Play picks up at World Series of Poker as Akenhead triples up, Saout doubles through leader

Akenhead triples up at World Series of Poker

LAS VEGAS — Short-stacked London poker professional James Akenhead survived the first all-in showdown of the World Series of Poker final table on Saturday when a river queen tripled his chip stack and saved him from busting ninth in the main event.

French professional Antoine Saout dodged a straight draw the next hand and made a full house to double his chip stack through chip leader Darvin Moon.

The moves put Saout and Akenhead — who began the day with the shortest stacks among the final nine — into better position for a run at the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em title worth $8.55 million.

Akenhead’s pair of queens on the river saved him from giving all his chips to Eric Buchman, who was strongly ahead in the hand until the final community card was dealt.

Akenhead opened the hand by moving all-in for more than 4 million chips. He was called by Steven Begleiter, but Buchman re-raised 8 million more chips to push Begleiter out of the hand.

Buchman’s ace-king dominated Akenhead’s king-queen but Akenhead’s queen was the only card that connected with the board. Only three cards in the deck could have saved him.

The consecutive hands dramatically altered a session that began slowly at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, with hands rarely going to a showdown where players needed to reveal their cards and only sporadic contested wagers.

Saout’s all-in win against Moon put him fourth in chips, but didn’t cost Moon the lead. The 46-year-old self-employed logger from Oakland, Md., still had 14 million chips more than his next closest opponent after the hand.

Wins by Saout and Akenhead pushed down Kevin Schaffel and Phil Ivey, the 32-year-old poker professional widely recognized as the best player alive today.

Play was expected to run Saturday until two players remain, who will then go head-to-head on Monday night for the title and gold bracelet.