It’s hard to have a conversation about legendary live poker venues without mentioning Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham. For years, the home of UK poker has hosted countless live poker events of a certain magnitude, and as a venue, it has reached legendary status. Between July 8-12, the card room has once again been busy, hosting the 2026 Hendon Mob Championship Nottingham. The £230 Main Event was the tournament everyone wanted to win, and the two-day event wrapped up around 4:00 the night between Sunday, July 12, and Monday, July 13. In the end, it was the Day 2 chip leader who, after fourteen hours of play, could seal the deal and claim the biggest tournament win of his career so far.
The Home of UK Poker
The Hendon Mob Championship (often abbreviated as THMC) is not your ordinary live poker event. With The Hendon Mob being the undisputed largest live poker database, there is a certain prestige around the THMC events. Flag hunters in particular are usually very intrigued in the events, seeing as one gets a unique flag on their profile on The Hendon Mob if they cash in the Main Event. To sweeten the deal, the winner of the Main Event also gets their hand on a package to the annual THMC finale in South Africa. Needless to say, there is a lot to play for at the various THMC events.
Dusk Till Dawn is certainly a venue worthy of hosting a THMC, and the 2026 THMC Nottingham was played between July 8-12 at the home of UK poker. The aforementioned Main Event was the big one; having a £200,000 guarantee and a shy buy-in for £230, it was destined to be a very intriguing tournament. There were four starting-day flights on-site, but also two online flights at GGPoker. These featured the “Golden Chip” campaign; if a player who qualified for Day 2 through any of the starting-day flights and made the final table, he/she would receive a £1,500 buy-in for the 2026 WSOP Circuit Nottingham, which will be played at Dusk Till Dawn later this year.
All in all, the six starting-day flights attracted a total of 943 entries. One hundred thirty-nine players made Day 2, and they were all guaranteed a £400 minimum cash, but one would assume they all had their eyes on the £26,750 first-place prize. There were some prominent names in the field, such as prominent UK player Stephen O’Keeffe, 2025 WSOP Circuit Nottingham Main Event winner Francis Obadun, the 2025 THMC Nottingham £280 Main Event winner Qing Zheng, and 2007 WSOP $10,000 Main Event fifth-place finisher Jonathon “Skalie” Kalmar. None of the above made a deep run, though. One could argue that the first major threshold of the tournament was reached when Stuart Bell was eliminated in twenty-first place, seeing as Dusk Till Dawn had added 20 tickets for the 2026 UKPC Masters £1,100 Main Event (which too will be played at the remarkable card room later this year). From there on, the next goal was to make the final table, which happened when Razin Sheikh was eliminated at the courtesy of Darren Harbinson. The nine remaining players enjoyed a short break before taking their seats at the live-streamed TV table.
The Robin Hood of Poker
Once everything was in order, the final table kicked off, resuming play on Blinds 400,000/800,000 with an 800,000 Ante. The chip leader going into the nine-handed affair was Imran Pirmohamed, who, with his 45,200,000, had quite some distance to Harbinson, who was second in chips (27,100,000). This wasn’t the first time poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlén covered a final table featuring Pirmohamed; in fact, during the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Manchester, which was played only a few weeks prior to the 2026 THMC Nottingham, Pirmohamed scored three final table results (runner-up in the £150 Mini Main Event, fifth-place finish in the £500 Main Event, and fourth-place finish in the £1,000 High Roller). Pirmohamed was in Nottingham seeking redemption; would he find it?
It’s safe to say he was off to a decent start on his campaign. Perhaps 20 minutes into the final table, he found himself heads-up against Kenzie Callaghan on a 8♣4♣9♦ flop. Callaghan moved all in for roughly twelve Big Blinds on the 7♥ turn, and Pirmohamed could comfortably make the call, knowing it wouldn’t make a dent in his stack if he lost. Callaghan had decent holdings with 10♠9♠, but against the 10♦10♣, it wouldn’t be easy to get the job done. The K♥ river didn’t help Callaghan, and as he became the first casualty of the final table (earning £2,500 for his ninth-place finish), Pirmohamed extended his chip lead even further.
The Pirmohamed train wouldn’t stop there. Roughly 15 minutes later, on Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, Andreas Olympios opened to 2,200,000 from the Cut-off. Primohamed made it a whopping 22,000,000 from the Small Blind, and Olympios utilized his 19,000,000 stack to make the call for his tournament life. Aware that Pirmohamed could be shoving light, he must’ve felt somewhat good about his A♠Q♠. Unfortunately for him. Pirmohamed did have a solid edge with A♦K♣, and no help for Olympios on the 3♣6♦5♠5♣9♦ board. Considering Olympios was one of the most fearsome players on the final table, with results dating back to 2006 on his Hendon Mob profile (including an impressive win in the $565 WPT 500 during the 2016 PartyPoker WPT500 Aria, Las Vegas, for $260,000), it’s an educated the remaining players at the final table were pleased to see him out in eighth place for £3,500.
Pirmohamed didn’t see any reason to slow down, and he was in a favorable position to put immense ICM pressure on his remaining opponents. Said and done, he made it a whopping 13,000,000 on the Button. Seated in the Small Blind, Jonathon Sibley picked up A♥K♥; he pushed his 4,100,000 stack beyond the line for his tournament life, and he was in good shape against the J♠7♣ of Pirmohamed. The Poker Gods were still looking out for the latter, though, and Pirmohamed completely smashed the J♥8♠7♦ flop. Just to put a lid on it, he improved to a full house on the 7♥ turn, and after the ceremonial 9♣ river, Sibley bid farewell in seventh place for £4,500.
