The Festival Series Crushes Record For LARGEST The Hendon Mob Championship in the World

The Hendon Mob Championship

Not only did the tournament live up to the hype—it crushed it. A total of 2,417 entries flooded in, smashing the previous records and building a prize pool of just over €304,500. Absolute madness. When the dust settled, it was Estonia’s Haik Tougu standing tall. For his efforts, he bagged €51,850, the THMC trophy, his winner’s portrait, and a shiny €1,500 Cape Town Millions package. Not bad for a €150 shot.

Andreas Hoglund, host of The Festival Series, caught up with Tougu right after the win to talk about how it all went down, what The Hendon Mob means to him, and what’s next—like the Tallinn stop in July and the sunny stop at Malta in September. You can check that full interview on video if you want a closer look at the champ himself.

Final table? Pure fire. Here’s how the top nine turned out:

Place	Player	Country	Payout
1st	Haik Tougu		€51,300
2nd	Philipp Klok		€27,300
3rd	“Doofy Downswinger”		€18,800
4th	“Max Value”		€13,700
5th	Adrianus Van Dongen		€11,000
6th	Daniele Barbera		€8,800
7th	Lukas Rath		€6,700
8th	“Sino”		€5,050
9th	Luca Venece		€3,600

Eight starting flights—two of which were remote, played at King’s Casino in Prague—meant there was no shortage of action. Every single one of those flights hit hard, with the biggest drawing over 500 entries. The turnout wasn’t just good—it was historic for The Festival Series. First, it became the biggest THMC in Europe. Then it leapfrogged the all-time global record set back in 2023 at Thunder Valley in the US.

Each flight played down to the top 12.5%, and anyone who made Day 2 had already locked up a €300 cash, and on top of that- The top 2 would receive a Main Event ticket worth €550. Day 2 itself kicked off on June 8 with 296 players returning, all battling for the trophy (which is a unique one at The Festival Series), the money, and their own piece of poker glory.

Looking back at the Final Table action

It didn’t take long for things to get crazy. Just a couple hours in, over half the field was gone. Haik Tougu was already building a serious stack, holding the chip lead with nearly six million. Right behind him was Renata Onodyova—one of the few women left in the field and pushing for a deep run. She would only become the second THMC winner in history if should make it, after Reem Ahmed from the UK took down the event at the Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham. Also during The Festival Series ironically enough.

As the field thinned, the tension ramped up. Tommaso Liberio pulled off a monster pot with a gutsy flop bet. Timo Trems cracked aces with kings in a hand that made everyone do a double-take. Eventually, the final table was set around 2:30 a.m., with Philipp Klok leading the pack.

Then came the home stretch. Luca Venece was the first to fall, out of chips and out of luck. “Sino” shoved with king-queen into Van Dongen’s pocket aces. Lukas Rath couldn’t win his flip against Tougu and was next to hit the showers.

Daniele Barbera got eliminated after getting forced all in with jack-ten. The board brought no help, and Klok’s trip eights sealed his fate. Van Dongen, who had been cruising for most of Day 2, found himself on the wrong side of a cooler against Tougu’s full house and bowed out in fifth back to The Netherlands.

The Final Four

“Max Value” got unlucky when his pocket nines couldn’t hold versus Klok’s ace-nine. And “Doofy Downswinger,” hanging on as the short stack, finally lost a key pot with pocket fives against Tougu’s king-high, which flopped top pair.

That left Tougu and Klok heads-up. Eleven hands later, it was all over. Klok pushed all in with ten-nine, and Tougu called with queen-deuce. A dry runout later, Tougu was crowned the champ.

Not only did he bag the biggest prize of his poker life, but he also walked away with serious bragging rights and a trip to Cape Town. The photo of him with “Franke” says it all—a winner in every sense.

If this is how the 2025 Festival Rozvadov started, just imagine what’s coming next. Hats off to everyone who made it happen. This was more than a tournament. It was a moment, a moment which will be carved into The Hendon Mob’s history! 

This article has been written by our Content Creator Melvin Schroen, who is currently running around himself at The Festival Series Rozvadov at King’s Casino.