Let me tell you a story about the first time I cashed in a live poker tournament. It was a small event at a local casino, nothing fancy. I finished in 15th place, just barely making it into the money. The thrill was incredible, but a few weeks later, that feeling was replaced by a new kind of excitement. A friend, another poker player, called me and said, “Hey, I saw your name online. You’re on the Hendon Mob!”
I had no idea what he was talking about.
If you are new to the world of live poker, you might be in the same boat. You keep hearing the name “Hendonmob” thrown around by commentators on TV, by players at the table, and in poker forums. It sounds like a secret society or a gang from a movie. In a way, it is a club, but one with a very open membership. Your entry ticket is simply to cash in a reported live poker tournament.
So, what exactly is this Hendon Mob? In the simplest terms, the Hendon Mob is the Wikipedia, the history book, and the public record for live tournament poker all rolled into one. It is a massive, searchable online database that tracks the results of virtually every significant live poker tournament across the globe. If you want to know how much money a poker pro has won in their career, who won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2005, or even just to see your own modest poker accomplishments documented for the world to see, this is the place you go.
From a Poker Crew to a Poker Institution
The name “Hendon Mob” itself has a history. It wasn’t originally the name of a website. Back in the 1990s, it was the nickname for a group of four poker players from the Hendon area of London: Ross Boatman, Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, and Ram Vaswani. They were charismatic, successful, and often seen together, hence the “Mob” moniker.
As the poker boom exploded in the early 2000s, the need for a centralized record of tournament results became apparent. The four friends, along with a website developer, created the Hendon Mob database. It started small but quickly grew into an essential resource. Its credibility, backed by the respected names of its founders, made it the go-to source. The website was so successful and important that in 2011, it was acquired by the very organization that runs the World Series of Poker, PokerNews. This acquisition cemented its status as the official and most trusted archive in the poker world. It is no longer just a website; it is a fundamental part of the poker ecosystem.
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Why is the Hendon Mob Such a Big Deal in Poker?
You might be thinking, “It’s just a list of names and numbers. Why is it so important?” The answer lies in what those numbers represent. In poker, especially for professional players, reputation is everything. Your results are your resume. The Hendon Mob is that verified, public resume.
Imagine you are an up-and-coming player trying to get sponsored or find backers. You cannot just walk into a meeting and say, “I’m a great poker player.” You need proof. You can direct them to your Hendon Mob profile, which shows every tournament cash, the buy-in amounts, your finishing positions, and your total lifetime earnings. It adds a layer of legitimacy that is undeniable.
Furthermore, it brings a sense of history and permanence to the game. Poker is often about the moment—the final table, the big bluff, the championship win. The Hendon Mob ensures that those moments are not forgotten. It allows us to track the careers of legends like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu, and to see the meteoric rise of new stars. It settles debates about who the most successful tournament players of all time are. It is, in essence, the statistical heartbeat of live poker.
A Practical Guide to Using the Hendon Mob Database
Using the Hendon Mob is straightforward. Let us walk through it as if we were researching one of the game’s greats, Daniel Negreanu.
First, you go to the Hendon Mob website. The most prominent feature on the homepage is the search bar. You simply type “Daniel Negreanu” and hit enter.
You will be taken to his player profile page. This is where the magic happens. At the top, you will see his total recorded earnings, which is a staggering amount, placing him high on the all-time money list. You will also see his first cash, the number of cashes he has, and his largest single win.
Scrolling down, you will find a list of every single recorded tournament cash in his career, sorted by date with the most recent first. Each entry tells a story. You can see the tournament name, the buy-in cost, where he finished (e.g., 1st, 5th, 27th), and the amount of money he won for that finish.
You can use filters to sort this data. You can look only at his results from a specific year, or only his wins, or only his results in a particular country. This allows for deep dives into a player’s performance. For a recreational player, seeing their own single line of results on such a prestigious site can be a massive source of pride. It is a tangible record of an achievement in a challenging game.
The All-Time Money List: Poker’s Mount Rushmore
One of the most popular and debated features on the Hendon Mob website is the All-Time Money List. This is a ranked list of every poker player based on their total lifetime tournament earnings. It is poker’s version of a Forbes rich list, and it is constantly changing as new tournaments are played and massive prizes are awarded.
The top of this list is dominated by players who have won the biggest one-off prizes in poker history, like the World Series of Poker Main Event or the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop. However, consistently being near the top, like Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth, indicates a long and incredibly successful career, not just a single lucky win.
It is important to understand what this list represents. It reflects gross earnings, not profit. It does not account for the money a player paid in buy-ins, or for expenses like travel, hotel stays, and paying backers. A player could theoretically be high on the money list but not be profitable overall, though that is unlikely for the very top names. Despite this nuance, the All-Time Money List is the most widely accepted benchmark for measuring financial success in tournament poker history.
More Than Numbers: Preserving Poker’s Legacy
The true value of the Hendon Mob goes beyond mere statistics. It is a historical archive that preserves the legacy of the game. I sometimes find myself browsing the results of old tournaments from the 1970s and 80s, looking at the names of pioneers who shaped the game before it was on television.
It allows us to see the entire career arc of a player. We can see their first small cash, their breakthrough victory, their years of dominance, and the gradual tailing off of their results. It tells the story of poker itself, from a niche backroom game to a global phenomenon. Every name in that database, from the player with one $500 cash to Bryn Kenney with tens of millions in earnings, is a part of that story. The Hendon Mob ensures that their contribution, however large or small, is not forgotten. It gives every poker player a chance to have their name written in the history books.
Conclusion
The Hendon Mob is far more than a simple website. It is the bedrock of credibility and history in the live poker world. It started as the nickname for a group of friends and evolved into the most important non-playing entity in the game. For pros, it is an essential career tool. For fans, it is a fascinating window into the sport. And for every poker player who has ever dreamed of seeing their name in lights, it is a testament to their achievement, a permanent record that they sat down at the tables and succeeded. The next time you watch a poker final table, take a look at the graphics showing player earnings. Those numbers almost certainly came from the Hendon Mob, the undisputed official record keeper of poker.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Is Hendon Mob only for professional players?
Absolutely not. The Hendon Mob database includes every player who has cashed in a reported live tournament, regardless of their skill level or status. If you finished in the money at your local casino’s weekly tournament and the results were submitted, you will likely be on there.
2. How does Hendon Mob get its information?
Tournament organizers, casinos, and reporting outlets like PokerNews submit the results directly to the Hendon Mob. This ensures a high degree of accuracy and makes it the most official source for this data.
3. Why are my online poker results not on Hendon Mob?
The Hendon Mob focuses exclusively on live poker tournaments. Online poker results are tracked by different websites like Sharkscope or Official Poker Rankings (OPR). They are separate ecosystems with different tracking methods.
4. My cash is missing from the database. How can I add it?
The Hendon Mob has a process for submitting missing results. You can contact them through their website, but you will usually need proof, like a photo of the tournament results sheet or a link to an official report. They verify submissions to maintain the integrity of the data.
5. What is the difference between Hendon Mob and the Global Poker Index (GPI)?
The Hendon Mob is the raw database of results and earnings. The Global Poker Index is a ranking system that uses a complex formula applied to the Hendon Mob data to rank players based on their performance over a rolling 36-month period. Think of Hendon Mob as the source material and GPI as the analyst that interprets it to create a “world ranking.”
