Poker pro Bryn Kenney has secured his place among the tournament elite after winning the €100,000 ($109,000) super high roller tournament at the PokerStars Championship presented by MonteCarlo Casino.
The 30-year-old pro bested a field of 47 players (with 14 re-entries) to win $1.9 million. The victory is just the latest in a series of high-stakes wins for Kenney, who is establishing himself as one of the most fearsome competitors in poker. The Monte Carlo win marked his fourth first-place finish of 2017, a year in which he has so far seen 13 final tables.
Nosebleed Stakes
Kenney’s other victories this year include winning a $25,000 event at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, as well as both the $25,000 and $50,000 buy-in tournaments at this year’s PokerStars Championship Bahamas.
On top of these wins, Kenney has also notched up two second place finishes in $25,000 high rollers at Aria. This series of victories has helped make Kenny one of the most successful high stakes tournament winners in recent times and this showed during his finale.
Not bad for a tournament poker career that began just 10 years ago. With Kenney’s first tournament cash dating back to 2007 with a second place finish in the $1,070 East Coast Poker Championships, the New Yorker over the last few years has established himself as one of the most dominant high rollers in the game.
Experience Pays
The Monte Carlo win was Kenney’s biggest to date. After leaving the likes of Ole Schemion, David Peters, and Daniel Dvoress in his wake, Kenney only needed to overcome Russia’s Viacheslav Buldygin to seal the deal. Kenney started the heads-up match with a sizable lead, but two double-ups from online specialist Buldygin turned the tide.
With Kenney on his back foot, it looked as though the Russian up-and-comer might steal a victory from the favorite. However, Kenney, no stranger to the pressures of performing on a big stage, was able to regain his lead before the action was paused to discuss a deal.
After running some numbers, neither player was willing to chop, and play eventually resumed. With the evening setting in, Kenney put Buldygin in a race for his tournament life, with Kenney holding 2♠ 2♦ and Buldygin looking for big cards to match his K♦ Q♦. But a deuce on the flop followed by blanks on the turn and river were enough for Kenney to claim yet another super high roller trophy.
This prize took his live tournament earnings to $17,161,701, enough to place him 15th on the all-time tournament money list.
Here is the full list of payouts in the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino’s Super High Roller event:
1 Bryn Kenney $1,946,911
2 Viacheslav Buldygin $1,408,279
3 Daniel Dvoress $908,595
4 David Peters $687,992
5 Ole Schemion $532,103
6 Steffen Sontheimer $415,348
7 Martin Kabrhel $330,959
8 Sam Greenwood $259,606
