Barny Boatman's career had almost everything. He was one of poker's first TV stars, a WSOP champion, and the oldest member of the legendary London poker-playing quartet, The Hendon Mob. What was missing was a Main Event title on the European Poker Tour, where he has been chasing the big win for a long time.
Now an EPT Champion after his victory at the Paris stop in February, Boatman sat down with PokerOrg to reflect on the reaction to the win, the big hero call that got him there, and what he's going to do next.
"It was a huge moment in completing an ambition I've had for a long time," Boatman said on a break at EPT Barcelona. "I've always had a good relationship with PokerStars. I've always had a lot of respect for what they do for the tour and for the game."
Boatman joined PokerStars as a Team Pro shortly after the win, putting an exclamation mark on a long career on the felt and in front of the camera. He now spends his days promoting the tour and enjoying his time as an EPT champion. "It changed an enormous amount for me."
The win was less than expected for an older player in a Main Event that stretches over several days, but Boatman is excited to represent a different type of EPT Champion.
"As much as you go and play these things and you believe, 'Yes I could, on my day, with a fair wind behind me, why not?' But when it actually happens, now you really believe it. And that's different. And I'm enjoying everything about it."
The hero call
Looking back, Boatman's fortunes took a major turn at the end of Day 4 when he took the chip lead after a big hero-call against Eric Afriat. Afriat fired bets on every street with a flush draw that eventually missed before Boatman called with the top pair after a river bluff put his tournament life at risk.
"The truth of the matter is, you can make a call like that and you can be wrong, you know? I’ve made calls like that and been wrong. It was obviously more difficult because of the circumstances and because of what was at stake."
What Afriat didn't appreciate, Boatman says, was that the circumstances made it much more likely that he would make that play.
"He knew what my hand was, more or less, and he didn't think I could call — that entered into my thinking. You come up against these kinds of sliding door moments in tournaments. And quite often, if you walk away having had a good stack in the last couple of tables and then it's all gone wrong, you think back to a particular hand."
Stacking up the chip lead at the end of Day 4 was when Boatman started to give himself a real chance. "I was actually thinking at the time if you call this and you're right, you've really got a shot here."
'If you can do it, anyone can do it'
The reception has been great for Boatman, who now represents a different type of EPT Main Event winner as a PokerStars Team Pro. "A lot of people come up to me and say, 'I watched you, it was so great, I feel like if you can do it, anyone can do it.'"
The grind of a Main Event is sometimes a young man's game, but Boatman has shown it can still be done at any age and without grinding solvers in your downtime — "A lot of people seem to feel represented by me as somebody who isn't like someone who studies all the time."
He has run deep before, notably his 16th-place finish in the 2000 WSOP Main Event and a seventh-place effort at the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2022. EPT stops are different, Boatman says, because he can stay nearby and live in the same time zone, where he doesn't have to deal with jet lag or parking his car.
"I didn't always used to, when I came here I used to stay in little Air BnBs and walk in a couple of miles. It's very nice. You mentally have to stay switched on, and physically, you have to be present and awake. But I can still just about manage that."
What's next?
One last accolade hangs in the balance for Boatman. He only needs a WPT win to become a member of poker's Triple Crown club — WSOP bracelet winners that have also claimed titles in Main Events at an EPT and a WPT stop — but it's not likely he's going to chase it.
"I haven't played one for a long time. You know, there are good tournaments, but the fact of the matter is, this is the best tour. It really is the best tour in the world. In every way, you know, the best dealers, the best set of rules, the best floor people, in the best cities. So, why would I really want to go anywhere else?"
So if not the Triple Crown, what is Boatman's lingering ambition at this stage of his career?
"I've got a lot of ambition, but my main ambition is right now, right here to win this one. And if not this one, then Cyprus (in October.) But, you know, I've got it all rolling out in front of me. These are the best tournaments for players who like to play deep stack early on, which is the strongest part of my game, really. And so I'm very, very happy just to be in a position where I can carry on doing what I love."
Photos courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Manuel Kovska/PokerStars
