"Kenna James: Poker Player, Actor, and Patriot" - pt. I

By Justin West

Traveling the globe and playing in the biggest poker tournaments the world has to offer, Kenna James is one of the most recognizable and charismatic poker players on the circuit today.

In 1996, Kenna's career in poker started as a dealer at the Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles, California. Kenna opted out of what could have been a successful career in casino management, choosing instead to take his place on the other side of the felt and make a run at becoming a professional poker player. It was a choice that proved to be the right one.

Since Kenna's first recorded tournament cash, a fourth place finish in an event at the American Poker Classic hosted by the Bicycle Casino in May of 2000, Kenna has gone on to earn an impressive 14 first place finishes, more than a hundred major tournament cashes, and almost $3 Million in winnings in the process.

Readers of PokerPages.com will assuredly have already noticed that Kenna has recently become a part of the PokerPages team, contributing his insight, grace and style to what has quickly become one of our most popular columns.

To help usher in his official joining of the PokerPages team, Kenna took a few minutes out of his busy schedule, offering his thoughts on poker, patriotism, and even his career as an actor.

Justin: I see you've got your own self-branded company. What exactly is Kenna James Enterprises?

Kenna: It's a product and service company, initially [solely] involved in the poker market since that's where my experience lies. Our goal with the company is just to write, present, and perform material we create that illuminates, entertains, and advances people towards their poker goals. We're going to be offering my DVD series on winning at poker secrets, books, merchandise, clothing, and a number of different items that are all geared around poker and making the poker experience better.

Justin: I think I recall Doyle Brunson saying that if he had it to do over again he'd have never written Super System. Do you worry about putting your strategies out there for mass consumption?

Kenna: I really don't. I think that it's good to offer back to the industry that you take from.

Not only that... [but] I remember a philosopher that I listened to once said that only 2% of the population actually think, 2% think they think, and 96% would rather die than think. How that translates, is that even if they buy the books, a lot of people don't even have the willpower to crack it. They first have to purchase it, they then have to have the desire to open the book, and beyond that it's applying what's inside.

You hope that your material reaches the masses, and of those masses only a small percentage will be able to apply the principles. So, our goal is to expand that percentage from 2% to 5% or 10%, and invite people to make that journey, make that change.

Justin: Hevad Khan was, to say the least, pretty vocal during post-hand celebrations at the 2007 World Series of Poker. Such over-the-top reactions seem to be increasingly commonplace, like a football player dancing in the end zone. Do you think it's hurting the game?

Kenna: My personal belief or philosophy on celebrating or things like that is that this is a passionate game, very emotional. You lay your emotions on the line. I have no problem with the expression of gratefulness, gratitude, or excitement in the thrill of victory. I have no problem with that. Where it crosses the line is when your celebration is at the expense of your opponent. I believe that, for instance, in the WPT finals, you saw me celebrate, but I also had the moment of condolence or commiseration for my opponent. I think you have to balance it.

I think as long as it's in balance, it's fine.

Justin: As long as we're on the subject of etiquette at the table, what's perceived as "right" or "wrong" that may not be in the rule books... have you ever shot an angle?

Kenna: No. Oh, well, actually I did! I did shoot an angle one time that I wrote about. It's one of my most popular articles, actually. I had something like K-5, one off the button, and I had raised the pot. This was a small cash game. The big blind called, and only had about $200 sitting in front of him, but I saw him give maybe $500 or $1,000 to the floor man to ask for more chips. So, I had K-5, he calls my raise. The flop comes K-5-5 with two hearts. He checked, I bet, and he called.

Another heart came on the turn and I knew he had made the flush. He checked, I looked over and said: "I'm all-in."

I had about $3,000 or $5,000, and he said: "Wait... You know I have $1,000 more behind, right?"

I said: "No! What are you talking about? I had my iPod in and I didn't know you had $1,000 coming."

The guy said, "Everybody knows it. The dealer knows I have $1,000 coming. I'm $1,000 behind."

I said, "You know what, call the floor man."

I made a big stink about it, sitting with the nuts the whole time. I know this player was so tight that with a paired board he wouldn't have called an all-in bet. Anyway, after about a five minute discussion, the ruling was that everyone knew he was playing behind. It was no excuse that I was wearing my iPod and didn't know how many chips were in play. My opponent said, "That's ridiculous. I call."

He turned over a baby flush, and I turned over the full house. I said: "Now, see. If you'd have said, 'That's okay, Kenna. You didn't know I had $1,000 behind,' I'd have let you off the hook. But since you were going to try and get me on the hook for $1,000, I'll take it."

So the floorman came back with $1,000 in chips and [the players] go, "No, no. Put those in front of Kenna."

That's about the only angle I've pulled.

Justin: So you played last week at a charity event hosted by Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. Tell me about that.

Kenna: I was invited to that by the Devonshire Pals. It was really neat, at her home in Northridge. It's almost like a farm within the city, had a lot of character to it as you'd expect. A lot of little playhouses and things. It was a compound, really. There were actually a lot of celebrities hanging around, people I didn't know. It was a great poker tournament, ran by Cheri Dokken from the Commerce Casino. My wife, Marsha, actually finished sixth in that event. I think they raised about $36,000 just from the poker tournament.

There was also an auction. I know they auctioned off seats at a table reading for The Simpsons. They sold two of those at $10,000 apiece.

It was a good time. Todd Brunson was there, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, Jamie Gold, Men "The Master."

(Author's Note: Stay tuned to PokerPages, as we've got an interview with Nancy Cartwright scheduled to get the full story behind this fantastic charity event.)

Justin: I've actually read that you're quite the actor, yourself. I looked you up on the Internet Movie Database, and noticed you're in something called "Down and Distance" coming up pretty soon.

Kenna: Down and Distance! Wow, is that up there already? I'm still in the middle of shooting it, actually. We've got to do what we call "pick-ups" in November, and the film will be out some time next year. I play the brother of the lead, who's played by Brian Bosworth. I play the hardass brother who's rough on his kids. It centers around pop warner football, the families that are involved, the competitiveness. Kind of like "The Bad News Bears," and "Remember the Titans" type of movie.

Justin: I know acting has been a passion of yours for some time. Are you looking to get back into acting a little more prominently in the near future?

Kenna: I really am, actually. Now that I'm doing a lot more work in Hollywood it's allowing me access to a lot more influential people and will hopefully open some doors to realize some opportunities that are there. Acting is a skill I developed and studied for over twenty years when I was younger. It's something I love to do, and it's a great compliment to my poker career, since I utilize those skills in the commentating I do. I'm looking forward to not only acting but producing and possibly directing films in the future.

Part I | Part II

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Justin West played poker since the age of 17, he spent more than a year earning a living on the green felt; a modest living, to be sure, but a living nonetheless. His aim was at one point to win the WSOP main event, thus causing Hell to freeze over. However, given his penchant for sin and his extreme dislike of cold weather, Justin has put that dream to rest.