Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani at the 2005 World Series of Poker
Nickname(s)	Crazy Horse
Residence	London, United Kingdom
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finish(es)	15
Highest ITM Main Event finish	None
World Poker Tour
Title(s)	None
Final table(s)	None
Money finish(es)	1
European Poker Tour
Title(s)	1
Final table(s)	4
Money finish(es)	6
Information accurate as of 27 December 2009.

Ram Vaswani (born c. 1970 in London) is an English professional snooker player, turned professional poker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob. He resides in Finchley ^[1] with his wife Jackie and daughter Hollie.^[2]

Following a brief snooker career, Vaswani became a regular on the poker circuit, and due to his involvement in Late Night Poker, he also became one of the pioneers of poker on television. He is the first (and to date only) person to reach 4 European Poker Tour (EPT) final tables. The latest being at Monte Carlo 2007 (eliminated first, on the first hand) ^[3][4][5] one of those final tables bought a win, the Dublin Season 2 (2004) event. He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2007, in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout event.

His other televised appearances include a win in the Poker Nations Cup, and runner-up in finishes in two more televised events.^[6][7]

Snooker[link]

Vaswani grew up in Finchley, where his first major game was snooker, where he lived a hustler lifestyle, regularly playing truant to play when he was 13 and 14.^[1] At the age of 18, he played professionally for 2 years before realising that although he was making a comfortable living through the game (he once managed to make 3 centuries in one match, and achieved a 147 break), he was spending more time gambling than practicing, and he was unlikely to break through into the top players in the world. (Vaswani's younger brother Sunit did break through in the snooker world, finishing 2nd in the race for the 2001 English Amateur award. Vaswani has since acted as his manager.) ^[8][9]

Poker career[link]

Early years[link]

Vaswani, of Indian origin, began playing cards from the age of 9, and at the age of 12, he organised a low-stakes poker game with friends on a trip to Wales. Their teacher stopped them playing, so they ended up playing for sweets instead. Vaswani has long considered seven-card stud to be the most skilful poker variant, and built up his early poker knowledge playing the £100 game at the Victoria Casino on Edgware Road.^[9][10]

Vaswani met Joe Beevers in Luton when placing bets on dog racing and they later set up a private poker game together. It was in one of these games that they met both Barny and Ross Boatman. Together, the four became known as The Hendon Mob and became regulars on the European poker tournament circuit. In the first published article on The Hendon Mob, journalist Victoria Coren publicised Vaswani's nickname The Looks, referring to his claimed status as the best-looking of the group. Soon after, Vaswani began using the nickname Crazy Horse, sharing his nickname with the Lakota leader Tashunca-uitco.^[11]

Vaswani and the rest of The Mob were invited by Nic Szeremeta to appear in the brand new Late Night Poker television series.^[11] Vaswani appeared in each of the show's 6 series, reaching the series 2 Grand Final ^[12] and the series 4 ^[13] and 5 ^[14] Semi-Finals.

Vaswani's first major tournament win happened at the HFl 5,000 LIDO tournament at the Master Classics of Poker tournament in Amsterdam in 1999.^[15] At the time, this was Europe's most prestigious tournament, but he was broke and had to borrow money off Joe Beevers to stake in a cash game to build up money for the entry fee.^[9]

The WSOP and beyond[link]

Vaswani first finished in the money of a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event in the 2001 $3,000 no limit Texas hold 'em event won by Erik Seidel.^[16] The next year he had a 3rd place finish in the $2,000 limit hold 'em event,^[17] and a 2nd place finish in the $2,000½ hold 'em - 1/2 seven-card stud event.^[18] He made three final tables in the 2004, with his best finish being 3rd place in the $3,000 no limit hold 'em event.^[19] In 2007, Vaswani became the first (and to date only) member of the Mob to win a WSOP bracelet, winning $217,438 in the $1,500 limit hold 'em shootout event.^[20] The following year, he made the final table of the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Lo Split event, finishing 7th.^[20] His most recent WSOP cash was in the Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe, where he finished 15th and earned £40,481 ($66,738 at the time of the event).^[20]

Vaswani has also made 4 final tables on the European Poker Tour (EPT). In the first season, he won the Dublin event ^[3] and finished 2nd to Noah Boeken in the Copenhagen event.^[4] In the second season, he finished 5th in Deauville.^[5] He also made the final table of the Season 3 Main Event, where he finished 8th. His EPT final table tally is double the next best total, held several other players, including Marc Karam, Marcel Lüske and Noah Boeken (The record belongs to Luca Pagano, who has made 6 finals tables).

