The Global Poker Index (GPI) announced today that has purchased The Hendon Mob Limited (UK), owner of TheHendonMob.com. The website is best known for its industry-leading live poker tournament database as well as being home to the world’s largest UK online poker community.
“We are very excited and extremely proud to count The Hendon Mob as part of the Global Poker Index family,” said Global Poker Index CEO Alexandre Dreyfus in a press release. “The Hendon Mob poker database is the best in the world, without a doubt. We plan to support and grow this tremendous asset. The Hendon Mob and the Global Poker Index are a natural fit to put together. As a combined company, they truly form an authoritative hub for all poker players, particularly those who compete in live events.”
The quality of the poker tournament database at TheHendonMob.com cannot be understated. We here at Poker News Daily use it routinely for information found in our articles and appreciate the hard work that goes into maintaining it. It appears to be a natural fit with the GPI, which ranks the top live tournament players in the world and itself has kept an extensive database of tournament results.
On TheHendonMob.com forum, initial reaction has been mixed. Members of the forum are very loyal to the site and many are naturally concerned that things “won’t be the same” post-acquisition. To quote one poster, “Im [sic] happy that the 4 guys have obv scooped a decent wedge of money but cant [sic] help feeling like this spells the end of the forum as we know it. i guess time will tell.”
Joe Beevers, one of the four poker players that formed the Hendon Mob, chimed in, writing, “This announcement is really good news for thehendonmob.com and the database. The resources and expertise as well as the team that GPI has, led by Alex Dreyfus, will make the database so much better in the coming months.”
“For now, basically everything is the same as before except its [sic] all going to get much better. We are all working closely with Alex to make sure this is the case.”
According to the press release, TheHendonMob.com should continue to operate largely as usual and the GPI plans to “continue investing and developing” the database as well as the current operational team. Future plans include expansion into more tournaments and faster reporting. The Global Poker Index also wants to grow the UK online poker community on the site by adding poker leagues and membership incentives.
The Global Poker Index is owned by Zokay Entertainment, which also operates ChiliGaming.com and the Deep Stack Open brand of tournament series. Zokay acquired the GPI from Pinnacle Entertainment in August 2012.