Barny Boatman, Hendon Mobster and one of two Boatmans here at the WSOP, has his sights set on a first bracelet. Despite making a record three back-to-back final tables in 2002 including one second place finish, that little piece of gold hardware has so far eluded him.
During a break in the $3,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo World Championship, Barny took some time away from railing his brother Ross in the $5k No-Limit Hold'em event to share his thoughts.
Having come all the way here from England you must be feeling the effects of the travel. How have things being going for you and how has the fatigue affected your play?
Yeah, you're right about the jet-lag. It takes about a week to get over it. I came straight in, and the day after I arrived, I played the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em, and I was there until around midnight.
Since then I haven't been going deep in any of the tournaments I've played. I had a good shot in the Shootout. Right now I'm playing in the Stud Hi-Lo which is a game I really love, but I've drawn an unbelievable table, you should come take a look at it.
I saw, you've got Greg Raymer, Cyndy Violette and Scotty Nguyen. That's two world champions! So are you the kind of player that can deal with fatigue at the table?
I am used to dealing with fatigue since I'm an insomniac! But I'm not 100% happy with the way I've been playing. I've made a couple of mistakes in hands that have cost me in chips. But overall I think it's okay.
I made one very questionable call in one of the Hold'em tournaments when I made a read based on the speed my opponent put his chips in the pot and it turned out I had it completely wrong.
But I'm going to pace myself in this World Series and I have been really happy with my game over the past couple of years. I've been going deep in a lot of tournaments, especially No-Limit Hold'em. And I think if I keep playing the way I've been playing I should have some good results.
I saw you sweating your brother Ross just now. What are your predictions for him in that tournament?
I predict he'll make the final table actually. He's very focused. He's been a bit down on himself lately; he's one of those players that are very hard on themselves when they're not doing well. I knew that it would just take a nice run like this for him to realize what a great player he is again. He's sitting up in his chair and he's happy and really confident. And this is going to be great for his whole series. I'm delighted for him.
What has the Hendon Mob been up to lately?
Well the biggest thing I want to talk about is our association with FullTilt Poker which has changed everything for us. It's really, really exciting because they're everything that the Hendon Mob represents.
It's great fun for us to be able to do all the things we want to do. We're actually doing a European series of online poker. It'll be the equivalent of the FTOPS and the Hendon Mob will be hosting all those events. And there's going to be a special Hendon Mob league on FullTilt as well.
So what about this World Series? Total domination by the Hendon Mob?
(Laughs.) Yes, but you may not notice it!
Thanks Barny and good luck to all four of you.
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Barny, along with his brother Ross, Ram Vaswani and Joe Beevers are all players to keep an eye on. Hopefully we'll see Ross at the final table of the $5k No-Limit event as well as watch Barny make it deep in a few more tournaments before the summer is out.
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