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James Akenhead: November Nine Poker Player Profile
James Akenhead Profile
James Akenhead is a highly successful professional poker player, renowned as one of the best in the United Kingdom. Hailing from London, England, Akenhead's most recent accomplishment came on July 15th, 2009, when he secured himself a seat in the November Nine - the now famous label given to those who made the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Akenhead did not become an overnight sensation, but it certainly didn't take him long to leave his mark in the realm of professional poker players. James just started playing poker only 4 years ago, resulting in 20 in-the-money finishes worth nearly $700k. His career earnings will more than double come this November when the final table reconvenes, where every player is guaranteed to walk away with a minimum payoff of $1.2 million.
Akenhead saw his first successful live poker tournament in a 2005 Hold'em Series, finishing in 12th place for $439. As low as that may seem, Akenhead has seen exponential growth ever since. 2006 brought Akenhead five more cashes, worth $3,599, $4,687, $6,468, $9,100 and $14,647 respectively. The latter of the two were Akenhead first and second 1st place victories, one at the Caribbean Poker Classic, and the other as the champion of the 2006 Ultimate Poker Challenge.
The next year was a bit slower for Akenhead, awarding just two tournament cashes for about $11,000, both on the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT), the second another 1st place finish in event #3 PL Omaha.
2008 was the turning point for James Akenhead, resulting in 10 live tournament cashes. The most notable of these was a near WSOP bracelet win on May 31st, where James finished 2nd place in in NL Holdem event #2. That triumph raked in over half a million dollars ($520,219) for the young Englishman.
Though Akenhead was unable to survive the eventual winner, Grant Hinkle, he was surely proud to finish better than the 3rd place winner, Chris Ferguson (2000 WSOP Champion).
It will be a bumpy road for James Akenhead, to say the least, when the final table returns to Las Vegas. James will face 8 other players, each with larger chip stacks than his own. Akenhead will enter the table as the short stack, only 6.8 million to his name, while the next lowest, belonging to Antoine Saout, is 9.5 million.
Akenhead's stack pales to the 58.93 million of chip leader Darvin Moon. As the final table resumes, only a few minutes into the action, the blind levels are set to jump up to 150k/300k blinds, with 40k antes. With a fast-dwindling chip stack, James Akenhead will be forced to make a move early on in order to stay in the tournament.
James Akenhead is a respected member of the Hit Squad, a group of professional poker players that includes Praz Bansi, Chaz Chattha, Sunny Chattha, and Karl Mahrenholz. As Akenhead made his way into the 2009 WSOP's November Nine, there was a resounding question of profit-sharing among the Hit Squad.
Akenhead quickly quenched the curiosity of reporters, stating, "we help each other now and again, but we're not a business; we're just a group of friends that travels together and supports each other. You always want someone on the rail cheering for you and they're always there."
And there they shall be on November 7th as the WSOP final table recommences at the Rio in Las Vegas. The final table will continue through November 10th, where the champion will be crowned.
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