His other major tournament victories include:

• £500 pot limit seven-card stud, European Poker Classic 2000 ^[21]
• €5,000 European Hold'em Championship, Euro Finals of Poker 2002 ^[22]
• £500 pot limit seven-card stud, Poker Classics 2003 ^[23]
• £500 no limit hold'em, Midland Masters 2003 ^[24]
• Poker Nations Cup 2006 ^[25]

Vaswani was also a quarter-finalist in the 2003 World Heads-Up Poker Championship,^[26] runner-up to Harry Demetriou in the 2004 Victor Chandler Poker Cup,^[6] and a finalist in the pot limit hold 'em Gaming Club World Poker Championship.^[27]

He finished runner-up in the 2005 William Hill Poker Grand Prix, following a bad beat against eventual winner Phil Laak.^[7] However, commentator Lucy Rokach repeatedly laid claim to him being the best player in the 64-player field, that included former World Champion Scotty Nguyen and WSOP bracelet winners Donnacha O'Dea and Brian Wilson. (Simon Trumper has also referred to him as "the best tournament player in Europe, especially in No Limit.") ^[28]

As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings are exceed $3.2 million.^[29] His 15 cashes at the Las Vegas WSOP account for $846,229 of those winnings.^[30][31]

Vaswani appeared in Late Night Poker Masters in late 2006 on Channel 4, in the same heat as season 6 champion Peter Costa and Willie Tann, but did not progress.^[32]

Vaswani has written over 20 articles for The Hendon Mob's website,^[33] and a poker lesson for Matthew Hilger's site internettexasholdem.com.^[34]

Vaswani regularly plays $100–$200 no limit hold 'em online, and is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker.^[10] He has also played $200–$400 pot limit Omaha on the site, where he has won pots in excess of $160,000.^[35]

Other gambling[link]

Vaswani has been described as "an avid gambler who 'would bet on anything that moves'".^[28] This has led to him being known for having a fluctuating bankroll due to the variance in his sports betting hobby. Joe Beevers has indicated that Vaswani will often have $100,000 in his pocket one day; but it will be gone the next. Vaswani has indicated he is not too concerned about the outcome of bets he makes, so long as he has made the right decision in each case.^[1] He is also a keen golfer,^[36] and has had large financial upswings and downswings as a result of wagering on his game.^[37] Also, during the 888.com Poker Nations Cup, Vaswani made numerous large wagers with the Swedish team, and staked large amounts of money on Chinese poker, which he considers to be a game of pure luck.^[9]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Hendon Mob tournament results

Dave Ulliott
Dave Ulliott on the 2005 World Series of Poker
Nickname(s)	The Devilfish, The Clock
Residence	Kingston upon Hull
Born	(1954-04-04) 4 April 1954 (age 58)
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finish(es)	27
Highest ITM Main Event finish	72nd, 2004
World Poker Tour
Title(s)	1
Final table(s)	2
Money finish(es)	8
European Poker Tour
Title(s)	None
Final table(s)	None
Money finish(es)	1
Information accurate as of 20 July 2009.

David A. Ulliott (born 4 April 1954^[1] in Kingston upon Hull), known by the nickname Devilfish, is an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Hull underworld,^[1] but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker. At the poker table, he is known for wearing orange-tinted prescription sunglasses, a sharp suit (or leather jacket) and gold knuckleduster rings reading "Devil" and "Fish", which he made himself.^[1][2]

Early years and criminal activities[link]

Ulliott was born the son of Stanley Ulliott, a World War II paratrooper turned truck driver and his wife Joyce (née Jefferson). He grew up in a small council house in a working class area, where he shared a room with his sister Janet (who later died of cancer). Ulliott was unmotivated throughout his education and left school at the age of 15, without any O-levels, to take his first job making trophies for G K Beaulah. After visiting the bookies with his father and winning his first bet at 50:1, he picked winners at horse racing with his work colleagues during hot lunch breaks. He was eventually fired from the job for taking an afternoon off to go to the races.^[1]

