Full Tilt Poker Million VIII Final Won By James Akenhead

By any one’s standards, James Akenhead has had a glorious year after having made it onto two WSOP main event final tables either side of the Atlantic.
Despite the UK pro making $1,371,962 from his  impressive record, he may have felt slightly aggrieved he busted out of both tournaments in 9th place and had failed to capture a major title all year.
However, James Akenhead has now crowned a remarkable 2009 with a win at the FullTilt Poker Million VIII for a $500,000 payday, and he couldn’t be happier. Commenting on his win, Akenhead said: 
“It’s been such a great year and ever since I came second for a bracelet in such a brutal way I’ve just been striving to win a big tournament. I’ve made lots of final tables but not come first so to win such an event as big as Poker Million is just fantastic. I think I played really well tonight. I trusted my instincts and my reads and I didn’t make many mistakes throughout the whole tournament.”
It was never going to be plain sailing for Akenhead at a tough final table included Juha Helppi, Luke Schwartz, Juha Helppi, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Craig Wakeham, Peter Vasilou and Taylor Caby. 
In fact, Akenhead found himself on a short stack early on after losing a big pot to Luke Schwartz, but he managed to even the score later against Schwartz after hitting his flush versus his opponent’s pocket 8’s. Akenhead was then able to get a foothold on the game and eventually made it to heads-up against Finnish experienced pro Juha Helppi.  
A short heads up battle was dictated by the already high blinds and a pre-flop push by Helppi with pocket 6’s was insta-called by Akenhead with 10’s the outcome of which was the FullTilt Poker Million VIII title, his first major title of the year, as well as half a million dollars in prize money.
Buoyed by his victory, the UK pro is already turning his sights to 2010. “I’m really looking forward to next year and all the events I’m going to play,” he said. “Every year that I’ve played since I started I’ve won more than the previous year so I’ve got a big hill to climb next year!”