In 2024, Barny Boatman won the EPT Paris Main Event for $1.3m and fulfilled a long-held dream in that moment. But the co-inventor of The Hendon Mob did way more than that, inspiring different generations of poker players to take up the game he loves and grow a new community of PokerStars players in a way no-one else could have.
A Magical Moment in Paris
The City of Love become a love-in for a poker favorite in mid-February when Barny Boatman won the EPT Paris Main Event for $1.38 million. The French capital was a stunning setting for the win but it nearly didn’t happen. Deep in the event, Boatman became the chip leader when he made an historic hero-call against the shove from experienced Canadian player Eric Afriat. Here’s the hand in question.
“You get these Sliding Doors moments in tournaments and you look back and say ‘I wasn’t sure…’ or ‘If I called that, I might have won it,’ or ‘If only I hadn’t…’. I recognized in the moment that this was that moment. It was a huge opportunity, and if I got it wrong that was going to be it.”
Despite knowing the high stakes of the hand, Barny wasn’t nervous or negatively affected by that. He used that knowledge along with his years of experience to deduce the truth about Afriat’s hand.
“Everything about the way the hand played out and his demeanour screamed to me that it was what it was. Once I called him on the turn, I knew a blank river meant I was going to need to call again. I gave myself some time because why not? But the call had already been made.”
Barny thought about what was at stake and figured that it made it more likely that Afriat would play the hand that way… and was bluffing.
“He mostly likely knew what I had – a pair of jacks – and he would feel as he indicated afterwards that it would be hard for somebody to call given what was at stake. That actually helped me to call.”
For the Love of the Game
It was a stunning moment and soon, Barny was the oldest-ever EPT champion in the tournament’s glittering history. We asked him if it was more about the prestige rather than the top prize he won.
“Oh mate, it’s the money!” he laughs. “No, I didn’t expect to be as emotional as I was. I remember winning the [WSOP] bracelet in Vegas and it was surprising how much it meant to me. I was delighted to have my brother and my friends there with me but it wasn’t as moving as Paris. This got me in a different way.”
Barny admits to having been at the last table of big events and always seeming to miss out. That played on his mind.
“I maybe misplayed the hand, had a bad beat or a cooler but for whatever reason, those really big ones always slipped through my fingers. It’s only natural to feel ‘It’s not for me – I’m the guy who gets close sometimes.’. To have the universe tell you that you get your turn as well…’
Barny is clearly still just as moved as back in Paris and he says that he never tires of talking about his magical moment in the French capital where so many people were rooting for him.
“I knew a lot of people were rooting for me. Everybody questions themselves sometimes. You question your own game even if you’ve got aces against kings and a king comes! It’s a vindication and it makes you feel good about yourself and the way you’ve been spending your time. The money helped in lots of ways but getting that trophy was wonderful.”
Becoming a PokerStars Team Pro
“There’s a whole travelling circus, it’s great to be a part of it.”
Just a short time later, Barny was announced as the latest PokerStars Team Pro. As an ambassador for the site, he really feels like he belongs.
“It has been absolutely fantastic – like coming home. I’ve known so many of the people who work on the tour, from dealers to tournament directors to security people, bloggers and so many other people, who’ve been around a long time. The ambassadors are great – a really nice bunch. You get to know players who qualify; we have events with them and there’s a whole travelling circus, it’s great to be a part of it.”
If James Hartigan is the ringmaster, does that make Barny the most colorful performer?
“We all just fall out of this clown car and run around having fun – its good.”
Other than Paris, Barny’s experience as being part of the team when ‘Stars celebrated its 20th anniversary in Barcelona was very special.
“They invited along quite a few previous champions, including [fellow Hendon Mobster] Ram Vaswani, so it was great to be there with him. We hung out and he was there with his daughter, and made a bit of a holiday of it. It was huge Main Event and it’s a wonderful place anyway. PokerStars pulled out all the stops to celebrate the 20 years.”
Over the last two decades, the European Poker Tour, invented by Barny’s friend in the game John Duthie, has grown and grown. Because of the nature of his free spirit in the past, Barny would likely have arrived just to play the Main Event but being part of the ‘Stars team has made him appreciate everything more.
“I’ve discovered what a good line-up of events they have, and it is a great privilege to be there all the time” he says. “I’ve made half a dozen final tables and had two or three seconds or thirds as well as the big win.”
Curling in Prague and the Vegas Sphere
Barny is filled with gratitude at having been given what he sees as a ‘huge opportunity’ to promote the game that he love and work with great people.
“As well as having the best online offering, ‘Stars has the best connection with the live game and provide the best way into the live game. That’s what makes it special to me. I love to play on PokerStars, but what’s really special to me is playing live with someone who qualified for $1.50 online and are having an incredible experience.”
There are a lot of those on offer. In Barcelona, every PokerStars player felt like a star, not just Barny. It turns out he won big in Prague away from the felt too.
“The other highlight for me was doing ice curling in Prague,” he laughs. “There were a bunch of teams and my team won! I got a spade trophy and that is my most treasured PokerStars trophy. That’s all skill. The other two I’ve got…everybody knows four-card PLO is just bingo! But seriously, the way they lay on all these things is wonderful We went inside the Sphere in Las Vegas and went go-karting. It’s like being in an out of school club in the summer – they lay on all these events to keep us out of trouble!”
That GTO Lifestyle
One of the things that’s happened in poker in recent years is that some players have been made to feel inferior by not focusing on solvers or the exact ‘GTO’ (game theory optimal) way of playing. While Barny appreciates the need to study, he says there is room for ‘feel’ too.
“Anybody coming into the game now would be mad not to approach poker in that [GTO] way; there’s so much to learn. Those of us who came in another way, however… when people talk about the ‘hours they spend in the lab’, not everyone is disposed to or have time to do that. People who got into the game when I did were different.”
The characters who Barny started playing poker with the 1980s and 1990s were often larger than life, such as the Devilfish, Dave Ulliott, or his long-time friend Victoria Coren. They were unique personalities and have been just as successful as the new breed of poker player.
“They were more maverick,” admits Barny with a smile. “We worked stuff out for ourselves and made it up as we went along. No-one ever saw the hands we didn’t turn over, there were no under-table cameras. There is still value to the experience gained by learning the game that way.”
One example is Liv Boeree. Barny’s fellow British player won the biggest-ever score for a female poker player in live tournaments last week in The Bahamas.
“She had that amazing run and she’s a kind of born-again ‘feel’ player. If you’re smart – which she is – then you know its all part of the game. The part that people of my generation have. Solvers and studying are important, but feel is too and maybe some older players still feel there’s a place for them in the game, which there undoubtedly is.”
Just as when he won his WSOP bracelets, the outpouring of love that came for Barny becoming an EPT champion at 67 years of age was overwhelming and he felt it all.
“It’s all mutual. I love the game and nearly everyone in it! I think I attract old players as well. A lot of people come up to me and say ‘If you can do it, why can’t !?’ I take that in the best way it can be taken!
Winning EPT Paris in February and subsequently becoming a PokerStars Team Pro has been a massive thing for Barny to enjoy. He can’t wait to continue growing the game with the brand in 2025.
“It changed so many things and opened many doors for me,” he says. “It’s very sad that Paris is on ice for 2025 become of political uncertainties. I’d been looking forward to that more than anything. But then again they’ve started an amazing new tour starting in Campione, Italy where I’ve never been. Long may it continue.”
Long may Barny Boatman continue… and so say all of us!