At the age of 19, Ulliott was involved in a fight on the way home from the Golden Nugget Pool Hall in Kingston upon Hull. Ulliott was set upon by five men and their wives (one of whom slashed his face with a steel comb), after protecting his younger brother. He fought back and eventually returned home. Ulliott later claimed that he was proud of the experience and the incident made him realise that he could not be beaten in a fight "inside".^[1]

Ulliott became involved in a safe-cracking team soon after, after being advised by the rest of the team that everyone was involved in the operation, including the shops, which carried out insurance fraud, and the police, who turned a blind eye. Together, they targeted tobacconists, off-license, and garages. On one occasion, when Ulliott lost over £5,000 at the bookies, he robbed that safe too, and took it home in a pram. One of the team was eventually caught, and informed the police that Ulliott was involved. He went on the run for a week, but was eventually caught.^[1]

Ulliott was confined to a small cell in Kingston upon Hull Police Station for three weeks, and was later sent to Leeds Prison, where he was kept in isolation for 23 hours a day for the first two months of his nine-month sentence, which included his 21st birthday. Not long after his release, he was arrested again for an armed robbery at an off-license, but was released three days later without charge. Upon his release, he got a job at a timber yard. Later, he again became involved in the safe-cracking team, while also working as a bouncer and gambling.^[1]

Ulliott was arrested again aged 28 for a fight outside a nightclub, and served 18 months in Leeds and Durham Prisons. Again he spent much time in an isolation block for 23 hours a day. During this time, he met a criminal named John, with whom he planned to carry out a bank robbery upon his release. However, on the day it was planned to happen, John was arrested by the regional crime squad, and Ulliott was advised by John's wife to go straight. Not long after Ulliott met his second wife, he did indeed go straight, and there is no evidence he has committed a crime since.^[1]

Autobiography[link]

In the spring of 2010, Penguin Books announced the publication of Ulliott's autobiography, DEVILFISH: The Life & Times of a Poker Legend, in September, 2010.^[3][4][5]

The book was launched at Poker in the Park^[6] – Europe's largest free poker festival, held in London's Leicester Square^[7] – with a book signing session and talk by Ulliott.^[8]

The book was very favourably reviewed by journalist and poker player Victoria Coren in The Observer Review^[9] in which she recounts her first meeting with Ulliot:

'In the winter of 1999, on the sixth floor of a Cardiff hotel, I walked into a lift to find it already occupied by an elderly couple and a tall, sinister-looking fellow in a black leather trench coat and red sunglasses. "The Devilfish!" I breathed. "Can I hold your bracelet?" Without a word, the shady gentleman slipped a heavy gold bracelet off his wrist and jingled it into my hand. The elderly couple must have thought we were both insane.'

In the review, Coren declares her initial reluctance to review the book, but concludes:

'I was nervous to review it, in case it was bad. Dave Ulliot is a friend of mine. And he has a gun. But I needn't have worried. The book is, like the man, fast, funny, scary, smart, cocky, colourful, and I adore them both.'

The book was also reviewed at Card Player.^[10] Blonde Poker^[11] and Ulliott was even interviewed by the Financial Times.^[12]

Poker career[link]

The beginning[link]

Ulliott began playing poker with his parents as a young child^[13] and later learned three card brag at the age of 16, after being introduced to Hull's Fifty-One Club casino. By the time of his second marriage, Ulliott was organising poker games in the back of his shop and dominating the home games of others to the extent that people stopped telling him where they were being held. At the end of 1990, he met Gary Whitaker, a cafe manager from Wakefield, at Napoleon's Casino, Leeds. They travelled together to poker games six nights a week, and Whitaker placed bets for Ulliott after he was banned from all of William Hill's betting shops for successfully gambling £4,000 up to £70,000. Whitaker went on to become Ulliott's regular driver as he took part in a regular game with Dave Colclough, John Shipley and Lucy Rokach, and held a 10% stake in his action.^[1]

When they first travelled to London (where the regular game at the time was lowball), Ulliott was forced to change his style of play as he found the players harder to bluff; he credits the experience for improving his game. On one occasion in London, Ulliott lost a £60,000 pot to Donnacha O'Dea when the latter hit a two-outer against him, but made all the money back within 24 hours. On another occasion, Ulliott played in five cities in a day, winning in each to earn £35,000.^[1]

When playing in private games, Ulliott often took a gun to ensure he would be able to leave a poker game with the winnings. He fired it in the air one night to scare off some opponents who were planning to rob him of the money he had won from them.^[14]

The origin of the Devilfish[link]

