British hopes lie with Akenhead in WSOP

1 ANSWERS

1. amomipais82
   

   Hi,
   One player per hand, or so the rule goes. Poker is as individual a game as you're going to find on the planet. For over a century, the very idea of sharing your holdings was ludicrous. There are friends at the table, but they're the kind of friends who are looking to steal your wallet when you aren't looking.
   
   Slowly, that reality has been changing. Only at the World Series of Poker do we really find players cheering one another on in a way that's reminiscent of one rooting for one's own best interests. That's because the stakes are so high at the main event. Not only is there fame and fortune at stake, but one winner can change the fortunes of even a nation's poker community. Just look at Joe Hachem and the impact his win had on Australia.
   
   [+] EnlargeJames Akenhead
   AP Photo/Laura RauchJames Akenhead will enter the final table with 28 big blinds.
   
   James Akenhead is a man playing with a nation on his shoulders. The 25-year old Londoner, a true pro who collected a half-million-dollar score just a year ago at the WSOP, has been feeling and reveling in the pressure that comes with representing your country.
   
   "It's been great," said the live tourney specialist from his hotel room in Greece. "The support I've gotten since making it to the final has been nonstop. Even during the tournament, all of the rooms there were posting live video updates and announcing [Akenhead's progress] over the loudspeakers." Akenhead felt the universal support of his countrymen firsthand when he returned home. He returns the love.
   
   "Brits are getting really good both online and live," said Akenhead. "I mean, we don't have as many known pros as the Americans do, but you have to remember there are so many more Yanks playing than Brits. Considering that, I think we've been really good. We're as good as anyone in Europe."
   
   Akenhead should know. Making his way into the English poker scene in late 2005, he's been a regular in tournaments there since. It was thanks to his success in England that he was able to make his first trip to the WSOP in 2008, where he lost heads-up to Grant Hinkle in attempting to win his first bracelet. Now, after surviving the greatest gantlet poker has to offer, he has another chance.
   
   Akenhead's trip through the main event seemed relatively smooth. Playing on Day 1C he more than doubled the $30,000 starting stack, finishing with $71,050. Day 2B saw him more than triple his chip stack to $240,200. When the field finally consolidated for Day 3, he was vaulted onto the leaderboard, finishing the day with $794,000. Days 4 and 5 were both successes, as he again ended both days in the top nine, but it was on Day 6 that his challenge truly began, courtesy of someone he'll meet in November.
   
   After an early hand against fellow N9er Steve Begleiter cut his stack in half, Akenhead was playing to survive instead of thrive. For the first time, he went backward in the chip counts, dropping down to $1.65 million (from $2.69 million) at day's end, ranking him 48th of the last 64 players standing. No one else who wasn't in the top 40 at that point would make the final table.

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