The Hendon Mob Championship returns to London after 5 year hiatus

Aspers Casino Stratford Westfield London

Posted on: November 24, 2024 06:00 PST

The Hendon Mob Championship (THMC), the live poker branch of the famed GPI/THM family, will be returning to London in December for the first time in five years. In partnership with Aspers Casino and the Unibet Deepstacks Open (UDSO), the THMC will be held at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford from December 3 through December 8.

The festival will include six trophy events through its six-day run, highlighted by the THMC Main Event. The NLH main will offer £100,000 guaranteed in guaranteed prize money. In addition to the main, other events will include the Luxon Mystery Bounty tourney, which has another $20,000 in guaranteed money to be awarded. The winner of the mystery-bounty tourney will also receive a £4,000 package for the Mediterranean Poker Party final in Cyprus in May 2025, courtesy of event sponsor Luxon Pay.

Other offerings on the THMC slate of events include a £10k guaranteed Pot Limit Omaha 4/5-Card Mix trophy event, deepstack and 'Closer' tourneys, numerous and very affordable satellites, and cash-game action throughout the series.

“We’re thrilled to return to London after a five-year hiatus, returning to the city where The Hendon Mob story began over two decades ago," said Roland Boothby, Head of Partnerships for GPITHM. London has long been the epicentre of the UK poker scene, and we’re excited to reunite with this community. Partnering with Aspers and their highly professional poker operation, we aim to make THMC London a standout event. Our vision is for THMC London to become a long-term fixture in the pre-Christmas poker calendar for many years to come.”

'Hendon Mob' predates the famed results database

The 'Hendon Mob' title was coined in 2000 to refer to a group of four popular and successful poker players who dominated the London scene around the turn of the century. The Hendon Mob as originally known included Barny Boatman, who far more recently became the oldest player ever to win a European Poker Tour main event and has since been signed by PokerStars as a brand ambassador. Barny's brother Ross Boatman, now even more famous as an actor, was also part of the group, as were pro players Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani.

Not long ago, Barny Boatman spoke to PokerOrg about the origins of the Hendon Mob, named for the London neighborhood where the players lived. Only years later was the 'Hendon Mob' title -- and a small database of results the Hendon boys had created -- licensed to the owner of what is today's THM poker-results database, which is generally regarded as the deepest and most inclusive results database on the planet. Yet the original Hendon Mob lives on in both form and spirit, making the THMC's return to London a sweet deveopment for all involved.

As THM's Boothby declared, all parties involved want to see THMC London grow into an annual festival. According to Paul Moyce, Head of Poker for Aspers, “Aspers Poker is always looking to bring excitement for their players, and THMC will certainly bring that! We’d be delighted if this became a regular fixture, as Aspers Stratford has the ideal location to welcome players from all around the world.”