About ten minutes into episode 300 of the Poker In The Ears Podcast, filmed live at The Hippodrome Casino in London, James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton have an announcement to make.

They peel and plonk a patch on their respective shirts, and announce that they have been signed as PokerStars Ambassadors.

It won’t be the last such announcement of the evening.

Among the 200 podcast fans who have gathered in Lola’s Basement for the live show there are a few special guests.

Sitting in the front row alongside two other members of Team PokerStars Pro (Fintan and Spraggy) is Barny Boatman.

The oldest, and most recent winner of an EPT Main Event title, is not just here to be a guest – a role he performed just a few weeks ago on episode 298 – he’s here to be announced as the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro.

Is This Real Life?

Just a couple of hours ago we were sitting in the other extremity of The Hippodrome, the Terrace Bar. It’s right at the top of The Hippodrome, and has incredible views of London.

As Boatman sipped on an orange juice, it was time to talk to the poker pioneer about another extraordinary step in an already legendary career. And how Paris has changed everything.

“The parameters shift, I’ve encompassed it into real life and it hasn’t completely sunk in, because it sort of changes everything more than you think it will,” says Boatman.

“It makes sense of everything, I feel like, ok, there was a reason I was doing all this. This is what I was after. It’s opened a lot of doors and it’s facilitated this relationship with PokerStars, which I’m really happy and excited about.”

Boatman Signs For Stars

The 68-year-old famously said he didn’t need to use his timebank chips during his win in Paris. Thirty seconds was enough time to make a decision. And similarly Boatman didn’t need to go into the tank before signing for PokerStars.

“Everything was very natural and straightforward. It’s an absolute honour and PokerStars are the absolute perfect people for me to be doing this with.

“For me there’s something else. They were there at the beginning, or near the very beginning with the European Poker Tour, and they helped to grow that and support that. The live game is what it is, is where it is, because of all the effort and resources they put into it. I want to give something back to them, they’ve been so good for the game.”

During a career spanning more than a quarter of a century, Boatman has had sponsorship before. But he says it feels different this time around.

“I feel like I’m doing it absolutely because I want to and there’s no pressure to do it. It’s a relationship I want with something that I really like. Not that it wasn’t the case with what I did before, but it was a different stage of my career.

“The Hendon Mob were always trying to get sponsorship, we were pushing for it. This just happened almost organically. I’m surrounded by people I already knew. I already had a relationship with a lot of people at PokerStars. Some of the people who’ve been on the live circuit for a long time, even the security people I know.”

Love of the Game

It’s clear that Boatman’s love for the game hasn’t diminished and indeed he tells me he’s annoyed at losing £50 in a home game he had played in the night before.

Speaking of home game’s, on his previous appearance on PITE Boatman discussed a TV segment he had filmed many years ago called Barny’s Home Games where he travelled the country and participated in people’s home games.

Which begs the question, with Home Games available on PokerStars, surely a revival is in order?

“Absolutely that will happen, he grins.

“Home Games are, in a way, what I’m all about. So, Home Games on PokerStars, that’s perfect. They are certainly one of the most enjoyable ways to play poker. I wouldn’t still be doing it at my venerable age if I didn’t enjoy it. That enjoyment, that love of the game, came from learning the game in home games.

“I hope that people, even if they’re playing at a very technical or high level, they still have that to ground them, to remind them why they love the game and the social aspects of poker.”

Future Plans

The social side of the game — the live game — is where Boatman feels his strengths lie.

Due to a friend’s wedding he’s unable to attend The Irish Open, but we’ll be seeing plenty of Boatman at PokerStars events going forward.

“I will be going to all the EPT stops, UKIPT stops too and I’m going back to Madrid next week to visit some friends and celebrate the win. So I’m hoping to be able to drop in on the last day and take part in the Estrellas event.

Whilst we’re likely to see Boatman in the commentary booth at EPT events, he says it’s unlikely we’ll see him live streaming his online play.

“I don’t think that’s what people want, or will be getting the best out of me personally. They’ve got the best people already for doing that. What I bring is a little bit different, it’s skewed towards the live game. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be playing online and chatting to people. It’s just not the biggest strength in my game to have me doing Twitch streams.”

One of those Twitch streamers, Spraggy, was happy to welcome Boatman to the team.

“Barny’s someone that’s been in the game for a very long time, it’s incredible to see his recent success in Paris. I don’t want to call it a resurgence, because he’s been around forever. I’m very excited he’s part of the team, it’s very impressive for anyone in poker to have gone through multiple eras and have had success in every single one.”

Survival Is My Trophy

And, as Boatman reflects on his longevity, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere soon.

“I’ve said this before, survival is my trophy. It’s because I love the game, because I enjoy the game and the life. At the same time, I don’t feel like I managed to do it despite being so old. I feel very happy and privileged to be able to do the thing I love.

“I have the resources and the friends and I still enjoy travelling. I don’t see it as an amazing achievement that I’ve survived, I see it that I’m so lucky to still be allowed to do it.

Poker In The Ears – Three Hundred Not Out

Speaking of longevity, the first episode of Poker In The Ears was released over nine years ago.

Joe Stapleton and James Hartigan took a few minutes to reflect on the previous 299 episodes.

