Bryn Kenney

Bryn Kenney is an American professional poker player from Long Beach, New York. He has over 65 million dollars in career earnings, and is ranked number 1 in ‘All Time Money Leader’ list for Live tournament earnings.

Kenney’s first major cash event was the East Coast Poker Championships in Verona in 2007. He is nicknamed ‘BKD’ and won his first WSOP bracelet in 2014, after winning the $1,500 10-Game Mix Six Handed Event, which earned him $153,220.

In a career of 17 years so far, Kenney has made some notable achievements:

• 2 WSOP bracelets: There are multiple events in WSOP both online and offline every year, and the winner of each event is awarded with a bracelet.
• Over $65 million in career earnings, puts him at the top of the All-Time Money Leader rankings for Live tournament earnings.

Early Life and Background:

Hailing from Long Beach, New York, Bryn Kenney started life as a Magic: The Gathering player. It’s a tabletop digital collectible card game. By the age of 14, he was number 1 in Magic: The Gathering, for ages 15 and under.

Watching David Williams’ runner-up finish at the 2004 WSOP Main Event, Kenney and some of his fellow Magic: The Gathering players turned their attention to poker.

Kenney himself was very clear, since there was no money in Magic, he thought – ‘If he can win $3.5 million, then I can too.’

He started out as an online poker grinder, and eventually was staked to play at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, turning $20,000 to $1 million in just over a month.

Poker Career Beginnings:

Bryn Kenney’s first recorded poker cash game was in the late 2000s, but in 2009 he made his way to the WSOP final table. From here on his poker career blossomed. A 3rd place finish in the PCA $100,000 Super High Roller sealed the deal, when he won $643,000.

Kenney was also a regular on the European Poker Tour, and won the €10,250 Master Classics of Poker High Roller for €102,960 in 2013. In 2014, he went on to win his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Six Handed 10-Game Mix.

Major Achievements and Career Highlights:

Here’s a detailed list of Bryn Kenney’s major tournament wins, WSOP bracelets, titles and more, with their winning amounts:

Personal Life, Influence and Legacy:

Bryn Kenney is undoubtedly a talented poker player, considering major title wins, a bracelet or two, and a win in the Aussie Millions. But, Kenney cuts a controversial figure in the poker world.

There were allegations that Kenney was guilty of running a cult-like online poker cheating operation. These were directed at him via Twitter or currently ‘X’ in April 2022, by Martin Zamani. The claim was that Kenney was colluding with multiple players in online poker games, and had cheated others out of potentially millions. Also, players on his team were apparently taking part in shamanic rituals involving frog poison and were forced by Kenney into a vegan diet.

Kenney offered his own views though claiming ‘the accusations were some of the craziest things he had heard in his life’.

Conclusion

Bryn Kenney made his money mainly through poker winning multiple offline and online poker tournaments. He also made money through sponsorships and endorsements, having been a GG Poker ambassador.

But, controversial topics seem to haunt Kenney, where in the wide world of poker he is considered a trash talker, even though the accusations of online colluding have died down in the past couple of years.