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It was a massive shock to receive the news from Andy Plater’s
sister a few days ago that he passed away on Easter Friday. I had
no idea that he had a history of blood clots, and even his own
family did not know they could be life threatening – but one of
them alas let Old Father Time get hold of him and gave him a
massive pulmonary embolism – and at the so early age of 43 many of
you may be unfamiliar with Andy.
He virtually never played live Tournaments in the UK, and only
played a handful of tournaments overseas. Online players may well
have known him over cyber space through one of his several
nicknames, the latest being Hoopi. He was accustomed to playing
big stakes. A short while ago he told me how he had just lost
£1,000 in a One-point Match. He thought he was playing for a
hundred, but somehow made a bit of a faux pas!
He was one of England’s very very best players, right at the top
of the tree. His few overseas tournaments resulted in winning the
2nd Consolation at the 2007 World Championships in Monte Carlo.
This was the only British win in any of the Main Flights there –
to my knowledge - for the last 20 years or more. He also had more
success online than any other player I know of.
The first time I met him was in the 2005 World Championships for
which he qualified online, and from memory he had unsung success
by reaching the last 16 – something very few Brits have ever done.
Last year he also qualified online for the prestigious last 16
shoot-out for the WSOB – and courtesy of an admittedly unlucky
John Hurst reached the last 8. Andy also reached the final of the
True Money Games Queens Cup from a massive field of 1000s. I don’t
think the final was ever played.
I don’t know the full story of his mathematics abilities, but I
would think he was something of a maths genius. All I know is that
he gained his PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1991. He then
went on to do supervisory work at Hughes Hall where his title was
Director of Studies in Mathematics. His activities in Cambridge
were a little bit of a mystery since then even to his family,
except for punting down the cam, cycling and playing Frisbee.
He told me once he didn’t like playing live BG as he was so
consumed with the maths and the online playing, he just couldn’t
get his head round it. It was probably lucky for the rest of us,
as I am sure he would have walked away with numerous trophies had
he put his mind to it.
As a person, he was quiet and unassuming. He didn’t drink a lot,
and didn’t smoke – so how unfair it is that he died of something
lots of us players deserve far more than him. I’m sure he wouldn’t
mind me saying, but he was perhaps a little shy.
One of my favourite days of the 2007 World Championships was
getting him away from all the hubhub down to the beach for a head
to head session – the day after he had picked up the Consolation.
On his own he’d open up and told me a lot of interesting stories.
He looked so happy that day – with a great big beam on his face –
and that’s how I will always remember him. What a tragic loss to
life and to our game. My deepest sympathy goes to his family. The
funeral is at Cambridge Crematorium on Friday 24th April at 1.30.
RIP
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