Moments before they’d completed their final rehearsal. Ahead of them, a live recording of episode 300. It would go on to feature Barny, Fintan Hand, Ben Spragg, The Club Live Podcast team. Plus that most famous of EPT winners — the first to win two titles — Victoria Coren-Mitchell.

How different is recording Poker In The Ears live to the usual show?

James: It’s completely different. The number of people involved, it’s the same kind of size production team that we have when we do one of the live streams.

We joke in the running order that this isn’t just an episode of the podcast, this is a live event, that’s how different it is. I think for me in particular. Joe does stand-up – so he’s used to talking to a crowd, my job is to speak into a microphone, or talking into a camera. You know there’s an audience there, but you don’t see them.

When they’re actually there in front of you, I freeze up. I get very nervous, very self-conscious. So you have to approach it with a different mindset. It’s a very different experience. All we’re doing is what we do every week, it’s just in a different context and a very different type of show.

How many hours go into making the live Poker In The Ears show?

James: We’ve had hour long meetings, twice a week for the last three weeks. And then there’s all the work that the production team have been doing behind the scenes as well. Luckily we only do these once every 100 episodes, because it’s quite a stressful experience for everyone.

Who’s the guest you’ve had on Poker In The Ears, who you never thought you’d be able to get?

Joe: Getting Aaron Sorkin was a pretty big deal. He doesn’t do a ton of interviews or podcasts, so that was a pretty big get for us. From the poker world, Erik Seidel. He said it was his first ever poker podcast. I think it might have been his second. Those two were big gets. I’m going to hammer home the celebrity side of things all the time and it was really cool to have John Hamm on the show.

And your favourite guests?

Joe: We had Hellmuth on, which was cool. We got him to unblock me on Twitter whilst he was on air. Matthew Dicks, the storyteller guy, was really interesting too.

We’re so lucky that our regulars are such interesting people. Mario Ho, Griffin Benger, Sam Grafton, Lex Veldhuis. Yes many of them are Team PokerStars, but they’re interesting people.

What’s on your wish list for the next 300 episodes of Poker In The Ears?

Joe: More celebrities who I can try and befriend in my personal life, because that’s all I’m trying to do here for the most part, to raise my own social stock, higher and higher. So, every time we have one of these celebrity guests on, I’m like, “I live in LA, you live in LA,” sometimes that’s successful and sometimes it’s not. That would be a personal goal of mine.

James: I think we’ve hit the perfect mix, we have celebrities, the big names from the poker world, poker movies where we find tenuous links to films that have poker scenes in. The one thing I would like to up slightly is strategy but in the right way. There was an episode with Andrew Brokos where he broke down some of Joe’s hands and it was brilliant.

Joe: To achieve that James and I need to play more poker and that is part of the plan outside of the podcast, that he and I will have more hands on experience playing poker over the next couple of years.

James: For the first 300 episodes of the podcast we’ve been handcuffed by not being able to play. I can now play online, I’m going to be playing Power Path, I’m going to be playing the Sunday Million for the first time.

The idea is that Nick Walsh and I are going to duel stream the Sunday Million and we’re going to try to get as many of the guys as possible to drop by and say hello and give me words of encouragement without berating my decision making and my nittish approach to MTTs.

If you could do the 400^th episode of Poker In The Ears anywhere in the world where would you go?

James: I told someone recently, at the start of 2020, we knew episode 200 was going to hit in December and we talked about going to Toronto, but the pandemic happened. So, we weren’t able to do a live show for Episode 200.

So, I would like to think that, maybe even before Episode 400, I’d like us to do a live show on the other side of the Atlantic. We know we’ve got a lot of American and Canadian fans. Maybe we’d need to tie it to an event out there, maybe if there was an NAPT somewhere that would work out.  

The History Maker

The final interview of the evening was, perhaps, the most anticipated. Victoria Coren Mitchell joined the hosts on stage. “The brick heard around the world,” said Joe Stapleton as he introduced the first ever two-time EPT Main Event champion.

JH: I referred to you as a writer, TV presenter and poker player, do you still consider those to be the three pillars of your life? Do you get much time to play poker?

VCM: Very little, I don’t play poker in the same way that I used to. I haven’t played a tournament for a long time.

JH: It must be hard enough balancing TV commitments with family life, let alone throwing poker in there as well?

VCM: It is, although the brilliant thing with Only Connect is we make three in a day in a really intense period and then it’s on all year. This year the series finished after 32 weeks and they’re now repeating them for 11 more weeks.

JS: Do you feel pressure if you get invited to a [celebrity] poker event?

VCM: I do in a way. What always surprises people…if you go to a friendly home game, where they’re playing for £10, it’s almost impossible to win. Everyone just calls every hand, whatever the amount. With no disrespect to the greatest player of all time, Barny Boatman, it is much easier to win an EPT than a £10 Home Game.

JH: We just saw Barny win EPT Paris, how delighted were you to see your friend join you in that winners circle?

VCM: I couldn’t have been happier. I was sorry not to be there. To watch Barny win, and possibly swap a share in advance, but I just could not have been happier, for so many reasons. He’s a brilliant player, he’s just the nicest possible person. It proves an awful lot of things that I think about poker that I don’t think are talked about enough. He wins for reasons I find interesting.

To find out what those interesting reasons are, listen to the full interview here.  

Listen to Episode 300 of Poker In The Ears here or download it via your usual podcast provider or on Soundcloud.

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