Ulliott first won money in a noted poker tournament in 1993. Over the following years, Ulliott worked on his tournament game to the extent that, during 1996, he won £100,000 in a two-week period at The Vic. His success at that time led to him and Whitaker going to Las Vegas, Nevada for the first time.^[1]

Ulliott took £10,000 with him on the trip, and was around even, until he entered the $500 pot limit Omaha event of the 1997 Four Queens Poker Classic. When the event reached the heads-up stage, numerous Vietnamese-American followers of Men Nguyen supported him by cheering "Go on the Master" at him. In response, Whitaker cheered Ulliott on by cheering "Go on the Devilfish." The nickname was thought up by Stephen Au-Yeung early 1997, who ran a poker game that Ulliott had frequented in Birmingham UK, who later sold him the website DevilFishPoker.com in 2005; a devilfish (or fugu) is a poisonous fish that can kill when ingested, if not properly prepared. Ulliott reduced Nguyen's stack to one chip, and the tournament director insisted upon still taking a one-hour scheduled break, over Nguyen's protests. Ulliott turned to Nguyen and said, "We’re taking the break, and in all fairness to you, I think you should go upstairs and think about your tactics." Ulliott went on to win, and the headlines the next day read, Devilfish devours the Master. Since the event, Ulliott has claimed that the event was only of significance for defining his nickname.^[1][15]

Prior to earning the nickname, Ulliott had been referred to as Dave the Clock because he used a grandfather clock as a buy-in to a local game where he knew a furniture dealer was playing.^[16]

1997 World Series of Poker[link]

Ulliott arrived at the 1997 World Series of Poker (WSOP) with $200,000, but lost it all on cash games and tournament buy-ins. He borrowed over $70,000 more, but lost this too, burning some bridges in the process. He scraped together a buy-in for the $2,000 pot limit Texas hold 'em event, where he reached heads-up against fellow Englishman Chris Truby. In the final hand, Ulliott got all of his money in the pot with an open-ended straight draw and flush draw against Truby's top set. Ulliott won with a straight on the river to claim $180,310 and his only WSOP bracelet to date. Whitaker jumped over the barricade to join in the celebrations. The press release the next day claimed he was lucky to draw out on Truby, but mathematically, Ulliott was a 54.5% favourite to win when the money went into the pot.^[1][17] After winning his bracelet, he had the nickname "Devilfish" engraved on it.^[2]

Following the tournament he went through a highly successful period playing in cash games, winning between $10,000 and 20,000 each day for a two-week stretch. During one session, on the advice of his friend Mansour Matloubi, he played Lyle Berman heads-up pot limit Omaha and beat him out of $168,000.^[18][19] By the end of the trip, Ulliott had $742,000 in cash, that he carried around with Whitaker in bags from duty free. When returning to their casino in Leeds, Ulliott and Whitaker were met with large amounts of applause from their regular opponents.^[1]

Late Night Poker[link]

In 1999, Ulliott was one of 40 players to appear in the first series of the Late Night Poker television series, the first poker show to use hole cam technology. He won his qualifying heat against a field that included Charalambos "Bambos" Xanthos and future Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman to advance to the Grand Final.^[20] Ulliott dominated the final from the first hand (where his flush beat Surinder Sunar's straight). During the event, he made four of a kind against Joe Beevers, eliminated Liam Flood and slow-played three aces against Dave Welch, prompting commentator Nic Szeremeta to say, "I've never seen a hand played so well." Ulliott went on to win the heads-up confrontation against Peter Evans, and the £40,000 first prize.^[1][21]

Ulliott's win was watched by over 1,500,000 people (a huge figure for the channel and timeslot of the broadcast) and his character at the table was part of the reason for the renewal of the series, which went on to run for five more series, with Ulliott appearing in them all. Ulliott also made the final table in the second series.^[1][22]

World Poker Tour[link]

In January 2003, Ulliott won his biggest tournament cash prize in the World Poker Tour (WPT) first season Jack Binion World Poker Open. Ulliott outlasted a field of 160 players, entering the final table with a 2:1 chip lead over his nearest rival, and taking first place and $589,175 after eliminating Phil Ivey. Ulliott eliminated four of his five opponents at the final table, in a performance that commentator Mike Sexton has referred to as "still the most dominating performance in WPT history."^[1][23] In the second season, Ulliott was also invited to the WPT Bad Boys of Poker Invitational, and finished on the television bubble of the Aruba Poker Classic.^[24][25]

In December 2007, Ulliott came in 3rd place in the sixth season of the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic Championship Event earning $674,500

Other events[link]

Ulliott has come close to winning a second WSOP bracelet on numerous occasions, finishing second in events at the 1998 WSOP and 2000 WSOP, and second at two more events at the 2001 WSOP.^{[26][27][28][29]} In two of these events, he was eliminated whilst holding aces.^[19]

Ulliott represented his country in the Poker Nations Cup, the PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup and the Intercontinental Poker Championship as well as the inaugural British Poker Open which had a strong American field in contention.

