Joseph Charles Beevers (born 9 December 1967, in Marylebone, London) is an English professional poker player and a member of The Hendon Mob.
During his lengthy poker career, Beevers became one of the pioneers of poker on television by appearing in every series of Late Night Poker, where he made a record 3 grand finals.[1][2][3] Beevers also won the 2007 Poker Million and finished runner-up in two further televised poker events.[4][5]
Beevers' father taught him how to count cardsinblackjack from age 10. His father also taught Beevers how to work out permutations and probabilities on a Sinclair ZX81 computer. Beevers left school at age 16, and became a part of a card-counting team with his father and two others at age 18. They often played at the Sergeant Yorkes Casino in Luton, where they found a croupier who often paid out 3–1 on blackjacks, and sometimes also paid out when a player's hand was bust. The team eventually stopped playing as their success led to Beevers being banned from 4 London casinos, and his father being banned from 19. Between them they were banned from 21 out of 23 London casinos. They also went to gamble on horse racing events about three times a week.[6][7][8][9]
Around this time, Beevers placed dog racing bets for future Hendon Mobster Ram VaswaniinHarrow, and they later met in Luton, starting an ongoing friendship.[7]
Beevers began playing poker by entering a £10 pot limitstudrebuypoker tournament during a blackjack session in Luton. He went on to regularly play in a seven-card stud game in North London, where he estimates he won £35,000 to start his bankroll. By the time he finished university, he was earning well enough from playing poker and giving lessons to teachers and other students that he never returned to office work.[9][10]
Prior to the emergence of televised poker, Beevers ran private poker games with Ram Vaswani. They played much pot limit Omaha there, which Beevers considers to be his preferred poker variant.[11] It was in this game that they met Barny and Ross Boatman, the other two members of the Hendon Mob. Beevers began to travel to tournaments and won his first major event in Amsterdam in 1997. Upon winning, Beevers called his flatmate at 3am and sang Queen's "We Are the Champions" down the phone to him.[6][12]
Beevers and the rest of The Hendon Mob were invited by Nic Szeremeta to appear in the brand new Late Night Pokertelevision series, and supported the then-questionable idea of using a hole cam to make poker into a spectator sport.[6] Beevers appeared in all 6 series of the show, and is tied with Dave Colclough for a record 10 appearances. Beevers made the Grand Final in seasons 1,[1]4[2] and 5.[3]
Beevers' nickname "The Elegance" originates from the lifestyle he has been able to live through his poker winnings. He drives a Porsche 911 with the personalised number-plate Joe 911.[8] In fact, Beevers is the only member of The Hendon Mob who kept his original nickname given by Victoria Coren in the first article on them, in the Evening Standard in September 2000.[9] He is a season ticket holder at West Ham United F.C.[31]
Beevers lives in Hendon with his wife Claire, whom he married at the BellagioinLas Vegas, Nevada at the conclusion of the 2005 WSOP.[6] He has twin daughters, born 21 February 2006, named Millie and Lola.[32]
