Barny Boatman is a member of the prestigious poker group known as The Hendon Mob, who are renowned for their exceptional poker abilities, team performances, and development of the top poker database.
Boatman is the fortunate proprietor of a gold bracelet from the globe Series of Poker and has placed in multiple tournaments around the globe. Boatman is ranked sixteenth on England’s All Time Money List in 2015, with over $2.8 million in career earnings.
Early Poker Profession
1956 saw the birth of Barny Boatman in London, England. He left school at a young age to travel the globe, visiting prominent destinations such as Barcelona, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Along the way, he worked part-time jobs to finance his travels, acquiring experience as a computer programmer and bartender. When he was finally ready to settle down, he developed an interest in poker.
Boatman and his sibling Ross began playing poker at home before eventually entering tournaments at the local Edgware Road casino. The first tournament Boatman ever entered was a Seven-Card Stud competition, in which he won $2,200 as the winner. Later, in the early 1990s, Boatman and his brother took an impromptu road journey to Las Vegas and played No-Limit Hold’em cash games for three consecutive days, depleting their bankrolls and returning home bankrupt. It would be some time before they decided to return to Las Vegas.
The Hendon Outfit
Boatman, his brother, and their pals Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani began to participate in weekly private poker tournaments in which they frequently competed with other sets of participants.
Their group’s rapport was so impressive that they became known as The Hendon Mob because they frequently performed in the Hendon neighborhood of northwest London.
Boatman and the group’s fame spread throughout London and it was no surprise when they were asked to become a part of the new series, Late Night Poker, which grew to become one of the most popular game shows in the UK from 1999 to 2002.
Their first televised team competition outside of a game show took place in Melbourne, Australia at the Poker Ashes, where they defeated Australia, France, and Ireland to emerge in first place. The group was initially hesitant to enter such a large competition, but Boatman ultimately convinced them to venture outside of their comfort zone.
In 2004, the Hendon gang lost their first Ryder Cup of Poker match against Team USA. The game was close that night, but with poker superstars Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson on the opposing team, they were unable to prevail.
Approximately at this time, Prima Poker proposed to sponsor the Hendon Mob for a total of $2 million in tournament buy-in fees. Boatman advised the team to accept the offer despite the fact that their contract required them to play online poker at PrimaPoker.com, which was uncharted territory for the entire group.
After their contract expired, they joined Full Tilt Poker immediately and remained loyal to them until 2011, when their company was accused of fraud, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars for their customers. The crew transferred allegiances to Genting Poker immediately, signing a two-year contract.