James Akenhead came agonisingly close to joining the elite club of British WSOP bracelet winners
Hot Squad member Akenhead tells us about beating a huge field of 3,929 and winning $520,219.
JAMES AKENHEAD
It’s going to take me a bit of time to put things into perspective. When Praz Bansi won his bracelet, it took me two or three weeks to come to terms with what he did. Generally I’m happy about the result, but pissed off that I was so close – one hand away from being a champion. But I realise I’ve won half a million dollars and it’s my career highlight.
I felt confident the entire tournament – from start to finish. In the first level I had 80% of my chips in on a bluff after telling all my friends that I was going to play really tight! But it was a good bluff and from there my stack just went up and up. I went from 3,000 to 65,000 at the end of day one when the average was 27k.
I wouldn’t say I played the best poker of my life on day one, but when you’re playing against bad players you don’t really have to play that well. Every bluff I was making was getting through. But on day two and at the final table I played well.
I had a great rail. For instance there was a hand where I was all-in against Chris Ferguson with Aces against his straight draw and flush draw. When I won the hand they were hugging me and stuff. It definitely helped boost my confidence.
Heads-up with Grant Hinkle, I didn’t want to get it all-in in a big pot – I wanted to grind him down until the stacks were 75/25, not 50/50. But I couldn’t keep folding. After I made it 1.2 million in the final hand, I only had 4m behind. I can’t fold there. If I pass, that’s bad poker.
I wasn’t massively ahead on the last hand, only a 60/40 favourite (with A:-K; vs 10U-4U). But when the money went in, I thought, ‘This is it. It’s going to come A-7- 2 rainbow…’ But it came 10-10-4 and there was a complete switch in my emotions. I went from feeling confident that I was going to win a bracelet to feeling like, ‘Get out, mate, you came second,’ kind of thing.
Some people say, ‘Why didn’t you do business heads-up?’ I was a better player than him and felt I had him on the ropes. It’s hard not to look at the short-term when you’re playing for so much money, but I am also looking at the long run. I’m quite strict with doing deals and unless they’re in my favour, I won’t do them.
I’ve made a conscious effort to improve my game, playing a lot more aggressively in certain situations. I’ve been playing a lot of online tournaments and taught myself a lot. I’ve also been taught a few lessons by some of the top pros and this has really helped my tournament strategy. I’m running quite good as well, winning my races and reading the game well.
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