At the PartyPoker Premier League, he embarked on a rivalry with Phil Hellmuth, including one six-man game where Ulliott called Hellmuth's all-in bluff with A♠-8♠ against Hellmuth's 7♥-5♥, making him a better than 60% favourite. Hellmuth flopped the nut straight. Later in the same game, Hellmuth's pocket nines beat Ulliott's aces.

As of 2010, Ulliott's total live tournament winnings exceed $5,800,000, making him the highest-earning British poker player according to available records.^[30] His 32 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,697,948 of those winnings.^[31]

Public image and reputation[link]

Despite the dominance of Texas hold 'em throughout televised poker, Ulliott has a reputation as a very strong pot limit Omaha player, with over 40 finishes in the money in tournaments of that type. Once, in an Omaha cash game at The Vic in 1997, he successfully read that Jon Shoreman had a straight flush and laid down a four of a kind.^[1] Ulliott was also considered the best five-card stud player in Northern England.^[32] However, Ulliott has indicated that his real preference is for four card Omaha.^[19]

In the UK, Ulliott is such a household name that he has been name-dropped in EastEnders, and in the inaugural edition of PokerPlayer magazine, Ulliott was not only on the front cover, but also voted #9 on their (worldwide) Top 10 Poker Legends List.^[33][34]

Dave Ulliott wears a T-shirt advertising his website at the 2006 World Series of Poker.

Ulliott is associated with the online poker site Devilfish Poker. After being eliminated in third place for $120,000 in the Full Tilt Poker invitational event at the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions, Ulliott stood up, flashing a "www.devilfishpoker.com" sign that was strapped to his back inside his jacket. The event was being broadcast live on Fox Sports Net (FSN), who has a policy against advertising .com websites, and Ulliott was banned from appearing in any forthcoming FSN productions. Ulliott later responded that he only paid the entry money so he could advertise his site; it was originally agreed that he would be able to promote the site, so he decided to advertise his site through the publicity stunt regardless.^[35] Despite supporting online poker sites, Ulliott has indicated that many online players do not know what they are doing when playing, which makes them harder to play against.^[14][34]

Ulliott became the subject of some controversy when proclaiming that female poker players will never be as good as male players. He cited Lucy Rokach as a rare example of a strong female player, but indicated that female players would never be aggressive enough to compete with their male counterparts.^[34]

Ulliot claims that his gambling wins have led to him being banned by all the British bookmakers. He also claims that Joe Beevers placed bets on his behalf for a period of time, during which time he managed to back all six winners at Ascot one year, including one at 14/1 and one at 20/1.^[19]

Recently, Ulliott has attempted to change his image, as he no longer has his slicked-back hair, nor wears sunglasses at the poker table. This was a result of attending a party in Las Vegas, where he felt everyone looked the same as him.^[34]

Outside of playing poker[link]

During his time working at G K Beaulah's, Ulliott had a common-law wife, Diana, with whom he had a son named David. He went on to marry Susan, with whom he had two children named Darren Paul and Kerry. Later he met Amanda (Mandy) Ashby, a laboratory worker for British Cocoa Mills, who became his second wife.^[1] They are currently going through a divorce.^[34] He has seven children.^[2][34]

He resides in Kingston upon Hull, not far from where he grew up.^[18]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• How Ulliott got his Devil Fish Nickname
• Hendon Mob forum post by Ulliott about Poker Europa review of Swimming With The Devilfish
• Dave Ulliot Hendon Mob tournament results
• PokerListings.com profile

Noah Boeken
Boeken at EPT 4 - Dublin 2007
Nickname(s)	Exclusive, Towley88
Residence	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Born	(1981-01-06) January 6, 1981 (age 31)
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	None
Money finish(es)	9
Highest ITM Main Event finish	96th, 2009
European Poker Tour
Title(s)	1
Final table(s)	2
Money finish(es)	6

Noah Boeken (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbukən]; born January 6, 1981) is a Dutch professional poker and Magic: The Gathering player.

