James Akenhead, 30, was living the poker dream back in 2009. He finished 9th in the WSOP Main Event for $1.2 million, then he followed that up by winning Full Tilt Poker Million VIII for another $500k to end the year just under $2m plus. He was the hottest name in UK poker at that time, and many predicted that he would have a long and successfull poker career.
However, to everyone's surprise, jus[...] Read more » The successful pro who quit poker for a full-time job
Joined: Mar '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 1277
Interesting - so thats what happens to poker pros who disappear!
seems like a wise choice, I'm sure plenty do what he did, cashing big in a year, then went barren and continued to plough all their energy and strength into poker despite it not working out for them financially. Must be tough to leave it behind to an extent, but then poker is no picnic, way tougher to live that life than a lot of people give credit for.
Posted by noonlion: Interesting - so thats what happens to poker pros who disappear!
seems like a wise choice, I'm sure plenty do what he did, cashing big in a year, then went barren and continued to plough all their energy and strength into poker despite it not working out for them financially. Must be tough to leave it behind to an extent, but then poker is no picnic, way tougher to live that life than a lot of people give credit for.
I dont know. It looks like to me that he didnt quit, rather that put up his last remaining dollars (~ pounds) into something of a hail mary pass to make some honest earnings. Its not a bad thing owning a bar/pub/restaurant in the UK - altough most businesses has up & downswings just like po.ker. Really hard to find balance, gl to him.
Joined: Sep '13
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 1564
i think thats the best thing you can do with your poker earned money, because if you dont invest it it something 'real' most of the time you will give it back so investing it into a business that doesnt depend that much on variance is a good thing, imo
Joined: Nov '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 747
the dream would be to win something big and set myself up for life. if i won > 1mil i would spend it on a house and bank it, cause my biggest fear would be of gamling it all away
Joined: Sep '13
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 1564
yea i would most likely do the same thing ... if i could resist.. hey doubling that money would be even better, wouldnt it... and then you could even buy 2 houses and a turtle. or something, 2m > 1m (poker player mentality i suppose, lol).
but yea its easy to talk about it when we arent in his shoes. But the reality is most of us would probably gamble it away, other than pochui i trust pochuis br skills.
now when i think of it, id buy myself a farm. and grow turtles. so you guys were first to hear it, when i win big, im gonna make a turtle farm and live my happy, stress-free turtlefarmers life.
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 7371
This player looks to have invested his money in something he feels passionate about and it is a good thing to see. He seems to know the value of money unlike some of these new kids coming up nowadays
Posted by Theapple: yea i would most likely do the same thing ... if i could resist.. hey doubling that money would be even better, wouldnt it... and then you could even buy 2 houses and a turtle. or something, 2m > 1m (poker player mentality i suppose, lol).
but yea its easy to talk about it when we arent in his shoes. But the reality is most of us would probably gamble it away, other than pochui i trust pochuis br skills.
now when i think of it, id buy myself a farm. and grow turtles. so you guys were first to hear it, when i win big, im gonna make a turtle farm and live my happy, stress-free turtlefarmers life.
I would do something similar. Hitting jackpot anywhere or winning on lottery and I would pull a Ted Turner. Buy some washed up ranch with hunderds of acres in Montana, patch things up and go on grew and trade cattle left or right. Im not much of a cowboy but boy would I be happy living life on simpler terms.
Joined: Sep '13
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 1564
lol @ cowboy
but yea basically id do that too. just get something that offers stable income, and less stress than poker. but then again most things offer less stress than poker but they arent half as fun though :/
Joined: May '13
Location: Mauritius
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 2688
Wow nice piece of interview there should be more like that. anyway glad he got this swing in his early years as he had still time to reconvert if that happened later on he might have go broke. Cheers nice read!
Joined: May '11
Location: Canada
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 979
resaurants are tough work and one of the hardest businesses to keep afloat, but its probably a lot easier to maintain composure rather then some of those poker dry spells =s
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
wise dude- kept some of the moola and invested it in real business...afterall poker is just gambling, it doesn't create any value, just ships money from one dude to another and ships a smaller amount due to the rake. if you happen to get ahead in this process be a wise cunt and invest the cash in business, real estate etc.
Joined: Nov '12
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 4675
G'day mates
Well I must say he has my respect. Many players just can not think long therm enough to invest their money well. It is easy come easy go. It seems these days all you hear about is this or that prove winning a fortune one day and losing it all the next. It makes me sick knowing all the good I could do in this world with the money they jusy piss away without a care in the world about it. best of luck to all of us. be cool
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
With any sport or occupation like poker player, you have to be the best of the best to make money, and doing that over the course of many years cannot be an easy task. You will see pros come and go as new generations of players rise and then self-destruct, or simply cannot adapt as the game continually changes. I think he was very wise to pull out and do something else.
Joined: Nov '12
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 4675
G'day mate
He is probably a lot more happy too. I know a few people who own restaurants and they always seem to be happy. They work hard but they love what they do. I think to be happy in this world a person needs to be good at what they do and find what makes them happy too. be cool
