BARNY BOATMAN WINS 2ND CAREER BRACELET AT WSOP EUROPE

Berlin, Germany (17 October 2015) – Barny Boatman joined one of the poker world’s elite clubs tonight. After winning first place in Event #7: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha at the World Series of Poker Europe, Boatman is now a member of the select group of players with multiple WSOP bracelets.

From the moment he got heads up against Poland’s Grzegorz Grochulski, it looked like Boatman craved it. “It’s very different,” he said later, “from the experience two years ago. It was a huge field. It was exhausting…. What happened since then, I got the bug. I’ve had so many big stacks in big tournaments and things have gone wrong. I never really thought it could happen for me. And once it did happen, my attitude changed. Not my game, particularly, but my hunger for the game got renewed. And I wanted to do it again.”

That hunger showed, as he started heads-up play with a 2-1 chip disadvantage, but put his stack to good use and quickly pulled even. Before long, he enjoyed a 2-1 lead of his own. Grochulski had pulled just slightly ahead again when Boatman won a key all-in pot with a straight, leaving his opponent with just over three big blinds. Not surprisingly, they had another all-in confrontation soon after that, and Boatman collected the last of the chips.

This is Boatman’s third cash here at the Spielbank Berlin casino, and his second deep run. He finished in ninth place in the last pot-limit Omaha event, just barely missing out on the final table. “I was a bit gutted,” he said of falling short in that event. “I was chip leader in that tournament when it was 11-handed. So I walked away thinking, ‘What have you done? That was your chance to make a final.’ So coming back again, there was no way I was bubbling this final table. It was not going to happen.” He was right, of course, and is now the proud owner of a second WSOP bracelet for his trophy case.

The tournament attracted of 363 players and 140 re-entries, for 503 entries total. The first day on Thursday was action-packed, and after 14 levels, only 25 players remained, led by Doug Lee. On Friday’s Day 2, they played down to the official final table of eight, taking just over three hours to do so. Lee again held the lead.

Damian Pawlak, one of the trio of Polish players at this final table, was the first player eliminated on Day 3. He got his chips in the middle against start-of-day chip leader Doug Lee, who flopped a pair and a multi-way draw, and ended up turning a flush to win. Pawlak earns (€5,780) for his eighth-place finish.

One of Pawlak’s countrymen was the next to go. Pawel Bakiewicz was eliminated in seventh place (€7,560) by Grzegorz Grochulski, and then Dominik Maska – the only German at the final table – busted out about half an hour later. Maska put his chips at his on the flop with a pair of aces in the hole, but had been outflopped by Doug Lee, who made a set of jacks. Maska finished in sixth place (€9,980) for his first career WSOP cash.

After Maska’s elimination, five-handed play lasted about two and a half hours, and chips were frequently redistributed around the table. Eventually, Doug Lee – who had ended both Day 1 and Day 2 atop the leaderboard – bowed out when his      lost to Shannon Shorr’s      when Shorr rivered an ace.

They played four-handed for almost another two hours before pausing for the dinner break. During that time, Grochulski dominated the table and had about 60% of the chips when play was paused. Then after dinner, it was only about 20 minutes before the next two players were eliminated. Jose Obadia finished in fourth place for €18,000, despite entering the final table with the shortest stack. This is Obadia’s second WSOP final table, and he becomes the first Spanish-born player to achieve that feat.

Soon after Shannon Shorr was eliminated in third place (€24,520). His      was up against Boatman’s     , and Boatman flopped a ten-high straight. Shorr has a remarkable poker resume, with over $6,000,000 in live tournament earnings, 45 previous WSOP cashes, and several signature victories. However, his first WSOP bracelet will have to wait.

Then, a little more than an hour later, Boatman secured his victory. Afterward, he maintained his famous good humor about the impressive achievement. “Anyone can win one bracelet, right? Turns out anyone can win two!”

Here are the final table results from Event #7: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed). Click here for full results.

1 – Barny Boatman – €54,725
2 –  Grzegorz Grochulski – €33,910
3 – Shannon Shorr – €24,520
4 – Jose Obadia – €18,000
5 – Doug Lee – €13,320
6 – Dominik Maska – €9,980
7 – Pawel Bakiewicz – €7,560
8 – Damian Pawlak – €5,780