The next one to go would be Guangdong Dai, and for a change, Pirmohamed was not the hitman this time. After Harbinson limped the 1,200,000 Big Blind from UTG and a call from Tan Le in the Small Blind, Dai moved all in for 13,000,000 from the Big Blind. Harbinson re-shoved for 18,000,000, and after a quick fold from Le, the two contenders tabled their holdings. Dai’s A♦5♥ was drawing ever-so slim against the A♠Q♦ of Harbinson, and as the board spelled out 9♣A♥8♦J♠10♣, Dai’s impressive tournament run came to an end in sixth place for £5,500.
The final table was live-streamed and commentated by the aforementioned Boothby and Michael Casson, and the player who was the fan favorite in the chat was Jack Newton. Roughly 20 minutes after Dai’s egress, Newton would raise to 11,000,000 from the Cut-off after an initial opening from Pirmohamed to 2,500,000 from UTG. Pirmohamed forced Newton all in for the remaining chips, and Newton made the call with 5♠5♦ with his tournament life at risk. He was flipping against A♣8♦, but once again, Pirmohamed hit a solid piece of the 3♦A♠K♥ flop. No dice for Newton on the 4♥J♦ runout, and Newton had to settle with £7,100 for finishing fifth.
Tan Le would be the next one to go, and the words, “Let’s gamble,” from Gerhard Brimmers might follow him for a while. Le moved all in for 9,300,000 on the Button, and Brimmers uttered the phrase as he made the call from the Big Blind. Le had Brimmers dominated with A♠6♠ versus 9♦6♦, but the river of the 10♠J♣K♦J♦9♥ board was the nail in the coffin. Le thanked the remaining players for a good game before heading to collect his fourth-place payout of £9,150 at the Dusk Till Dawn payout desk.
With three players left, it was still Pirmohamed who held the chip lead, and it had felt all the way that this was going to be his tournament. Anything can happen in poker, though, and once the Blinds go up, the tides can quickly change. Still in the lead, Primohamed used his A♥6♣ to call off a shove from Brimmers. Brimmers’ K♣7♠ managed to get the job done on the K♠3♥6♦7♣Q♣ board, and suddenly, the two contestants were tied at 59,000,000 on Blinds 1,500,000/3,000,000, with Harbinson not far behind them at all. Primohamed lost a few chips in various standard pots to eventually be the shortest stack, albeit by the smallest of margins. Soon enough, he found himself in a great spot, being all in pre-flop with J♥J♦ against Harbinson’s A♥5♥. Harbinson’s rail, including prominent Irish player Paul Carr, cheered as their prodigy took a solid lead on the K♠A♦5♦ flop, and Pirmohamed couldn’t produce a miracle on the K♥10♥ runout. That hand, somewhat surprisingly, ended Pirmohamed’s remarkable run, and he received £12,150 for his third-place finish.
Heads-up then, and Harbinson had a two-to-one chip lead over Brimmers. What followed was a lengthy battle between the aspiring poker virtuoso Harbinson and the old-school, more recreational Brimmers. Harbinson managed to win a few pots by showing some aggression both pre- and post-flop, but all of a sudden, the unpredictable Brimmers would pull off some creative plays to keep the fight going. Roughly one hour into the one-versus-one duel, all the money went into the middle, and Harbinson was looking to seal the deal with Q♥J♥. He couldn’t get the job done against Brimmers’ A♣5♥ on 10♥8♣7♥3♠5♦; back to the drawing board it was.
Despite showing some signs of fatigue, Harbinson stayed disciplined and once again managed to steal a few Blinds here and there from Brimmers. Soon enough, on Blinds 5,000,000/10,000,000, he utilized his 114,000,000 stack to put Brimmers all in for 70,000,000. Brimmers made the call, and he was hoping for his J♣3♣ to beat the A♣6♥ of Harbinson to turn the tables. That would not be the case; Harbinson finally got the job done as the board spelled out Q♥10♣7♠Q♠6♣. Still happy, humble, and thrilled over his runner-up finish, Brimmers gracefully extended his gratitude to Harbinson for a fair fight before heading to the payout desk to collect his £18,150. Meanwhile, Harbinson was joined at the center stage by his rail, who all celebrated the biggest win of his career. After a fourteen-hour Day 2, he could now claim the trophy, the £26,750 first-place payout, the €2,500 South Africa package, and the title. He has etched his name into poker history as the champion of the 2026 THMC Nottingham.
2026 THMC Nottingham – £230 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Darren Harbinson | Northern Ireland | £26,750 |
| 2 |  Gerhard Brimmers | Germany | £18,150 |
| 3 |  Imran Pirmohamed | England | £12,150 |
| 4 | Tan Le | England | £9,150 |
| 5 | Jack Newton | England | £7,100 |
| 6 | Guangdong Dai | England | £5,500 |
| 7 | Jonathon Sibley | England | £4,500 |
| 8 | Andreas Olympios | England | £3,500 |
| 9 | Kenzie Callaghan | England | £2,500 |
That wrapped up the 2026 THMC Nottingham. It was the second consecutive year poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlén was on-site, answering for the written media coverage of the event, and if possible, it was even more of an enjoyable experience than the last time. Karlén and the poker.pro editorial office extends their gratitude to Boothy and Glenn Townsend (Marketing Operations Manager at Dusk Till Dawn) for yet another stellar event. Also, a big shoutout to the event’s videographer, Václav “Lemon” Dušek, and Dusk Till Dawn photographer Jemma Grice.
Next up for The Hendon Mob is the 2026 THMC Liechtenstein, a six-day event that will be played August 18-23 at Grand Casino Liechtenstein. As is always the case when Boothby and The Hendon Mob are involved, it’s destined to be a slam dunk success, and time will tell who will become the next THMC champion.
