Marco Herman: “After Five Flags, I Thought – Let’s Go for It”
When working at a live poker event, you always find interesting characters at the tables. One of them is Marco Herman, who currently leads the ranking of amount of cashes in The Hendon Mob Championship. With seven cashes already recorded, the Dutch player is quietly building a serious run, and doing it on his own relaxed, experienced style.
“It actually started without really knowing what The Hendon Mob was,” Herman explains. “We went to Malta with a group of friends, called the Daltons, and I just saw a €200 tournament and thought, let’s play it. Then I made the final table straight away, and they gave me a Hendon Mob shirt. That’s when I started to understand it a bit more.”
Just like similar stories, such as the Flaghunter run of Koen Roos, this run was built over time.
The Hendon Mob Championship
As the results kept coming, so did the awareness. “After a few flags, they told me I was near the top together with another player,” he says. “And after five, I thought, this is actually really nice. Maybe I should start planning around it a bit more.”
That change in mindset has made a difference as marco began to select stops more carefully, including a return trip to Bratislava, as the event was in Bratislava as well last year in November. Not just for the atmosphere at The Festival, but with the Hendon Mob Championship in the back of his mind. “I came here last year in November as well because of The Hendon Mob event. So yeah, it definitely plays a role now when I decide where to go.”
And the results speak for themselves. Just this week alone, he’s already added three final tables to his record. Not all at The Hendon Mob Championship, as there is just one tournament per event, but to his overall Hendon Mob results.
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Exploring Boundaries, Mixed Games Unite!
With over 15 years of live poker experience, Marco is still far from settling into routine. At The Festival, he's learning into the mixed game side of the schedule - something that keeps the game fresh for him. Add to that the great atmosphere an average mixed games table, and you got a great formula all together.
“Yesterday I played HORSE for the first time,” he says. “And I finished sixth, so that was a nice surprise.”
He’s also a fan of some of the more unique formats on offer. “Sviten Special (for Americans known as Drawmaha), is great. I played it for the first time in Malta a couple of years ago. It’s a lot of action, a lot of fun, and you never really know what’s going to happen. That makes it interesting.”
For Marco, that variety plays a big role in his tournament selection as well. “It’s not only about results. It’s also about enjoying the game, and here you get so many different formats to try.”
The Festival Series Experience
When we asked Marco what makes The Festival stand out, the answer comes quickly. “First of all, the people,” he says. “It’s a big crowd, but everyone is very friendly. That makes a big difference.”
He also points to the structure behind the scenes. “The organization is really good. Everything runs smoothly, and that helps you just focus on playing and enjoying yourself.”
It's exaxtly that combination, a strong organisation, diverse formats, and a welcoming player field, that makes The Festival Series a natural fit for The Hendon Mob Championship. Players like Marco, love it as it creates more than just opportunities to cash, it creates a reason to come back.
“Because of The Hendon Mob, you have that extra motivation,” he says. “And here, you have everything around it to make it a great trip as well.” With sevne cashes under his belt, and more stops ahead of him, Marco Herman is doing more than just collecting results, he is purely enjoying himself and going with the flow.
And if his current form continues, he might just be too far ahead to catch!
