POKER PLAYER - Kenna James

Kenna got his introduction to cards dealing at Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles in 1996. At that time he started playing $1-2 limit hold’em. In six months he became a tournament director for HPC and had moved up to the big game…$3-6! It was the beginning of 1997 when Kenna started playing in $20 to $100 buy-in tournaments around southern California. In 1999, Kenna began directing tournaments internationally with his now wife, Marsha Waggoner. They helped to organize and run the first major poker tournament at the Cosmos Casino Hotel in Moscow, Russia.

A jack of many trades he decided to become a master of one, poker. With only a few years of experience playing in low limit games, he decided to turn pro and took a job as a proposition player at Crystal Park Casino in LA in1999. More then a few times Kenna went to the felt and came up with nothing but lint in the pockets. "I surrounded myself with good people and developed good friendships and that was the key for me in surviving some tough times."

Kenna has traveled the world many times over playing and directing poker. He has traveled to Austria, Amsterdam, England, Russia, Spain, Australia and Germany to name a few. Winning over a million dollars in major tournaments around the world he is considered one of the top pros on the Professional Poker Tour today. Kenna is on a hot streak right now. His recent finishes are 2nd in a WP T event, The Legends of Poker, at the Bicycle Club Casino for $588,000 , 7th in the Monte Carlo Millions for $100,000 and 9th at the Aussie M illions for $85,000 Down Under in Australia, $242,000 1st place win o ver the "Grinder" at the LA Poker Classic and 2nd in the Party Poker Million worth $700,000 .

He has been on television numerous times both as a player and as a commentator but perhaps is most remembered for burying his head in his jacket and zipping up against Howard Lederer on ESPN’s coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker. Kenna is also the resident poker pro at Sun Poker.

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