Watching Vince Urbank deadlift was the first time I have seen anyone use the hook grip. He had some large hands and the only bar I saw him deadlift was the skinny deadlift bar.
I had briefly tried the hook grip with a standard Olympic bar. The pain on the last knuckle of my thumbs seemed not worth taking it further.
Do you use the hook grip regardless of the bar thickness?
That dude was huge. His hammies were longgg too, watching how far he had to move the bar looked painful. Donāt know how he did it 
legendary era of powerlifting
Yeah I never paid attention to the thickness, I wouldnāt say I have huge hands but I havenāt really had an issue wrapping my thumbs around just took some getting used to
He came as close to a stiff legged deadlift as I had ever seen. His hamstrings had to be freaky strong. He definitely had some long legs. He was about a head taller than everyone in the gym and super wide delts.
This depends a lot on the bar. With a texas power bar over 450 for reps is torture. You just have to embrace it and remember people have hooked over 700 and never pulled off their thumbs.
I just pretend to like it. If you start out with singles, you will get used to it