Ram Vaswani is the charismatic star of London poker quartet The Hendon Mob, who on his day, even fellow Mobsters (Ross/Barny Boatman, and Joe Beevers) acknowledge, is the best of them and one of the most feared players on the European circuit, perhaps in the world.

Vaswani produced one of the most electrifying performances I’ve ever seen at a poker table. It was in the qualifying heat of a televised event last year. Vicky Coren, who was there for the filming and witnessed not only the 45 minutes we saw, but the whole six hours, says, ‘I always knew he was good, because he’s got the moves and he’s got the gamble and he’s smart, but this was unbelievable… for the first time I felt myself in the presence of genius.