How is it 2026 already?
With online poker taking its first steps around the turn of the century, we’re hitting the point where some of the industry’s big hitters are reaching 25 years old.
Case in point: PartyPoker. It has a big birthday in the next two months, marking a quarter century of dealing real-money poker games online.
To celebrate the occasion, the site has hosted a chat with Barny Boatman and Joe Beevers — two of the original members of The Hendon Mob (no, it wasn’t always a results-tracking site — get a history lesson here).
In conversation with poker memelord Barry Carter, the pair share plenty of untold stories about some of the game’s most famous names, including Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey.
Watch the full video below, or read on for some fascinating nuggets.
The lighter side of Phil Hellmuth
Joe Beevers:
I remember after we'd filmed the first four series of Late Night Poker [around 2001], they invited Phil Helmuth.
Now, when we filmed late night poker, it wasn't like we all just turn up and film. It was a week of fun.
It was a week of friends getting together. In the green room there'd be backgammon games going on, people having side bets on flops, Jesse May ran a book. I had lots of prop bets with Jac Arama on flops and stuff and it was all a lot of fun.
The first day that Phil Helmuth is there, we're all sat in the green room and Phil's sat in the corner on his own. We were all going out for dinner to a really nice Italian restaurant in Cardiff.
Victoria Coren walked up to me she said “Go and ask Phil if he wants to have dinner with us.” He said, "Joe, that would be lovely."
And we all sat at a long table in this restaurant, and Phil was humble, like it was nothing to do with him, he knew that it was our environment, he was a guest and he acted very humbly, very calm, very polite, great manners and you just wouldn't have recognized him from when he's on TV.
And that's the story I like to tell. There's definitely a nice side to him.
Barny Boatman:
That's all very true, but I'm not having the word ‘humble’ said in the same sentence as Phil Helmuth!
One of the things about Phil Hellmuth that I really like is that he can take a joke. Quite often, when I take the mick out of him a bit on Twitter on X, he'll like it.
A few years ago I was kind of hawking around a book that I was part of — He Played for his Wife and Other Stories — which was a very good series of short stories related to poker. I had a few to give away to people at the table to people who I thought might publicize it.
I gave one to Daniel Negreanu and he got his camera out and gave it a little spiel. I gave one to Phil Helmuth the same day. He took it and he goes, "What's this?" He says, "I don't read books. I write them."
Shifting opinions on Daniel Negreanu
Barny:
He was around right in the early days when we used to play, and this thing of him being chatty at the table is genuine. That's what he likes to do.
He was always friendly and he greeted you away from the table a lot more than some of the people who had had a lot of success, who were very up themselves.
I think that, as he's had a lot of success, he started to believe that his opinions about all sorts of other stuff is more important and more interesting than it is. And you can just switch that off, but it's hard not to be annoyed by it. I think I’ve probably changed my view of him a bit.
The godfather of poker always made time
Joe:
I played with Doyle Brunson many times. The thing I noticed about him is he always had a moment, he always had a bit of time. So if someone stopped him and wanted to say hello, he would stop and say hello. If someone wanted an autograph, he would sign with a smile and ask what their name was.
He was not one of these people that didn't have time and would just put his foot down on his little scooter and go past people. If someone stood there with one of his books, he would stop and say a few words. He would engage, and that for me shows a really good side to him.
Phil Ivey stories
Barny:
There's a story about [former president] Bill Clinton coming to Vegas one time and being a fan of of Phil Ivey’s and wanting to meet him. His people got in touch with Phil's people or whatever, who said “Tell him to come and play poker”.
Bill Clinton was, like, “Well, I can't really be seen to be doing that, wouldn't he like to come to dinner?” And Phil was like, “No, come and play poker”.
Then they said, “Well, is there anything that he does that isn't poker that we can do?” And Phil said, “Well, we can play golf”. So Clinton said “Great, perfect. We'll play golf”.
Phil Ivey said, “Tell him it's $100K a hole”.
He refused and they never met. Ivey wasn't interested if there wasn't gambling involved.
Joe:
Without shadow of a doubt, Phil Ivey is the best player I’ve ever played with.
I remember once in the Bellagio we were talking about online poker and he said, “I want to play on that room, will you sort it out for me?” I said what do you want? He says, “I'll give you some money. Can you put it in the account? Come to my house, put the software on my computer and set it all up”.
So we walked out and got into his McLaren. We drove around the freeway to his house, it was like the arcade game, Speedway [weaving through the traffic at high speeds].
I said, “Can you slow down a little bit?” And he looked at me and started laughing. I said, “You're going to get nicked [arrested], Phil."
He said, “You think they're going to catch me?”
The above are just a few of the stories shared in this excellent video — check the conversation in full below, it’s well worth a watch.
Additional images courtesy of PokerGO/PartyPoker.
