Hendon Mob Member Vaswani Wins 'Shootout' at 2007 WSOP

LAS VEGAS -- The winner of the $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout championship was Ram Vaswani, from London, England. A 37-year-old professional poker player, this was Vaswani’s first
Ram Vaswani wins a gold bracelet at the 2007 World Series of Poker.  victory at the World Series of Poker, after numerous wins and cashes at tournaments in Europe and elsewhere.

Vaswani has come close to winning a gold bracelet numerous times. He has 13 career cashes since 2002 – including 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and other finishes. He was cheered on by a rowdy crowd of supporters despite the late hour at which the tournament concluded.

Vaswani is one-quarter of the famed “Hendon Mob.” They are a collection of four unique poker personalities who became famous in the clubs around the Hendon section of London and have since taken their fame internationally. Terrific poker ambassadors all, Vaswani now has bragging rights as the first “mobster” to get a WSOP win. The other members of the Hendon Mob are Joe “the Elegance” Beevers, Barney Boatman, and Ross Boatman.

Vaswani’s poker nickname is “Crazy Horse.” Prior to playing poker professionally he was a snooker player, a popular billiards game played in the U.K. Vaswani was the European Poker Champion in 2000.

First place paid $217,438. But far more important to Vaswani than prize money was the thrill of wining his first WSOP gold bracelet after so many tries.

Interestingly, another Brit came in second. The runner up was Andy Ward, also from London.

The 9th-place finisher was Victor Ramden. The New York City-based poker pro is known for his charity work. He donates a part of his poker winnings to a charity which does work to assist the poor and disadvantaged in the nation of Guyana.

Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included Bill Chen, Diego Cordovez, and Andre Boyer.

A “Shootout” means that participants must defeat only the players at their respective table to move on to the next level. The tournament is essentially a series of “final tables,” or “sit-n-goes.” The Shootout tends to favor players who are more skilled at short-handed play.

This was one of the more international tables of this year’s World Series. A testament to poker’s emerging global popularity, no less than five nations were represented among the nine finalists including Canada, England, Norway, Sweden, and the United States,

This tournament was one of the few two-day tournaments scheduled at this year’s WSOP. Attendance has been so high in most events that virtually all WSOP tournaments now last three days. This was only the third tournament out of 54 events to be played to conclusion within a two-day period.

Note: Technically, every single tournament this year has gone three days, if one counts the second day crossing the midnight hour as a “third” day. This tournament ended in the early morning hour of the third day.