With the live tournament scene remaining closed for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus pandemic, attention has shifted online, with major online operators securing partnerships with prominent poker brands and organizations to move the action to the virtual felts.
Over the past few months, the world’s second largest online poker site partypoker has worked with the World Poker Tour (WPT) and Poker Central, among others, offering its platform as an alternative venue for tournament action. Currently, the site is playing host to multiple online events designed for recreational players, courtesy of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT).
The tournaments run as part of the 13th season of APAT’s widely acclaimed tour, which has also been moved online as a result of the ongoing global health crisis. s
Poker Squads
Poker Squads is an online tournament with a team element, taking place daily at partypoker. For a buy-in of just $5.50, you can take part in the tournament as an individual or as member of a team. Each team is allowed to have up to four players. The tournament also involves a weekly leaderboard, both for individual participants and competing teams.
The tournament offers a great opportunity for amateur players to learn and improve their skills in various poker formats, including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, PKO, NLH Six Max, as well as Mix Max and Deepstack. The tournament kicks off at 8:00pm. Those making it to the top 3 of the leaderboard from each week will receive additional prizes.
Championship & High Roller Tournaments
APAT is also running championship tournaments every Friday. The APAT Championship Friday PLO has a buy-in of $16.50, with 100,000 in starting chips played to eight-minute blinds. Another championship tournament for hold’em player take place on Saturday at the same time of 7:00pm, and also requires a $16.50 entry fee.
The main highlight of the week is a $55 buy-in high roller event taking place every Sunday. The APT Sunday Roller offers two options for players to participate – they can choose to enter via direct buy-in, or take part in Phase 1 tournaments taking place daily for $5.50. Players can enter the Phase 1s more than once, but they can only carry with them their largest stack if they advance multiple times.
The APAT Show
APAT livestreams all online events (except those scheduled for Monday and Friday) via an online podcast, called “The APAT Show”. Hosted by Des Duffy and Leigh Wiltshire, the show brings together the APAT community and engages them in a friendly chit chat about poker and other subjects. It also gives relevant updates and recap on APAT’s leaderboard race, as well as results of each event.
Other scheduled APAT events running on partypoker include a $10+$1 buy-in NLHE Heads Up taking place every Tuesday, and a $10+$1 buy-in Fixed Limit 7 Card Stud on Thursday. Both events kick off at 7pm.
Players can also take a shot at the APAT Daily Splash, a $5.50 buy-in NLHE tournament taking place every day at 3:00pm.
All of these events are running exclusively on partypoker, and can be played via desktop or mobile. You can find fine the tournaments by searching “APAT” on partypoker’s tournament lobby.
APAT has a dedicated Facebook page and is also on Twitter, should you want more info on their tournaments. The association is always open to new members who want to broaden their knowledge about poker and improve their skills at the tables. To join as member, simply fill in the form available at www.apat.com.
More On APAT
APAT was founded in 2006, and was behind the first national poker tour in the UK. It has since become an international operator, organizing several events and poker festivals in Europe and North America.
Its mission is to provide an affordable way for amateurs to hone their skills and compete in tournaments. All these while gaining new friends in a fun and engaging environment. Some APAT members who have found success in APAT national events have also made it big in major international poker festivals, such as the World Series of Poker (WSOP), WPT, EPT, and Irish Open.