Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani (born 1 September 1970 from

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

) is an former professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player and the youngest member of

The Hendon Mob The Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England: Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, Ross Boatman, and Ram Vaswani. The name of the group was first publicised by the ''Evening Standard'' newspaper in September 2000. J ...

, a group of professional poker players. He resides in

with his wife Jackie and daughter Hollie. Vaswani became a regular on the poker circuit, and due to his involvement in

Late Night Poker ''Late Night Poker'' is a British television series that helped popularize poker in the 2000s. It used "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards. The show originally ran for six series between 1999 and 2002 ...

, he also became one of the pioneers of

poker on television Poker television programs had been extremely popular, especially in North America and Europe, following the poker boom. This has especially become the case since the invention of the " pocket cam" in 1997 (and its first use in the United States in 2 ...

. He is the first (and to date only) person to reach 4

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

(EPT) final tables. The latest being at Monte Carlo 2007 (eliminated first, on the first hand) one of those final tables bought a win, the Dublin Season 2 (2004) event. He won his first

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

bracelet in 2007, in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout event. His other televised appearances include a win in the

Poker Nations Cup The Poker Nations Cup is an international poker tournament, televised on Channel 4 from March 2006 onwards. The series is commentated by Jesse May and Barny Boatman. Padraig Parkinson covered for Boatman in preliminary match 2. The series was film ...

, and runner-up in finishes in two more televised events.

Poker career

Early years

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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Their teacher stopped them playing, so they ended up playing for

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called '' sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

instead. Vaswani has long considered

seven-card stud Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States, a ...

to be the most skilful

poker variant The card game of poker has many variations, most of which were created in the United States in the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details ...

, and built up his early poker knowledge playing the £100 game at the Victoria Casino on

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes ...

. Vaswani met

Joe Beevers Joseph Charles Beevers (born 9 December 1967 in Marylebone, London) is an English professional poker player and a member of The Hendon Mob. During his lengthy poker career, Beevers became one of the pioneers of poker on television by appearing ...

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

when placing bets on

dog racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

and they later set up a private poker game together. It was in one of these games that they met both

Barny Barny is a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Barny Boatman (born 1956), English poker player Surname *Junes Barny (born 1989), Swedish football player *Bernard Barny de Romanet (1894–1921), French W ...

and

Ross Boatman Ross Maxim Boatman (born 3 March 1964) is an English actor, professional poker player and a member of the poker-playing group the Hendon Mob. He is known for the role of Firefighter Kevin Medhurst in the ITV drama series '' London's Burning'' f ...

. Together, the four became known as The Hendon Mob and became regulars on the European

poker tournament A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a "heads up poker, heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on th ...

circuit. In the first published article on The Hendon Mob, journalist and poker expert

Victoria Coren Victoria Elizabeth Coren Mitchell (' Coren; born ) is a British writer, TV presenter and professional poker player. Coren Mitchell writes weekly columns for ''The Telegraph'' and has hosted the BBC television quiz show ''Only Connect'' since 20 ...

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 Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

leader Tashunca-uitco. Vaswani and the rest of The Mob were invited by

Nic Szeremeta Nic Szeremeta (1943 - 25 January 2021) was a poker player of English and Polish descent, the publisher of ''Poker Europa'' magazine, and creator of the ''Late Night Poker'' television series (and commentator with Jesse May during its first thr ...

to appear in the brand new

television series. Vaswani appeared in each of the show's 6 series, reaching the series 2 Grand Final and the series 4 and 5 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 Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in 1999. At the time, this was Europe's most prestigious tournament, but he was broke and had to borrow money from

to stake in a cash game to build up money for the entry fee.

The WSOP and beyond

Vaswani first finished

in the money In finance, moneyness is the relative position of the current price (or future price) of an underlying asset (e.g., a stock) with respect to the strike price of a derivative, most commonly a call option or a put option. Moneyness is firstly a thr ...

of a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event in the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

$3,000

no limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P *No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...

event won by

Erik Seidel Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. In 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Early life ...

. The next year, he had a 3rd-place finish in the $2,000

limit Limit or Limits may refer to: Arts and media * ''Limit'' (manga), a manga by Keiko Suenobu * ''Limit'' (film), a South Korean film * Limit (music), a way to characterize harmony * "Limit" (song), a 2016 single by Luna Sea * "Limits", a 2019 ...

hold 'em event, and a 2nd-place finish in the $2,000½ hold 'em – 1/2

event. He made three final tables in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, with his best finish being 3rd place in the $3,000 no limit hold 'em event. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Vaswani became the first member of the Mob to win a

WSOP bracelet The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 197 ...

