Ross Boatman
Encyclopedia
Ross Boatman is an English RADA
-trained actor, professional poker
player and a member of the poker-playing foursome known as The Hendon Mob
.
. He began working as a television actor in 1988, appearing in an episode of The Storyteller
("The Luck Child") and Dramarama
, before earning his best-known role as firefighter
Kevin Medhurst in the long-running television series London's Burning
. Boatman portrayed Medhurst in over 100 episodes between 1988 and 1995, and again in 2000. His other television roles include A Touch of Frost
, two episodes of The Bill
(in 1999 and 2006), Murder in Mind, Dream Team
, ITV1
2004 drama Planespotting, and the award-winning West End
play Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber
.
On the big screen, Boatman has appeared in the gangster movie Hard Men
and as a rock star in the comedy
Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis
. He famously turned down a role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
as he had just completed filming Hard Men and feared being typecast
. More recently, Boatman has appeared in alongside Clive Owen
and Charlotte Rampling
in the Mike Hodges
film I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Boatman has maintained he has a preference for acting rather than poker, although he finds poker easier to profit from.
In the 1970s, Boatman observed his older brother Barny
playing poker against his friends at their house. He begged to become involved in the game, and although initially dissuaded by his brother, he sat down and played his first poker session. Barny went on to teach him in the mid-70s, and by the age of 12 Boatman was gambling at "pitch and toss" behind his school gym. In the early 1980s, he regularly observed a poker game in his local pool hall
, where he learnt the basics of poker strategy. Soon after he began playing poker events whenever he had the opportunity, and turned professional in 1992.
Together with his brother, Boatman began attending a poker game in North London run by Joe Beevers
and Ram Vaswani
. The four quickly formed an ongoing friendship, and began travelling to poker events throughout Europe together. This became such a regular sight that the four were later dubbed "The Hendon Mob". Ross and the rest of The Hendon Mob were invited by Nic Szeremeta
to appear in the brand new Late Night Poker
television series, and supported the then-questionable idea of using a hole cam
to make poker into a spectator sport. He appeared in all 6 series of the show, but had his best run at the title in the second season. He reached the final by defeating Hemish Shah
in the runners-up final to advance to the grand final, where he finished 2nd to Simon Trumper
.
Like the rest of the Hendon Mob, Boatman has become a regular fixture at the World Series of Poker
(WSOP), where he made his first final table in 2002
in the pot limit
Omaha event. He finished 7th in the event, where he and Barny became the first brothers to make the same WSOP final table. In the same year he finished in the money of the $10,000 no limit
Texas hold 'em
main event, eventually going out in 34th place out of 631 entrants. Boatman has also had success in the European Poker Tour
(EPT), where he made the final table of its largest ever event - the second grand final, finishing in 6th place for €140,000.
His titles include:
In addition to the above, Boatman has written over 20 articles on The Hendon Mob's website
and also authored a poker lesson for internettexasholdem.com. After 3 years of sponsorship by the Prima Poker Network
, he is now sponsored by Full Tilt Poker
. As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,400,000.
Boatman resides in Holloway
with his partner Stephanie and sons Buster Joe and Rocky Joe. He also has a daughter Alabama Rose.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
-trained actor, professional poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player and a member of the poker-playing foursome known as The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England:* Joe Beevers* Barny Boatman* Ross Boatman* Ram VaswaniThe name of the group was first publicised by the Evening Standard newspaper in September 2000....
.
Acting
After completing his training at RADA, Boatman began his acting career in fringe theatreFringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
. He began working as a television actor in 1988, appearing in an episode of The Storyteller
The Storyteller
The StoryTeller is a live-action/puppet television series. It was an American/British co-production which originally aired in 1988 and was created and produced by Jim Henson....
("The Luck Child") and Dramarama
Dramarama (TV series)
Dramarama is the name of a British children's' anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The programme was administered by Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle, who had a track-record for organising cross-franchise...
, before earning his best-known role as firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
Kevin Medhurst in the long-running television series London's Burning
London's Burning
London's Burning was a British television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network that focused on the lives of members of the London Fire Brigade, principally those of the Blue Watch at a fictional fire station called Blackwall.It was broadcast between 1986 and...
. Boatman portrayed Medhurst in over 100 episodes between 1988 and 1995, and again in 2000. His other television roles include A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....
, two episodes of The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
(in 1999 and 2006), Murder in Mind, Dream Team
Dream Team (TV series)
Dream Team is a British television series produced by Hewland International which aired on Sky1 and Sky3 from 1997 to 2007; it chronicled the on-field and off-field affairs of the fictional Harchester United Football Club....
, ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
2004 drama Planespotting, and the award-winning West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
play Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber
Patrick Marber
Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
.
On the big screen, Boatman has appeared in the gangster movie Hard Men
Hard Men
Hard Men is a British gangster movie, originally shown 28 October 1996 at the London Film Festival. It was released in the cinemas in 1997....
and as a rock star in the comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis
Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis
Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis is a British comedy film directed by John Henderson, originally released in 1997.-Plot:The film stars Rik Mayall as a rock manager who recruits Jane Horrocks...