Magic[link]

In the 1997 Pro Tour Chicago, Boeken finished in 15th place, and later 32nd at Pro Tour Mainz. He went on to win the 2000 European Championship and $11,500.

After his early success in his Magic career he started playing poker.

Poker[link]

Like fellow Magic player David Williams, Boeken credits Marcel Lüske as his mentor.

Boeken's first major finish in the money was at the 2003 Master Classics of Poker, where he finished 4th in the €200 no limit hold'em event. 8 months later he played in the $10,000 no limit hold'em championship of Festa al Lago II in Las Vegas, Nevada where he again finished in the money.

In October 2004, both Boeken and Lüske made the final table of the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in London won by John Shipley. Boeken made a second EPT final table in January 2005 at the Scandinavian Open in Copenhagen where he defeated Ram Vaswani in the final heads-up confrontation.

Boeken attended the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2005 and finished in the money twice, including at the final table of the $2,500 limit hold'em event.

Boeken won the 2006 British Poker Open beating the likes of Gus Hansen and collecting 50,000 GBP.

As of 2011, Boeken's total live tournament winnings exceed $1,200,000.^[1]

Boeken plays online poker as Exclusive at PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Until beginning February 2012 he was a member of the Team PokerStars group of sponsored players.

In 2007 Boeken and Marcel Luske started a television show called Veronica Poker where famous Dutch people learned poker from them. Eventually the famous people had to play against each other, with the winner invited to an important tournament in Las Vegas. A second TV show with Boeken and Luske started in February 2007. The show is called "Poker Kings NL" and airs on the Tien channel. The show follows both Boeken and Luske while they travel around the world, attending poker tournaments.

Notes[link]

1. ^ Hendon Mob Database: Noah Boeken

External links[link]

• Column written by Boeken
• Pokerlistings.com profile
• Gutshot.com interview
• Wizards.com profile and interview
• Magicthegathering.com Article and Interview

Preceded by Nicolai Herzog

Magic European Champion 2000

Succeeded by Eivind Nitter

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

The Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England:

• Joe Beevers
• Barny Boatman
• Ross Boatman
• Ram Vaswani

The name of the group was first publicised by the Evening Standard newspaper in September 2000.

Joe Beevers is the only member of the group who actually comes from Hendon (a district of London) but the others played in Hendon. The Hendon Mob describe John Kabbaj as their unofficial fifth member. Several other European professionals, including Harry Demetriou (Koumari Boy), Padraig Parkinson (Padraig), Neil Channing (Bad Beat) and John Duthie have posted on the group's forum.

The Mob first became recognised for their appearances on the original televised poker programme Late Night Poker (1999–2002). The Hendon Mob also regularly attends the annual World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour and other major tournaments. They have dozens of in the money results between them.

Sponsorship[link]

In 2004 and 2005, the Mob was sponsored by Prima Poker to the tune of $2 million worth of worldwide tournament buyin fees. In exchange they played on the online Prima poker-room network. As part of the tour, the Mob challenged four-player teams of various nationalities to heads-up matches, culminating with the UK versus the U.S. in the inaugural Prima Transatlantic Cup in 2004. The Mob had won each of these international team matches until falling 3-1 to the US team of Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson, and Paul Wolfe. The Mob's deal with Prima expired at the end of 2005.

The Mob were then sponsored by Full Tilt Poker up to September 2011 when the online poker site was accused of fraud.^[1]

Other ventures[link]

The Mob run a successful website that includes a tournament poker player database that attempts to house the results of every major worldwide poker tournament since 2000, indexed by location, date, and player. The origin of the information contained in the database was queried in a court action brought by rival website Pokerpages.com. Information sourced from Pokerpages.com has since been removed from the database.

The Mob were used in series one of the British con-art documentary series 'The Real Hustle'. Presenters Paul Wilson and Alexis Conran, posing as poker novices filming a documentary, beat the Mob by smuggling in decks stacked to their advantage.

Notes[link]

1. ^ Hendon Mob Ends Exclusive Relationship with Full Tilt Poker

External links[link]

• Official site
• Site Officiel Français
• PokerPages.com article
• CardPlayer.com interview