This guy is not famous in the USA yet. But James Akenhead proved his skills in the United Kingdom and he has got a lot of admirers there. Poker fans from the UK had a big celebration when James Akenhead promoted to the ME WSOP final.

Some experts say that 26-years old Akenhead doesn’t play as good as his opponents from ME WSOP final. But Irish Open champion legendary Neil Chenning doesn’t agree with them. This guru says that Akenhead’s chance to win ME WSOP final is 25 %. Not bad, is not it?

Akenhead is a representative of young poker players group from the UK . He is a member of HitSquad team. This team has been winning Texas Holdem tournament by tournament during last years. They started their careers from cash-games with small stakes. But very soon they became real pros of Texas Holdem and HitSquad enjoys fame at the national level.

Akenhead is considered to be the most talented player of HitSquad. He prefers aggressive style of play and this Texas Holdem strategy works. It is incredible that he has not won any bracelets or big titles in the poker industry. He raised a lot of money playing poker ($ 2.2 million), but he starves for world titles.

He reached final tables at big tournaments several times but he could not climb higher yet. His biggest achievements are:

•  ME GKUPT final table

•  4 th place at 888 UK Open

•  2 nd place at tournament 2 No-Limit Texas Holdem WSOP 2008 $ 1 500 buy-in

Akenhead could win Tournament 2 No-Limit Texas Holdem WSOP 2008 $ 1 500 buy-in but he sunk without a trace because of a bad luck. In the final hand he had A-K and forced his opponent Grant Hinkle to be all-in. Hinkle held 10- 4 in his hands and it looked like a disaster for him. But the flop brought pair of tens and another ten came from the turn. Therefore Hinkle collected four of a kind and won bracelet of the tournament. Akenhead had to be satisfied with $ 520 219.

On the way to November Nine

Akenhead first steps at the tournament were not successful. He tried to bluff and lost most of his chips. His situation was extremely dangerous and the poker player’s stake reached 4 000. But Akenhead got back on the track pretty fast and collected 70 000 chips. This success allowed him to climb on the top and he didn’t make big mistakes keeping his stake. By the end of Day 2B he was among the leaders with 278 000 chips. By the Day 5 Akenhead kept his position in the top 10 having 2.7 million-sized stake.

At the ME WSOP final table Akenhead played with a confidence. But the luck let him down and his A-K was beaten by pocket 8-8. James had to start from the very beginning. He adjusted his Texas Holdem playing style to fight with a small stake and finally Akenhead came up to high positions. Unfortunately he could not capture big amount of chips but the main task is to be in the final of WSOP November Nine was completed.

So, what is next?

Akenhead will have not an easy job to do. His small stake forces him to risk and he will either snip off chips or leave the table pretty fast. No doubts the game at the final table will be challenging for Akenhead. He will be surrounded by the chip-leading Darvin Moon (seat N 1) and legendary Phil Ivey (seat n 3). Knowing ambitions of Akenhead, experts are sure that he will be playing aggressively. Akenhead’s goal is to win his first big title and he will do his best to make his dreams come true. WSOP November Nine is the perfect tournament to prove skills of Akenhead.

Also recommended:

1. Shulman defeats Negranu in ME WSOPE 2009
2. World Series of Poker – WSOP
3. Meet Joe Cada!