. He famously turned down a role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a 1998 British crime film directed and written by Guy Ritchie. The story is a heist film involving a self-confident young card sharp who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a rigged game of three card brag...
as he had just completed filming Hard Men and feared being typecast
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
. More recently, Boatman has appeared in alongside Clive Owen
Clive Owen
Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
and Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
in the Mike Hodges
Mike Hodges
Mike Hodges is an English screenwriter, film director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include Get Carter, Pulp, The Terminal Man and Black Rainbow; as director his films include Flash Gordon, Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead...
film I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Boatman has maintained he has a preference for acting rather than poker, although he finds poker easier to profit from.
Poker
Barny Boatman
Barny M. P. Boatman , is an English professional poker player and the oldest member of the poker-playing foursome known as The Hendon Mob...
playing poker against his friends at their house. He begged to become involved in the game, and although initially dissuaded by his brother, he sat down and played his first poker session. Barny went on to teach him in the mid-70s, and by the age of 12 Boatman was gambling at "pitch and toss" behind his school gym. In the early 1980s, he regularly observed a poker game in his local pool hall
Pool hall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards...
, where he learnt the basics of poker strategy. Soon after he began playing poker events whenever he had the opportunity, and turned professional in 1992.
Together with his brother, Boatman began attending a poker game in North London run by Joe Beevers
Joe Beevers
Joseph "Joe" Charles Beevers is an English professional poker player and a member of The Hendon Mob....
and Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani is an English professional snooker player, turned professional poker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob...
. The four quickly formed an ongoing friendship, and began travelling to poker events throughout Europe together. This became such a regular sight that the four were later dubbed "The Hendon Mob". Ross and the rest of The Hendon Mob were invited by Nic Szeremeta
Nic Szeremeta
Nic Szeremeta is a poker player of mixed English/Polish descent, noted as a former editor of Poker Monthly magazine, and creator of the popular Late Night Poker television series -Early Life:Nic's father, who used to play draw poker himself, was a rear gunner who went missing during World War II.He...
to appear in the brand new Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker is the pioneering television show that helped pave the way for the explosion of interest in poker in the 2000's. With it's ground breaking use of "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards, the show became a cult hit on Channel 4 UK when it first...
television series, and supported the then-questionable idea of using a hole cam
Hole cam
In poker, a hole cam is a camera that displays a player's face-down cards to television viewers.The hole cam became popular in 1999 when the Late Night Poker program first began using it in televised tournaments shown on British Channel 4...
to make poker into a spectator sport. He appeared in all 6 series of the show, but had his best run at the title in the second season. He reached the final by defeating Hemish Shah
Hemish Shah
Hemish Shah was an English stock broker before he became a professional poker player, and the winner of Late Night Poker series 4, where he beat the season 2 champion Simon "Aces" Trumper in the final heads-up confrontation....
in the runners-up final to advance to the grand final, where he finished 2nd to Simon Trumper
Simon Trumper
Simon Trumper is an English professional poker player from South Kensington, London, England. He is chiefly noted as the winner of Late Night Poker series 2 and runner-up of series 4...
.
Like the rest of the Hendon Mob, Boatman has become a regular fixture at the World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
(WSOP), where he made his first final table in 2002
2002 World Series of Poker
The 2002 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe.This edition was historically notable for two reasons. It was the first WSOP in which pocket cams were installed to allow broadcasters to show the players' hole cards, although only for the Main Event...
in the pot limit
Betting (poker)
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
Omaha event. He finished 7th in the event, where he and Barny became the first brothers to make the same WSOP final table. In the same year he finished in the money of the $10,000 no limit
Betting (poker)
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
main event, eventually going out in 34th place out of 631 entrants. Boatman has also had success in the European Poker Tour
European Poker Tour
The Pokerstars European Poker Tour is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour , created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity...
(EPT), where he made the final table of its largest ever event - the second grand final, finishing in 6th place for €140,000.
His titles include:
- FF 3,000 no limit hold 'em, Autumn Tournament 1999;
- £100 pot limit hold 'em, Christmas Cracker 2001;
- €300 pot limit Omaha, Austrian Masters 2002;
- £2,000 no limit hold 'em, European Poker Championships 2002;
- €400 pot limit Omaha, Irish Winter Tournament 2002;
- £200 pot limit Omaha hi-lo, British Open 2004.
In addition to the above, Boatman has written over 20 articles on The Hendon Mob's website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
and also authored a poker lesson for internettexasholdem.com. After 3 years of sponsorship by the Prima Poker Network
Microgaming
Microgaming Software Systems Ltd is a privately held Isle of Man based software development company which claims to have released the first genuine online casino in 1994. The company is one of the leading software providers to the online gambling industry, with just under 100 casinos listed on its...
, he is now sponsored by Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker is an online poker card room that opened in June 2004 with the involvement of poker professionals Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson...
. As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,400,000.
Boatman resides in Holloway
Holloway, London
Holloway is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Islington located north of Charing Cross and follows for the most part, the line of the Holloway Road . At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head area...
with his partner Stephanie and sons Buster Joe and Rocky Joe. He also has a daughter Alabama Rose.