Barny Boatman

Early years

Barny Boatman was raised by socialist parents in Somers Town, London. He left school as soon as he could, driven by persistent truancy. After that, he spent time traveling and working in Barcelona, Australia, Hong Kong, and Sri Lanka. His jobs have included bartending, building, teaching English, journalism, computer programming for P&O, and working as a legal advisor in Bermondsey, where he never lost a case.

He says a near-fatal motorcycle accident and the death of his younger sister Jo from cancer gave him perspective. His hobbies are skydiving, snowboarding, and scuba diving. He is godfather to his brother Ross’s son. Boatman started playing poker at home with friends and later taught Ross.

They began playing tournaments at the Vic on Edgware Road, where he won his first event—a seven-card stud game worth about £2,000. They then joined a private game run by Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani, becoming close friends.

The four became known as The Hendon Mob. Nic Szeremeta invited them to appear on the new series Late Night Poker, and Boatman reached the Grand Finals in series 3 and 4. He commentated on series 5 and 6 alongside Jesse May.

Poker career

Boatman first cashed in a World Series of Poker 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 runner-up 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 three 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. At the 2013 WSOP, Boatman bested a field of 2,247 entries to win Event #49, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.

He defeated Brian O'Donoghue in a three-hour, back-and-forth heads-up match to win his first bracelet and $546,080. Boatman also won another bracelet in 2015, at the World Series Of Poker Europe, in Berlin, Germany. He won Event #7, €550 Pot Limit Omaha for €54,725. Boatman made the final table of the first Poker Million tournament.

Other poker activities

He also made the final table of the first ever Showdown Poker Tour event, finishing runner-up to Mats Gavatin. His major titles include: L. 500,000 limit seven-card stud, 7th Torneo Di Poker, Slovenia, 1998; FIM 1,000 pot limit Holdem/Omaha, Helsinki Freezeout, 1999; £500 pot limit seven-card stud, European Poker Championships 2002; $300 pot limit Omaha, Four Queens Poker Classic 2003; €1,500 no limit hold'em, Helsinki Freezeout, 2003; £500 no limit hold'em, Luton Christmas Cracker, 2003; €5,300 no limit hold'em, EPT Paris, 2024.

In 2005, Boatman appeared on the chatshow Heads Up with Richard Herring to discuss his life, career, and his love of poker. In addition to Late Night Poker, he has commentated for Poker Million, World Heads-Up Poker Championship, Celebrity Poker Club, European Poker Tour, Poker Nations Cup, and Victor Chandler Poker Cup. He also starred in his own series 'Barny's Home Games' where he attended home poker games throughout Great Britain. As of 2024, his total live tournament winnings exceed $5,475,000.

In addition, Boatman is a member of the Gutshot Card Club and was sponsored by Full Tilt Poker. He has written over 50 articles for The Hendon Mob's website, and two online poker lessons for Matthew Hilger's site Internettexasholdem.com. In March 2026, Boatman signed with Partypoker as part of the PartyPoker Tour ambassador team.