“The one thing that’s for sure is that I’ll be the all-time winner in the game of cards. No one really has a chance to hold me back. I’m going to be everywhere, I’m going to be winning everything. Good luck to everybody, but I’m here, I’m there, and I’m ready to fight.”
Those are the words of Bryn Kenney (aka Sensei).
Now, you might assume that Kenney said that after he finished runner-up in the £1.05M Triton Million (Helping Hand for Charity) tournament on Saturday night (August 3), banking the biggest prize in poker history (£16,890,509 / $20,563,324) in the largest buy-in tournament of all time.
But no. He said that back in May 2018, during a podcast interview with Joey Ingram.
His prediction has now come true. GG Justin Bonomo.
It was fun being the all-time money leader for a year, but it looks like I’ll be passing the torch soon. $23 million is a big payout lol @tritonpoker
It’s been an absolute dream, honor, and privilege to hold this position. Thank you universe 🙏
— Bonologic (@JustinBonomo) August 3, 2019
Kenney has been a high stakes crusher for as long as we can remember, and his confidence in his own future success should have been evident to all of us when he first registered an account on PokerStars. Whilst most players choose an alias as their screenname, Kenney kept his simple–“BrynKenney”–as if he knew that name would become synonymous with the poker world one day.
Kenney quickly climbed the live poker ladder
His work ethic and results became legendary, and he quickly transferred his talents into the live poker world. No one, however, could have predicted Kenney’s ascent to the very top of the game. No one except for Kenney himself.
The ascension of @BrynKenney on the All-Time Money List per @TheHendonMob:
May 2007: 7,523rd
June 2008: 4,783rd
July 2010: 1,033rd
Jan 2011: 450th
Jan 2012: 333rd
June 2014: 189th
May 2015: 90th
Feb 2016: 49th
Jan 2017: 20th
Jan 2018: 10th
May 2019: 4th
Aug 3rd 2019: 1st— Remko Rinkema (@RemkoRinkema) August 3, 2019
He recorded his best year ever in 2017, kicking things off with two wins at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for a combined $1.36M. Later that year he would win the EPT Monte Carlo $100K Super High Roller for $1.94M, and also recorded victories at EPT Barcelona and the Poker Masters.
Kenney wins the PCA 2017 Super High Roller
Kenney’s $8.5M 2017 was the best 12 months of any player that year. But that amount now pales in comparison to his 2019.
First he won the Aussie Millions Main Event in January for just shy of a million. He followed that up in March with two huge scores at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju for $3.5M. Incredibly, he then went on to capture two titles at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro in May for a combined $4.1M (including a Main Event win).
And now, by finishing second in the biggest poker tournament in history, Kenney is poker’s all-time money winner.
What’s truly amazing is how confident Kenney was heading into the event. You wouldn’t normally see a high-stakes poker player put so many eggs into one particular basket.
Cmon guys the whole poker world only wants to bet 1m combined? I expected more
— Bryn Kenney (@BrynKenney) July 31, 2019
Kenney called his shot in this tournament, perhaps more so than any player in any tournament, ever. He made his intentions clear right before the Triton final table, in an interview with PokerStars Ambassador Liv Boeree.
“I’ve always told everybody that it was going to happen, that I’d be no.1. The thing is, I feel that once I hit no.1 nobody is going to touch it again.”
You’ve done it, Sensei. Now it’s down to everyone else to put up a fight.
Kenney’s yearly results