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Barny Boatman: A Member of the Hendon Mob

Poker players and fans may recognize Barny Boatman as a member of the Hendon Mob, a group of English professional poker players which also include his brother Ross Boatman, Ram Vaswani, and Joe Beevers.

Born in Saint Pancras, London, England in 1966, Barny Boatman held a number of jobs before finally focusing on playing professional poker. He traveled a lot, having experienced living in Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Australia, and Barcelona, Spain while trying out different jobs. Among the jobs he held prior to becoming a professional poker player were as a legal advisor, as a computer programmer, as a journalist, as an English teacher, as a builder, and as a bartender.

Poker had always been a game of leisure for Barny Boatman. When he was not abroad and was staying with his family in London, England, Barny Boatman and his friends would engage in several games of poker. Later on, he decided to teach his brother Ross how to play the game until they started to play one-on-one on a regular basis.

However, playing against his brother lost its challenge. Barny Boatman decided to engage in real poker tournaments and events. He and Ross started to visit the Vic casino located on Edgware Road in London, England. Barny Boatman's first dose of success at the Vic was when he took home approximately US$2,000 after winning in a seven-card stud event.

It was also during those years that Barny Boatman and Ross started attending private poker games conducted by English professional poker players Ram Vaswani and Joe Beevers. Not long after, these four professional poker players became popularly known as the Hendon Mob. They started to be invited in poker events and tournaments, the first one being guests in the television series titled "Late Night Poker." Although Barny Boatman did not win the grand prize, he was able to reach the grand finals in the show's third and fourth series. This professional poker player eventually became the commentator in the show's fifth and sixth series.

It was in 2000 when Barny Boatman finished in the money in the US$3,000 No Limit Hold'em event conducted by the World Series of Poker. He cashed in another World Series of Poker event in the US$10,000 No Limit Hold'em main event, placing sixteenth. He also participated in the main events of the World Series of Poker in 2003 and 2006. But it was in 2002 when this professional poker player almost earned a World Series of Poker bracelet. He only won the second place but did not really regret such loss because it was a great experience for him to defeat such professional poker players as John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Johnny Chan, and Erik Seidel.

Besides being a fan of poker, this professional poker player is also into scuba-diving, snowboarding, and skydiving.