Bryn Kenney is back at #1 on poker’s All-Time Money List after his swift victory in the 2023 Triton Poker London Luxon Invitational for $6,860,000 and his third career Triton Title.
“It’s so surreal, it’s crazy,” Kenney said on the Triton livestream immediately after winning. “I don’t know where I am really, but I’m at a good place at the end of the tournament standing up right here – and still standing fortunately after using a whole lot of energy to focus and try to be as much in the moment as possible in the tournament.”
His win comes four years and one day after his second-place finish in the Triton Million for Charity in which he took home $20,563,324 – poker’s richest payday of all time. This win now marks Kenney’s second-largest score of his career and catapults him to more than $64.8 million in career earnings putting $2,873,007 ahead of high roller pro Justin Bonomo, who held the All-Time title since late 2022.
“That’s incredible because [Triton Million for Charity] was the biggest tournament that Triton ran of all time – the one in London four years ago – that I got second place but didn’t get to hold up the trophy but I got the most money so you call it first or second. This one I’m pretty sure is the second biggest tournament that Triton’s ever held. Holding up the trophy, I gotta say, it’s pretty unreal. Just so blessed and thankful for this and just everything.”
After a marathon session to get to the final table the night before, it took the final nine just about four hours to play to a winner. Talal Shakerchi, who started the day as the chip leader, finished as the runner-up, taking home $4,650,000 a new career-high for the talented “VIP”. Fan favorite Chris Moneymaker bowed out in fifth place, locking up $2,030,000, his second-ever seven-figure score and his largest haul since his $2.5 million WSOP Main Event win 20 years ago.
For the most part, the day went smoothly from beginning to end for Kenney at the final table as noted by Triton commentator Ali Nejad who said that Kenney “had a sun-running anvil fall out of the sky into his lap.” However both Nejad and co-host Randy Lew praised Kenney for the skill with which he maneuvered the final table. When asked about his journey to the title Kenney acknowledged that everything just fell into place.
“The cards played themselves until it started getting six-handed and then I had a good seat and also a good lock on things and I started opening up a lot, playing a lot of hands and good things kept happening,” Kenney said.
“I see a tournament like a roller coaster,” he continued. “It’s up and down and every which way…it’s just so important during a tournament that no matter what, if things are going well or if they’re going poorly just being able to get yourself back to the moment and not being attached to good or bad and I think it related a lot to life. Poker teaches you a lot about life if you really think about things. You just accept what is, don’t hope for something different, try to give it the best you can in the moment, and accept what is.”
Kenney has been on record in the past with the goal of sitting atop the All-Time Money List being very important to him. It was after that aforementioned win in the 2019 Triton Million for Charity, which also took place in London, where he first hit that high. Now, here is again, standing in the same spot, having reached it again.
“When I was 20 years old and number 1000 on the list, that was my goal, my dream to become #1 all-time. I really put so much of my life dedicated to this game to master my craft. And I think it’s just another sentiment that no matter how big your dreams are if you believe in them and keep going and making the decisions and the necessary moves along that journey we can make things that some might see and impossible happen.”
Final Table Results:
- Bryn Kenney – $6,860,000
- Talal Shakerchi – $4,650,000
- Punnat Punsri – $3,107,000
- Aleksejs Ponakovs – $2,540,000
- Chris Moneymaker – $2,030,000
- Robert Flink – $1,582,000
- Nick Petrangelo – $1,170,000
- Kayhan Mokri – $860,000
- James Chen – $680,000