Bryn Kenney now has $55,860,195 in live tournament earnings after winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock & Roll Poker Open.
Not a lot is it?
The lone wolf defaced a field of 45-entrants with his unique style of poker earning $354,565 after defeating the in-form Brock Wilson in heads-up action. The win puts Kenney into serious contention for the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) race should he choose to tattoo his presence on either the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas or the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague.
Kenney earned 316.67 GPI PoY points for his win to move into 8th place, with Shannon Shorr dropping into 7th. Kenney’s now one of the favourites because he is the only player ranked in the PoY Top 20 that hasn’t scored in 13 qualifying events. The only other rival to the crown who found his way to the final table was Anthony Zinno, but the three-time WPT earned diddly squat in GPI points for his fifth-place finish.
It’s the third time a $25k+ event has appeared in this series. In 2015, Jason Mercier conquered a $25k field of 83-entrants to win the $517,187 first prize, and in 2016, Ben Tollerene vanquished 21-entrants in a $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $459,228.
When the final table began, Mercier was in a decent position to defend that title, starting second in chips to Brock Wilson.
Let’s see how it went down.
The Nutshell Action
Final Table Seat Draw
Seat 1: Jerry Robinson – 200,000
Seat 2: Bryn Kenney – 685,000
Seat 3: Jason Mercier – 1,340,000
Seat 4: Brock Wilson – 1,425,000
Seat 5: Anthony Zinno – 570,000
Seat 6: Andjelko Andrejevic – 330,000
With blinds at 10k/20k/20k, Bryn Kenney opened to 45k from the hijack seat, Brock Wilson three-bet to 150k from the penthouse position, Kenney moved all-in for 670,000, and Wilson took a look.
Kenney needed help.
AQ v KK.
Help arrived in the form of an AdTc4d flop.
However, Kenney couldn’t consolidate, as a few hands later, Jerry Robinson took a swing at the All-Time Money leader, and gave him a bruise worth 130k chips – Robinson’s AQ outdrawing the pocket deuces of the man from New York.
The third double up of Level 16 saw Wilson take from Mercier. This time his pocket kings held against A8o.
Then we lost Andjelko Andrejevic in the same level when he moved all-in from the cutoff for 150,000. Robinson also moved all-in for 230,000 from the button, and Mercier made the call, covering both players.
Robinson: AcQs
Mercier: 9d8d
Andrejevic: KsQd
Andrejevic took the lead on a king-high flop, only for Robinson to hit an ace on the turn to retake it. The river helped nobody but the man in charge, and Andrejevic exited in the sixth position.
Level 17 was the level were Anthony Zinno’s seat stopped swivelling.
With blinds at 15k/25k/25k, Wilson opened to 55k from under the gun, and Zinno made the call in the cutoff. The pair stared at the 9s6s3s flop like a couple of old biddies staring at a bus schedule before Zinno bet 60k, and Wilson called. The turn was the 5c; Wilson checked, Zinno bet 130k, and Wilson moved all-in with the covering stack. Zinno made the call and showed QsJs for the queen-high flush, but Wilson’s nut-flush crushed Zinno like a pack of cigarettes sitting in a too-tight jean pocket next to super warm thighs.
Then we lost the 2015 champion.
With blinds at 15k/30k/30k, Mercier moved all-in for 745k, after Kenney had opened to 75k. Kenney made the call, and Mercier was left feeling like brine when pocket kings battered his AQ.
Heads-up came into view after Robinson took a cold bath in the third-place. The blinds were still 15k/30k/30k when Robinson moved all-in for 600k, and KsTd and Kenney called and eliminated him with 9s5s after rivering a flush.
Heads-Up Tale of the Tape
Bryn Kenney – 3,340,000
Brock Wilson – 1,160,000
Kenney began with the chip lead, and the most impressive heads-up stats, having won eight of his previous ten encounters, whereas Wilson had won four from seven.
The one common denominator was both had taken the lion share of the money in finishing second in their previous heads-up encounters. Brock Wilson banked $619,536 against the $520,464 of Adrian Mateos after cutting a deal in the $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS Super High Roller in the Bahamas. Kenney collected $20.5m versus the $16.7m that Aaron Zang banked after cutting a deal at the Triton Million London.
Wilson drew first blood when he doubled with Ah3d versus Kh8c, and with the stacks even, the pair agreed upon a deal that saw Kenney collect $354,565, leaving $301,215 for Wilson. As Kenney was the slight leader at the time, he took the title.
ITM Results
- Bryn Kenney – $354,565*
- Brock Wilson – $301,215*
- Jerry Robinson – $161,170
- Jason Mercier – $111,150
- Anthony Zinno – $77,805
- Andjelko Andrejevic – $61,135
- Lazaro Hernandez – $44,460
*Indicates a heads-up deal.