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The early years of the millennium were the glory years of The Hendon Mob, four men from London who became poker’s first pop group. Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman and Barny Boatman had made their name with The Hendon Mob website and their appearances on 'Late Night Poker,' a pioneering television show. You can read up on those exploits in Part Two here.

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Over the ensuing decade, the four men would conquer the poker world. They were the best of times, and the glory days for the four best friends. Having been given poker’s first million-dollar poker sponsorship, the lads went on tour, and they would stay on the road for several years. It was time to get serious with the Mob.

Early Success

Poker database with tournament results, event results, pictures and player profiles.
British Poker Open Action Heats Up on PokerGO. September 5, 2019. Chidwick, Tony G, Koon & Bonomo Expected to Headline British Poker Open on PokerGO. THE GLOBAL POKER INDEX & THE HENDON MOB ANNOUNCE ‘THE HENDON MOB CHAMPIONSHIP’ EVENT. July 3, 2018. Press Release.

Vaswani took down the inaugural EPT Dublin Main Event in October 2004. He would then go agonizingly close to winning two EPT Main Events just three months later when Noah Boeken pipped him to the trophy in Copenhagen. Ironically, it would be their old cohort and friend Victoria Coren-Mitchell who would claim that first (and so far only) double-EPT honor. Vaswani, however, still has regrets over getting so close fifteen years ago.

In the tenth level of play on the final day of the €2,750 High Roller, France’s Alexandre Reard has taken down the tournament here at the World Series of Poker International Circuit in Holland. And after spending last week competing at the Vienna Spring Poker Festival, this week sees the Prima Poker Tour bringing The Hendon Mob home to the city of London to compete on home soil at The British Open of Poker commencing Monday March 15th at the Grosvenor, Victoria, London UK. The United States Poker Championship (USPC) was a major annual stop on the poker tournament tour. This event was held at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.The series started in 1996, took one year off in 1997, and ran every year from 1998–2010.

_{Ram Vaswani, wearing the Prima Poker badge, beat Rory Liffey to win the EPT Dublin. Three months later, he lost to Noah Boeken to finish runner-up in the EPT Copenhagen.}

“I was absolutely gutted not to win two in a row. The game was very exciting at the time, especially for us, because we were the first people to get a sponsorship deal. The EPT was like the European version of the WPT. It was nice to win one early.”

Huge prize money, television coverage, and a glittering trophy catapulted Vaswani into the stratosphere. With their deal of sharing five percent of winnings with each Mob member, the four of them were all benefitting from the success. For Vaswani, having his friends close to him for the journey made all the difference.

“I don’t think I could ever have done the same thing on my own. I couldn’t have traveled from festival to festival without my close friends. We were literally traveling non-stop.”

'We all got results and we were writing diaries on the website, because suddenly we had a lot of content and resources.”

Once they were badged up, their profile was raised even further. News of their sponsorship made it to their ‘home’ casino of The Vic, courtesy of Ross Boatman.

“I remember a guy at the Vic called Ramin Sai. I’d go in and play the Omaha game every afternoon. He’d always ask ‘Any news on the sponsorship?’ When I told him we had a million-dollar deal, he choked on his tea and spat it all over the table!”

Barny Boatman had helped negotiate that million-dollar deal more than anyone, and Prima Poker were as good as their word. A PR company was involved, and the press was interested. Media built up about The Hendon Mob on both sides of the Atlantic. It helped that, as Barny Boatman describes, all four men hit the ground running on the poker side of things.

“The first festival we went to was an Omaha tournament and all four of us made the final. Ross and I finished heads up and I won it. We all got results and we were writing diaries on the website because suddenly we had a lot of content and resources.”

Deal Extension and Dissolution

Prima Poker was delighted of course, and helped in every way they could, too. The website grew and their fanbase did the same. Everything was getting bigger and better. Everyone was happy.

“Prima Poker were getting a lot of media and we were getting results. They renewed for a second year and we went around again. We’d grown as a brand and business, and I don’t suppose that would have happened if we hadn’t taken that phone call from Roger Raatgever.”

'We’d grown as a brand and business, and I don’t suppose that would have happened if we hadn’t taken that phone call from Roger Raatgever.”

Over the coming years, the Mob would have huge success. Beevers remembers Ross Boatman being top of the tree in live tournaments in 2002. Afterward, Beevers had his fair share of success, winning the Irish Open in 2003. Then, he finished seventh in the $25,000 WPT at the Bellagio for $188,000 in 2005 and in 2007, he won the Poker Million and the Great British Poker Tour.

After the first two years, Prima Poker and The Mob went their separate ways, a good deal for both parties having come to its natural conclusion. But the day after that happened, Barny Boatman was at a tournament in Copenhagen when a call came through.

The Full Tilt Years

Boatman went outside and recalls taking a memorable call in the middle of a Danish blizzard.

“It was Howard Lederer at Full Tilt. I remember talking to Howard Lederer about the various possibilities of how we could be involved with Full Tilt. We were the first European players they’d come to.”

Thanks to their deal with Prima Poker, The Hendon Mob were hot property. A website that was pulling in huge traffic in the middle of a poker boom that followed Chris Moneymaker's WSOP Main Event win was a very valuable position.

“It’s all about the database; everyone knows that they can find any results, any festivals that are coming up, and any prize money that has been won,” Vaswani explained. “As we hit the sponsorship deal, it got bigger and bigger.”

“The Full Tilt Poker deal took us to another level again.'

Beevers was the effective CEO and did almost everything on the office side of the job, but Barny Boatman helped with a lot of the legwork. When it came down to it, the four men were equals, and that’s what made The Hendon Mob work so well.

“Barny and I took a small salary from the business,” says Beevers. “We also took an equal share in the business itself, but that was more of a recognition that we were doing the day-to-day stuff. At its peak, we had seven full-time staff and two or three part-timers.”

Attendance at worldwide festivals had exploded and The Hendon Mob were everywhere, including the poker capital of the world.

“The Full Tilt Poker deal took us to another level again. Those were exciting times. Poker was really growing, TV were putting shows on, and everyone was writing features about us,” Barny Boatman recalled. Ross Boatman fondly remembers the first time The Hendon Mob walked into Las Vegas as a foursome.

“There were legends of the game, Doyle Brunson and Phil Helllmuth, talking about us, talking about the Hendon Mob. We had immediate celebrity for the mere fact that we’d got this deal. It was the beginning of sponsorship and we were ground-breakers.”

Vegas Lore

Far from the old days of having to pay out of pocket, doors were now opening for them as they traveled the globe to play.

“Every year, the four of us would make a pilgrimage to Binion’s for the World Series,” explained Beevers. “We paid for very little because everything was comped in those days. We’d stay in the Golden Nugget

Table Of Contents

Early Success

Deal Extension and Dissolution

The Full Tilt Years

Vegas Lore

International Poker Open Hendon Mob