James Akenhead’s poker career has been characterised by volatility – something that many players experience but not so many speak openly about. After a brief stint as a train driver from 18 to 21, the Londoner found poker and quickly became hooked on it. He came up in the game in the online world, but it was his successes on the live tournament circuit that made him one of the more recognisable players to emerge from the UK.
In 2009, he managed an extremely unique feat by making both the final tables of the WSOP and WSOPE Main Events. Becoming a part of the November Nine is always going to be a prestigious achievement, but that the line-up included poker great Phil Ivey made it all the more special. Though Akenhead was the first to go, he picked up a huge seven-figure payday and managed to outrun the likes of Ben Lamb, Antonio Esfandiari and Bretrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier.
Unfortunately for James, he suffered the same fate at the WSOPE Main Event final table. With an equally decorated line-up featuring Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier, the Englishman exited in ninth once again – this time for a six-figure score.
Before 2009 played out, Akenhead did finally get to claim a tournament win – at the $20,000 Full Tilt Poker Million VIII where he bagged a huge $500,000 for his first-place finish. This made 2009 his most successful year in poker to date as his list of scores came close to exceeding $2,000,000.
Following this string of successes, James enjoyed a period of being sponsored by Full Tilt and made appearances on televised events such as Poker After Dark. In 2010, he won the Series 6, Week 9 winner-takes-all sit and go after triumphing over David Williams, Mike Matusow, Bradley Booth, Antonio Esfandiari and Erick Lindgren.
Akenhead took a hiatus from poker in 2013 after a rocky year that cost him more than £400,000 from buy-ins and expenses. As he explained in a 2016 WPT interview:
‘The reason I left poker in the first place was because I wasn’t doing so well . . . I didn’t have a wife, kids or a mortgage and I owned my own house at the time, but I knew I did want to have those responsibilities at some point in my life. I just thought, ‘I don’t want to have this year with three kids, be married and have a mortgage on a nice house – that’s when I decided to get out of the game’.
In search of a more stable life, James invested money into a building and renovated it into a pub/restaurant. Although he hoped this would give him the steady income and security he wanted, it just reminded him of how good he had it as a poker pro. As he recently admitted:
‘I worked a hundred hours a week. I lived there . . . suddenly you realise that you have no life and no energy . . . eventually someone wanted to buy it [the business] so I sold it and lost a shit load of money’.
Now having returned to poker as a husband and father, James is reinvigorated and motivated to play his best once again:
‘I am looking forward to every tournament I play . . . I am in a pretty good place right now with my life. I don’t have heaps of money, but I am full of confidence’.
Published 7 years ago
The Poker Lounge - Dramatic All-In HandIn this dramatic poker hand Andy Black was super happy on the flop but his happiness was short lived as the turn card gives James ...