The first event of PokerStars Open in Campione, Italy, met and exceeded all expectations, breaking attendance records and creating some eye-watering prize pools. Tournament fields consisted of casual players, semi-pros, and, of course, some veterans of the game like Barny Boatman.
Pokerfuse caught up with Boatman for a quick chat as we wanted to know about his personal goals this year and his thoughts on the PokerStars Live League, the latest promotion set to reward the best performers across all live events organized by the operator, with one lucky winner getting the opportunity to join the ever-growing team of PokerStars ambassadors.
It was indeed a quick chat, but in a few short minutes, we found out who Boatman’s top pick is for the League winner and what his overall thoughts are on this new competition.
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PokerStars Live League — an Opportunity for Everyone
In case you missed the news, earlier this year, PokerStars announced its first-ever Live League, a competition comprising all of its live events (PokerStars Open, EPT, and Irish Open), providing additional rewards for the most successful players across the season.
To make things as fair and as attractive as possible, the League features three leaderboards that are based on buy-in amounts. The Low tier encompasses all events under €/£/$999, the Medium tier is for tournaments between €/£/$1,000 and €/£/$4,999, and the High tier features all events with buy-ins of €/£/$5,000+.
Top finishers in each tier stand to receive tickets for future live events, plus one of the top thirty performers (ten from each tier) will get a chance to apply for a role as a PokerStars ambassador.
We wanted to know what Barny’s overall take on this new model was, and he shared that anything that gives the game a more sport-like dimension was a good thing. He’s always been a fan of competitive challenges, be it a country vs. country or a series of heads-up matches, and Boatman believes the PokerStars Live League takes things to a new level.
He plans to focus on the Medium tier, playing in EPTs, PokerStars Open tournaments, and the Irish Open, but when it comes to predicting a winner, Boatman remains humble. Instead of backing himself, he shared with us that one player that he’d bet on to win and potentially land the ambassadorship is David Docherty.
Just a Suspicion
Boatman didn’t go into too much detail as to why he believes Docherty is the one he’d pick over dozens of great players who’ll, no doubt, try their best over the course of the year. He just gave us a quick summary of his thought process:
“He’s a Scottish player who plays well. He won the Irish Open two years ago, I think, and I saw him cashing in the high roller yesterday. I suspect that he’ll be going for it and have his eye on the possible sponsorship deal as well. If I was having a bet right now, I’d bet on him.”
Although the competition will be fierce, Docherty is no stranger to success on the green felt. With close to $1.5 million in live tournament earnings, he triumphed in the 2023 Irish Poker Open, GUKPT Luton, and a France Poker Series High Roller event, to just mention a few of his accolades.
Docherty’s official live results track back to 2009, so he certainly has a lot of accumulated experience and a strong passion for the game, both of which will be essential when pursuing this type of challenge.
That said, although Barny Boatman did not want to throw his name out there, we wouldn’t discount him, either. Having played poker for decades now, Boatman made over $5.5 million from tournaments, and if he sticks to his plan to grind hard this year, he’ll have a solid shot at that Medium tier.
Of course, he is already a member of Team PokerStars, so he won’t be spoiling anyone’s plans in that regard, but there is still plenty of value and prestige in claiming that top leaderboard spot, and although Barny may be a nice guy, he certainly doesn’t lack the competitive drive that’s a trademark of most successful poker players out there!
