - 4 - Betfair
25/4 - National League 1 - 5 - Betfair
9/5 - National League 1 - 6 - Betfair
30/5 - National League 1 - 7 - Betfair
13/6 - National League 1 - 8 - Betfair
27/6 - National League 1 - 9 - Betfair
11/7 - National League 1 - 10 - Betfair

8/8 - National League 2 - 1 - Betfair
22/8 - National League 2 - 2 - Betfair
5/9 - National League 2 - 3 - Betfair
19/9 - National League 2 - 4 - Betfair
10/10 - National League 2 - 5 - Betfair
31/10 - National League 2 - 6 - Betfair
14/11 - National League 2 - 7 - Betfair
5/12 - National League 2 - 8 - Betfair
19/12 - National League 2 - 9 - Betfair
2/1 - National League 2 - 10 - Betfair

Many APAT players have come of age through playing affordable multi day tournaments with us over the last four years. We feel the time is right to offer those players an opportunity to step up with the introduction of the APAT Professional League. With the outstanding prizes on offer, this is certain to attract some strong professional players and our existing players will learn more quickly playing alongside them. We look forward to charting your continuing success. To answer a question that will be asked, we're not going to allow multi tabling of amateur and professional events.

An end of season Champions final will identify our player of the year and what a prize he or she will win. A £20,000 APAT sponsorship package for 2011. This event will feature the best of our players from live and online and it should prove an incredibly fitting end to a superb season.

We've also added a series of fun specialist events on Sunday's and we hope to see Pot Limit Omaha, Stud and Razz feature in those schedules. With a £25 buy in and a seat in the next APAT Professional League event up for grabs, we're sure these will prove very popular.

One further point on our live schedule of events. The clickfest has always proved problematic and wildly expensive to host in merchandising fees. Clickfest seats will now be sold through a special Betfair tournament lobby, which will go live at exactly 9pm on the advertised clickfest night. This will save us a great deal of effort and should be a far smoother process for members. The Seat Exchange and player list will be managed as in all previous years.

We've listened to member feedback on our online schedule, where a Pot Limit Omaha Championship event has been added alongside every online National main event during the season. Every main event winner will win an added GUKPT seat while every PLO event winner will win an APAT Professional League seat. Their will now be two National Leagues during the season, split into three divisions based on finishing positions last season. Every online event will be registration free to APAT members, as will our 28 live Championship events - which will represent a huge saving for each of you over the season.

So to Betfair. They have ceased their sponsorship of the World Series of Poker Europe and we will be their key poker focus in 2010. I would like you all to welcome Betfair into APAT with open arms, because there are a number of further initiatives that we have planned during this season and the support of our members in playing with Betfair is key to their delivery. This is a fantastic win win partnership, so please ensure you do your bit.

We will make some further announcements over the weekend and we hope to launch APAT Magazine at that time also.