$1m deal of Hendon gamblers

It must be every poker player's dream - being paid to blow cash on the tables.

But in the latest sign the game is moving into the mainstream of sport, four British players have been signed up in a $1 million-a-year (£550,000) deal to test their luck.

The men, Barny Boatman, his brother Ross, Ram Vaswani and Joe Beevers, call themselves the Hendon Mob - a name derived from the north London suburb where they used to play.

They have been sponsored to promote online gaming company, PrimaPoker.com, as they travel the world playing cards in 14 major poker festivals.

The deal is understood to be the biggest corporate tie-in in professional poker and is being viewed as further evidence of the game's transformation from a mere pastime.

It has already elevated the Hendon Mob to stardom. Mr Boatman was recently featured in the Finnish equivalent of Hello! magazine, while television coverage in America has made the four household names.

"We played in an invitational tournament in Los Angeles recently with all these Hollywood stars," said Barny Boatman. "People like Ben Affleck and Ed Asner were coming up to us saying, 'We're big fans of yours. It's a real thrill to get to play with you.' However jaded you are, you can't help but be a little bit excited by that."

The Mob flew into London yesterday to start their tour by taking part in the British Open and are due visit Las Vegas for the world's most expensive tournament where the entry fee is more than £10,000.

The PrimaPoker Tour also includes trips to Barcelona, Dublin and Paris.

It is hoped that by the end of the year their efforts will help prompt a formalised international circuit with players accumulating points and prize money from each event, which will then go towards a world ranking.

Last year the four, all in their thirties, won 13 of the major tournaments they entered, collecting more than $500,000 (£225,000). Mr Boatman said he hoped the sponsorship would raise poker's profile: "We talk about it as a sport and we treat it that way."