WSOP 'November Nine' Profile: James Akenhead

by Bodog Poker | Aug 19 2009

Nobody loves an underdog as much as the British. The less chance you have to win the more they like you, so the country should be 100% behind short-stacked London native James Akenhead. The young poker pro has made mother England proud over the last couple of years at the WSOP. Last year he finished second in a $1500 no limit holdem event that was worth over $520K. Making the November Nine further solidifies him as a world-class no limit holdem tournament player, and a deep run at the final table could go so far as to produce another poker boom on the British Isles.

James is a consistent tournament player with over $700K in winnings, not including his guaranteed $1.2 million+ payout he'll get in mid-November. Akenhead is a member of the "Hit Squad", a group of poker professionals based out of London. The group includes Sunny & Charles Chattha, Praz Bansi, and Karl Mahrenholz. The group has had lots of success that includes many titles, but Akenhead's deep run in the WSOP Main Event will be their biggest achievement yet. Luckily for Akenhead the team doesn't share winnings.

His team members consider him to be a prodigy, going so far as to compare him to the late great Stu Unger. Unfortunately for Akenhead, like Phil Ivey, the young poker genius is severely short stacked. This will limit the moves he can make, but if he's lucky enough to double up he could build a stack with which to contend. Despite his high level of skill he's getting the longest odds to win the final table. He might not be a bad darkhorse bet at 22/1, but he will most certainly need to double through early on to have a chance at becoming the champion.

Like many young European professionals James plays most of his action in Europe. He's a regular on the U.K. Tour where he has had lots of success. He makes the annual trip to Vegas for the WSOP, but otherwise has thus far flown under the U.S. poker media's radar. He's also had cashes in Caribbean tournaments last year and in '06, and has recorded cashes in the United States, Bahamas, Germany, Ireland, and France.

Akenhead will have a big hill to climb to get back into contention. He only has 6,800,000 in chips, while the chip leader has over 50,000,000 more than his stack. He will need to get lucky a couple of times to become a contender, but stranger things have happened on the poker table. He has the skill level to know when to play it tight and when to push the small stack in. His chip count isn't so low that he has to force things right away, so anything could happen in November. No matter how he does in November he now has a fat bankroll and all the sponsorship he'll ever need.

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