, winning $217,438 in the $1,500 limit hold 'em shootout event. The following year, he made the final table of the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Lo Split event, finishing 7th. 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). Vaswani has also made 4 final tables on the European Poker Tour (EPT). In the first season, he won the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

event and finished 2nd to

Noah Boeken Noah Boeken (; born 6 January 1981) is a Dutch professional poker and ''Magic: The Gathering'' player. ''Magic: The Gathering'' career At first, Boeken began playing ''Magic: The Gathering'' with some kids at his school but quickly discovered ...

in the

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

event. In the second season, he finished 5th in

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film Fes ...

. He also made the final table of the

Season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

Main Event, where he finished 8th. His EPT final table tally is double the next best total, held several other players, including

Marc Karam Marc Karam (born August 28, 1980) is a Canadian professional poker player. In addition to playing in major international poker tournaments, he plays online poker. Poker career Late in the year 2001, Karam began playing micro-stakes home games a ...

Marcel Lüske Marcel Lüske (Amsterdam, Netherlands 23 March 1953) is a Dutch professional poker player. He finished 10th in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. Lüske is a mentor to and encourages the development of younger poker players. Early life Lüske's father ...

and

(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 * €5,000 European Hold'em Championship, Euro Finals of Poker 2002 * £500 pot limit seven-card stud, Poker Classics 2003 * £500 no limit hold'em, Midland Masters 2003 *

2006 Vaswani was also a quarter-finalist in the 2003

World Heads-Up Poker Championship The World Heads-Up Poker Championship (WHUPC) was an annual elimination-format poker tournament of heads-up no limit Texas hold'em matches. The tournament was co-created by Late Night Poker's Nic Szeremeta, PokerInEurope's Jon Shoreman, and gaming ...

, runner-up to

Harry Demetriou Charidimos (Harry) Demetriou (born 20 August 1958 in London) is a Greek Cypriot-British poker player. World Series of Poker Demetriou first became known in poker circles for his 3rd-place finish at the $2,000 no limit Texas hold 'em tournament ...

in the 2004 Victor Chandler Poker Cup, and a finalist in the

pot limit In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, ...

hold 'em Gaming Club World Poker Championship. He finished runner-up in the 2005 William Hill Poker Grand Prix, following a

bad beat In poker, bad beat is a subjective term for a hand in which a player with what appear to be strong cards nevertheless loses. It most often occurs where one player bets the clearly stronger hand and their opponent makes a mathematically poor call ...

against eventual winner

Phil Laak Philip Courtney Laak (born September 8, 1972) is an Irish–American professional poker player and a poker commentator, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, a ...

. 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 Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn (born October 28, 1962) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and ...

and WSOP bracelet winners

Donnacha O'Dea Donnacha "The Don" O'Dea (born 30 August 1948) is an Irish professional poker player. In his youth, he was a swimmer, and represented Ireland in the 1968 Olympics. He was also the first Irish swimmer to swim 100m in less than one minute. His par ...

and

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

. (

Simon Trumper Simon Trumper (born 31 May 1963) is an English professional poker player from South Kensington, London, England. He is chiefly noted as the winner of Late Night Poker series 2 and runner-up of series 4. Trumper also commentated on the Late N ...

has also referred to him as "the best tournament player in Europe, especially in No Limit.") As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings are exceed $3.2 million. His 15 cashes at the Las Vegas WSOP account for $846,229 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
, worldseriesofpoker.com Vaswani appeared in Late Night Poker Masters in late 2006 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, in the same heat as

season 6 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

champion Peter Costa and

Willie Tann Willie Tann is an English professional poker player. Tann was born in Singapore and moved to England to study law in the 1960s. Tann made one appearance on the original televised poker show Late Night Poker, finishing 3rd in his heat behind ...

, but did not progress. Vaswani has written over 20 articles for The Hendon Mob's website, and a poker lesson for

Matthew Hilger Matthew Hilger is an American professional poker player and author from Atlanta, Georgia. He also operates his own poker-related website. Early years Prior to poker, Hilger graduated from University of Georgia with a Bachelor's degree in Fin ...

's site internettexasholdem.com. Vaswani regularly plays $100–$200 no limit hold 'em online, and is sponsored by

Full Tilt Poker Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Amaya ...

. He has also played $200–$400 pot limit

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

on the site, where he has won pots in excess of $160,000.

Other gambling

Vaswani has been described as "an avid gambler who 'would bet on anything that moves'". This has led to him being known for having a fluctuating bankroll due to the variance in his

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

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. Vaswani is also a keen

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er, and has had large financial upswings and downswings as a result of wagering on his game. 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 Chinese poker is a card game based on poker hand rankings. It is intended as a beginner-friendly game, with only a basic knowledge of poker hand rankings needed to get started. The format allows for frequent unexpected outcomes due to the large ...

, which he considers to be a game of pure luck.

Notes

External links

Hendon Mob tournament results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaswani, Ram English poker players English snooker players European Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners Living people People from Finchley Sportspeople from London The Hendon Mob British Hindus 1970 births