The Broadway Casino in Birmingham played host to the first live APAT event on September 23-24. Massively over-subscribed, the 120 seats were allocated by ballot and with the final few reserve spaces sorted on the day (UK law means that all players have to be in the venue for shuffle up and deal), the English Amateur Poker Championship kicked off with starting stacks of 10,000 chips and the promise of a £9,000 prize pool plus an $8,000 EPT package courtesy of tour sponsor PokerStars.com.

Blow-up

The 40-minute blind levels and deep stack format provided some thoughtful poker before some huge confrontations meant eliminations were inevitable.