As every river card proves, it’s the unknown that makes the future so exciting. Take PokerStars' next ambassador for 2026: the company will be announcing them in February, and even they don’t yet know who it will be.
That’s because the PokerStars Live League, which came to a close on the weekend, had as its top prize a contract to represent the brand for a year — a deal worth a reported €100,000.
The top 10 players in each of the high, medium and low leaderboards are eligible for consideration. Auditions and a behind-closed-doors selection process will kick off in January, with the new member of Team Pro unveiled at the first EPT event of the year.
Among the 29 names in consideration — it would be 30, but Spain’s Gerard Carbo qualified through both the Medium and Low leaderboards — are several players who have already built strong reputations in the game.
And when it comes to reputation, few can match that of Barny Boatman: Hendon Mob founder, 9th placed finisher in the Medium leaderboard, a candidate for the new ambassador role and, until earlier this year, a member of Team PokerStars Pro.
It raises the question: why would an ambassador who recently parted ways with PokerStars want to rejoin them, and so soon? For an answer, there’s only one place to go.
‘I felt like I was just getting started’
It was in July 2025 that Boatman announced his departure from PokerStars Team Pro in a typically wry social media post, citing ‘musical differences or something’. One can never really know the reasons behind these moves, but Boatman’s tone never hinted at any animosity between himself and the brand.
Speaking with Boatman about it now, five months later, it seems it was more a case of contracts and funding than any meaningful schism.
“I got taken on partway through the year,” he explains, “and then it kind of went on into the next year a bit. I thought it was going very well, and I thought that they might want to continue, but I think that it was a funding issue: the funding was never there for it, and it just ended. It wasn't a case of them not wanting me anymore, or that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I just fell off that financial cliff.”
Boatman's win in Paris made him the oldest EPT champion to date.In business, as in poker, timing can be everything. Boatman’s tenure as one of Stars’ pros started after his eye-catching win at EPT Paris in February 2024, a victory which delivered a career-high tournament score of over €1.2 million. A couple of months later, in April, he was announced as the latest pro to wear the red spade.
It was a 12-month contract, and come the new financial year there wasn’t the budget to continue on the same terms.
“I kind of hoped that it might continue, but that was never the plan. Having done it for one year, I really enjoyed it, and thought that I was good for PokerStars as well. I felt like I was just getting started. So, when I realised I had an opportunity to have another pop at it, I was very happy to do so.”
‘It makes you feel good about the tour’
In this case, ‘another pop’ came about thanks to the PokerStars Live League and, as with some other contenders we’ve spoken with, Boatman’s interest was piqued once he realised he was already making headway.
“At the beginning of the year, I was aware of the Live League, but I wasn't focused on it and I wasn't jumping into everything. But once I had a string of results, somebody pointed it out to me and said, ‘Hey, look where you are in the league, you're just outside the top 10.’ I thought that was quite exciting."
That string of results included a win in the €1.1K PLO8 side event at EPT Monte Carlo, as well as another run in the PLO event at the PokerStars Open Namur.
“I went to Malta [in October] because I had a Gold Pass. And, while I was in Malta, I cashed in quite a few things, made two or three final tables, and realized at the end of it that I was quite close to the top 10 in the league. I figured that if I went to Prague there's a good chance that I would make it.”
While he has not worn the patch since the summer, Boatman has remained a presence at PokerStars live events.Two of Boatman’s cashes in Malta came in PLO events, before a trip to EPT Prague earlier this month yielded three more cashes in the €1,000+ Medium leaderboard bracket — including a final table finish in the €1.1K PLO8 event. The result was a top 10 position in the end-of-year standings.
“It’s a smart promotion from their point of view,” says Boatman of the Live League and its associated prizes. “It's an incredibly generous promotion, but in terms of it being something that makes you feel good about the tour, it's very good.
“I don't know that I would have gone to Prague and hammered my head against the wall quite so hard if it hadn't been that I had that focus. And, you know, luckily it worked out for me.”
‘I'm living proof that there are other ways to skin a cat’
With a rich mix of names in the conversation, some may consider a new face as the best choice for the ambassador role, but that would be overlooking the many qualities Boatman brings to the table, including a watertight reputation for integrity, and a long-lasting passion for the game and its people.
“I don't say this with any sense of entitlement. I think that there are lots of people in contention who would be very good, some I know, some I don't. But I think that for a lot of recreational players, and older players, I'm a link for people who maybe felt the game was passing them by and getting too technical and all the rest of it. I'm living proof that there are other ways to skin a cat, and that loving the game and having experience still has value.
“I imagine some people might say, ‘Oh, he's already had one ambassador deal, why should he have another one?’ I don't really think that's right, and I don't think poker's like that. You might as well say, ‘He's already won a million, why should he try and win another million?’
“I'm not in a position where I have to be an ambassador or have a sponsorship to put food on the table. It's something that I want to do because I love the game, and because I like what PokerStars and the EPT are all about. I've experienced a lot of warmth on the tour, I can't tell you how many selfies I‘ve taken, and I love all that. I'm not big-headed, but I enjoy the human connection, and I enjoy people telling me their stories.”
He may be a dreamer (but he's not the only one).PokerStars’ selection process for their new ambassador will kick into gear in January, and it’s beyond doubt that there is a great choice of figures from all across the globe who would do the brand proud.
The promotion of a young up-and-comer to a position of influence like this of course has its appeal, but the return of a figure so beloved as Boatman also has a romance all of its own. As he puts it, he’s like an ex-heavyweight boxing champ who’s already gotten off the canvas once before. He's a difficult character to root against.
We’ll always have Paris
“Integrity and love of the game are two things that are very much my brand. And it's genuine: humanity and warmth towards other players, that's all who I am. If you watch me play and hear me make people laugh at the table, I think if I hadn't already been an ambassador, that they'd be going, ‘This is the guy. How great that we've got someone with all this profile, all this history, this reputation for integrity in the game. It’s a no-brainer, let's pick him!’
“It might complicate the issue that I've been an ambassador before, but personally I think it’s a positive. I don't know what everybody at PokerStars thought, but I think there probably were some people there who thought it was a shame that it ended.
“And if they do feel that way, they've got an opportunity to do something about it.”
The future may be unknown, but that doesn’t stop us looking for signs and omens. When the winner of the PokerStars ambassador contract is unveiled in February 2026 it will be at EPT Paris, where the latest chapter of Boatman’s storied career took flight two years earlier. The symmetry is almost irresistible.
“I feel like I've got another big run in me somewhere along the way, hopefully in Paris.” says Boatman. “I've run well in other things on the tour, but run very badly in EPT main events since the big win.
“The last year has reminded me that you can't take anything for granted.”
Images courtesy of Jules Pochy/Eloy Cabacas/Manuel Kovsca/Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
