I have never met Bryn Kenney and I certainly have never played poker against him. From what I have heard about this 30-year-old native of Long Beach, N.Y., I don't think meeting him would be a pleasant experience.
Kenney is a winning poker player who has won an estimated $18 million in tournaments and cash games. He also used the worst kind of profanity in insulting Phil Hellmuth during a H.O.R.S.E tournament.
Now Hellmuth is known for his trash talk while playing poker. He was even nicknamed the John McEnroe of poker because of his temper tantrums. But when Hellmuth throws one, he leaves out the profanity and the 'F' word. That isn't the case with Kenney. After their explosion at the poker table, Kenney told Hellmuth he had $100,000 and after the tournament would be willing to sit down and challenge Hellmuth to win it.
Phil didn't accept the challenge. He also stopped talking to Kenney and they haven't spoken to each other since.
Kenney is part of the rude generation. He doesn't seem to have many friends. That's probably because he is a poor communicator with few verbal skills. He doesn't discuss things in a rational manner. His way of talking boils down to ghetto, in-your-face speak that is arrogant and dismissal of who you are and what you have accomplished.
He is disdainful toward his opponents. He calls them robots and says he plays with them every day.
He says he has a good feeling for their ranges and can psych out who will fold and who will make a loose call when he makes a big bet. And he gives a New York sneer, claiming, 'I have been killing these guys. As a resultl, they want to play less and less pots against me.'
Doesn't that make you want to see Kenney come up against a player who can dominate him and wipe that sneer off his face?
Card Player Magazine has named him Player of the Year. If there were a prize for congeniality, Kenney would not win it.
He earned enough money in high school to pay for his own cell phone. His poker skills developed early and he played sit-and-goes on-line and with his friends. He stayed on his computer for long hours, becoming an Internet junkie.
Kenney decided college was not his cup of tea. He began playing in casinos and went after the big games.
At age 20, he flew to the Bahamas and played poker on Paradise Island. Poker misfortune caught up with him and he lost all his bankroll playing online. A fellow poker player took an interest in him and paid his expenses to fly him to Los Angeles where he began playing at the Commerce Club and won $40,000 in three days. He picked a $20-40 no limit Texas Hold'em game and went on a winning rush that filled his pockets with cash.
Kenney's good luck continued when he began playing tournaments in the World Series of Poker. In 2010 and 2011, he finished well in two tournaments, winning just under $1 million. He became a jet-setter, traveling to Europe to compete in tournaments. His bankroll rose and fell and he admittedly made some poor decisions in people he staked.
He accused other poker players of taking advantage of him but admitted he is his own worst enemy.
Kenny won over $7 million in 2015 and 2016 and somehow lost most of it in London. While he won't go into details, he said it threw him into depression and he holed up in his hotel room for a week, refusing to speak to anybody.
The arrogant king of poker made his comeback in the Bahamas, winning over $1.6 million in a tournament. Then he swept through Las Vegas and flew to Manila to pick up another $1.4 million. His frequent flyer miles must be staggering. He flew to Monte Carlo, won nearly $2 million, and then jetted to Barcelona, Spain and Florida seeking out the big tournaments in order to play against robots.
Kenny, who wears a beard that makes him look like a chipmunk, has no social skills. His life is poker.
He takes pride in the fact that he thinks he talked Phil Hellmuth down. He says Hellmuth 'doesn't talk shit to me any more.' Maybe that's because Hellmuth has more important things to worry about than to try to communicate with somebody who considers human beings robots.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
