Barny Boatman

Barny M. P. Boatman (born in St Pancras, London in 1956), sometimes known as “Barmy” Barny Boatman is an English professional poker player and the oldest member of the poker-playing foursome known as The Hendon Mob. He is the older brother of Ross Boatman, and resides in Archway.

During his lengthy poker career, Boatman became one of the pioneers of poker on television by regularly appearing in the Late Night Poker television series. He was also the first person to reach 3 consecutive final tables at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and came close to winning a WSOP bracelet.

Boatman grew up to socialist parents in London, where his babysitter was Dudley Moore. He left school at his earliest opportunity, following pressure from his ongoing truancy. He went on to travel for some time early in his life, and has both lived and worked in Barcelona, Australia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. He has worked as a bartender, builder, English teacher, journalist, computer programmer (for P&O) and as a legal advisor in Bermondsey, where he never lost a trial. He credits a near-death experience he had in a motorcycle accident, and the death of his younger sister Jo from cancer of giving him a sense of perspective in life.

Boatman used to play poker at home with friends and later taught his brother Ross how to play. They began to attend poker tournaments together at the Vic on Edgware Road, where he won the first tournament he entered, a seven-card stud event paying around £2000. Together they went to a private poker game run by Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani, with whom they became good friends. The four went on to be called The Hendon Mob. Together, they were invited by Nic Szeremeta to take part in the brand new Late Night Poker television series, where he reached the Grand Finals in series 3 and 4. During series 5 and 6, he commentated for the show, alongside Jesse May.

Boatman first cashed in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event in 2000 in the $3,000 no limit hold’em event. 4 days later he finished in the money in the $10,000 no limit hold’em main event, finishing in 16th place. (According to the James McManus book Positively Fifth Street, he was the chip leader for much of the tournament.) He also finished in the money of the main event in 2001 (33rd) and 2006 (854th).

Boatman narrowly missed out on a WSOP bracelet in the 2002 $2,000 pot limit hold’em event. His 2nd place finish earned him $77,160 after outlasting a field including Erik Seidel, Johnny Chan, Phil Gordon and John Juanda.

. This 2nd place finish was one of a record 3 back-to-back final tables, which earned him a win in the European Poker Awards Tournament Performance of the Year category. He also finished one place off a fourth consecutive final table.