Originally an English professional snooker player, Vaswani is the first and till today, the only person to reach 4 European Poker Tour (EPT) final tables. He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2007, in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event. Ram, known on some online sites as 'Crazy Horse' and playing under his own 'Ram Vaswani' name on Full Tilt Poker, was formerly a professional snooker player before transitioning to the game of poker. Before this year's EPT Monte Carlo, Ram was the only player to ever final table 3 EPT events; you can now add another final table to that.

by Manthra KoliyerPosted on 22 Oct, 2020

The PokerGuru Profile of Rohit Vaswani. PokerGuru is a great source for poker information as well as online and live poker! Ram Vaswani is an English professional poker player and a member of The Hendon Mob. Vaswani, of Indian origin, was born in 1970 in London. He had a brief professional snooker career but knew that he was unlikely to be one of the top players in the world so he became focused on poker and became a regular on the poker circuit.

This English poker player, known as ‘Crazy Horse’ is the youngest member of The Hendon Mob and is of Indian origin. He is none other than Ram Vaswani, a regular on the poker circuit. Originally an English professional snooker player, Vaswani is the first and till today, the only person to reach 4 European Poker Tour (EPT) final tables. He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2007, in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event.

Vaswani grew up in Finchley, Greater London and has been playing poker from the age of 9, and at the age of 12, he has been known for organizing a low-stakes poker game with friends. At the age of 18, he played professionally before realizing that although he was making a comfortable living through the game and was living a hustler lifestyle, he was unaware about it. Vaswani has long considered seven-card stud to be the most skillful poker variant, and he built up his early poker knowledge playing the £100 game.

Vaswani met Joe Beevers while 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 started to be known as ‘The Hendon Mob’ and became regulars on the European poker tournament circuit. Vaswani has written multiple articles for The Hendon Mob till date and is known for his involvement in Late Night Poker.

Journalist and poker expert Victoria Coren always mentioned Vaswani’s nickname ‘The Looks’, referring to his claimed status as the best-looking among the others in the group. Vaswani’s poker career can be traced with just one belief that he holds. He has been known as an avid poker player and unpredictable, as he was known for having $100,000 in his pocket one day but the next moment nothing at all! 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.

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When Brothers Ross and Barney Boatman’s regular home poker game ended in Archway, North London, they had to look for somewhere else to play.

They went to play in a game with Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani in Hendon, London and the rest is history as the Hendon Mob was born.

The Hendon Mob played together in those days, but they would soon be fierce competitors. They would travel all over the country competing in tournaments and eventually, they would travel and play all over Europe. They would never give up their friendship and support of each other, though, and the group grew stronger and stronger.

The Hendon Mob take their name from the area they are from in North London

From Obscurity to Celebrity

In 1999, they played in the first televised poker tournament, called Late Night Poker. This was a pivotal TV show as it was the first ever poker show to use under the table cameras to show the hole cards of players during the hand, rather than waiting until the end of the hand at the showdown.

It was a format that was adopted by all TV coverage since then and revolutionised the popularity of the sport as it made it much more interesting to watch poker. It is credited as the first stage of the poker boom by increasing recreational interest in the sport before the boom really took off after Chris Moneymaker (an amateur) won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003.

Late Night Poker had a long run on TV in Great Britain and the Hendon Mob was a popular part of it. Their popularity grew, and they were asked to do appearances on television and radio, as well as interviews for the print media.

A very young looking Phil Helmuth taking part in the legendary Late Night Poker TV show which was the pioneer of showing viewers Hole Cards during the hand

Their website thehendonmob.com was established in 2001, when fans expressed interest. The site has grown into the largest poker fan site in all of Europe.

Run by the Mob, It is the biggest live poker database and contains statistics on just about any player who has placed in the cash in any major tournament, worldwide. There are also details of every major tournament and poker tips from the Hendon Mob themselves and other famous poker players who are friends of the mob. There is information on over 250,000 players & their live poker results and nearly 70,000 events which is pretty impressive.

Joe Beevers (on the left) is the one who is behind the creation of the Hendon Mob brand and their business interests

The site has recently been acquired by Global Poker Index which is one of the largest online poker rankings site which tracks player performance and runs a player of the year ranking for all players worldwide. We wait to see how they are going to integrate the Hendon Mob’s database into their current ranking system, but it should produce the most complete tracking and ranking system we have seen to date for poker players. So lets meet the mob and find out a little more about each of them.

Ross Boatman

Ross Boatman, or “Rocky,” is known across Great Britain as a popular actor. He has been on several top-rated television shows such as London’s Burning and some movies. This does not stop him from enjoying a successful career as a poker player as well.

As is the case with the Hendon Mob, Ross Boatman does not confine himself to Texas Hold ‘Em. He has been an Irish Omaha champion, and has won the 2004 British High-Low Omaha championship. He has also made money finishes in the World Poker Tour.

Phil ‘The Tower’ Heald interviews Ross Boatman talking about Poker and his acting career

Barney Boatman

Ross’s brother, Barney Boatman, has had many careers. He has dabbled in building, journalism, teaching, and computer programming. It was only when he discovered poker that he settled into one job—that of a professional poker player.

Barney became well known when he reached the status of Europe’s highest ranking Seven Card Stud player in 1999. He has also been involved in Omaha poker. However, he is most fond of Hold ‘Em poker and has figured prominently in many poker tournaments including winning a World Series of Poker Bracelet in 2013 in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem Tournament.

Barny Boatman wins his WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem Event in 2013

Ram ‘Crazy Horse’ Vaswani

Ram “Crazy Horse” Vaswani started out playing snooker. The more exacting version of billiards, it kept his attention well. However, he soon became even more interested in poker.

He not only won the European Poker Tour Irish Masters in 2004, but in the same year, he made the final table in three WSOP events. He remains the only person to date to reach 4 European Poker Tour (EPT) final tables winning one of them, the Dublin EPT in 2004. He has also won a coveted World Series of Poker Bracelet by winning the 2007 $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout event.

Ram Vaswani won his WSOP bracelet at the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout event in 2007

Joe Beevers

Joe Beevers, “The Elegance,” went to University to study finance. What he came away with was a proficient knowledge of the game of poker. He has played and made a name for himself in many tournaments around the world.

By 2005, he had finished 7th in a WPT championship, and also done well in a WSOP championship. He has made many finals and done very well for himself. Known as the brains behind the Hendon Mob brand and website he is one credited with making the mob as popular as it is today.

Another interview by ‘The Tower’ this time with Mob leader Joe Beevers

Team Full Tilt call in The Mob

The Hendon Mob is a close-knit group of players. They have teamed up, but usually they compete with each other. While they are playing against each other, it is every man for himself. Yet, in the end, they reunite as a team and give each other strength and courage.

The Hendon Mob along with their massive fan following became part of the Full Tilt Poker Team a few years ago and ran their leagues on the site often playing in their own Hendon Mob online tournaments along with their fans.

If you see these avatars on Full Tilt Poker then you are playing with The Hendon Mob!

Vaswani Presidio Panathur

The Mob are no longer sponsored by Full Tilt but are often still seen playing on the site and chatting with their fans.