When the stakes are high, Bryn Kenney seems to find a different level in his game. The New York native has always excelled on poker’s biggest stages, finding ways to close when life-changing money is on the line.
Nowhere has the 38-year-old been more successful than on the Triton Super High Roller tour. In fact, of his $72.4 million in recorded earnings, $43.3 million has been won at Triton tournaments, including the $20.6 million he banked in the £1 million buy-in Triton London Charity Invitational.
Kenney latest score was worth $4,410,000, taking down the $125,000 buy-in main event in Monte Carlo for his fourth Triton title overall. Already poker’s all-time money list leader, Kenney has now opened his lead over second place Justin Bonomo by more than $6 million, and is $13 million clear of the pack behind him.
“Never give up, that’s the secret, for sure,” Kenney told Triton reporters. “Everyone has their roller coaster, their wave that they’re on…You just got to hang on for the ride. Give it your best, don’t let things get you down and never stop fighting. I’ve put my life into poker. It’s been quite the mountain climbing. Incredibly lucky, grateful, blessed.”
The event drew 159 entries, which created a total prize pool of $19,875,000. The final 27 players made the money, including current Card Player Player of the Year race leader Adrian Mateos (27th), Steve O’Dwyer (23rd), Sam Greenwood (20th), Dan Smith (19th), Chris Brewer (17th), Isaac Haxton (16th), Alex Foxen (15th), Fedor Holz (14th), Alexandre Reard (13th), Linus Loeliger (12th), and Mikita Badziakouski (10th).
By the time the final table began, Jonathan Jaffe was well out in front with twice as many chips as his nearest opponent in Wai Leon Chan. Kenney was in third place, but had just under the average stack as play got underway.
Jesse Lonis was the first to bust, losing his chips to Punnat Punsri. The American pro had already been heads-up with the pro from Thailand just a few days earlier, with Lonis coming out on top for the title. This time, however, Punsri scored the knockout.
Thomas Muhlocker then lost most of his stack to Mario Mosbock before Kenney finished him off.
Danny Tang is tied for second on the all-time Triton titles leaderboard with five, but couldn’t get much going on the final day of this tournament. The Hong Kong pro settled for $743,000 to bring his career earnings above $29 million.
Mosbock then followed him to the rail in sixth place, adding $1,020,000. The CoinPoker ambassador and former soccer standout has been performing well on the Triton tour for the last couple of years, including a runner-up finish in the 2023 Triton Monte Carlo Invitational for $2,690,000 and a win at Triton Jeju earlier this year for $1,191,196.
He also finished fourth in the $100,000 event earlier in this series for $1,544,316. In total, the Austrian pro has $14.6 million in career earnings, nearly all of which have come in the last three years.
Jaffe had been enjoying the chip lead but found himself at the bottom of the counts after doubling up Chan. He then ran second pair into top pair for Chan to finish him off. The American banked $1,330,000 for fifth place, the second biggest score of his career and enough to put him over the $15 million in earnings mark.
Although Canadian sports bettor and soccer team owner Haralabos Voulgaris doesn’t play a lot of tournaments these days, he proved he can still hang with the top players with a career-best $1,665,000 for fourth place. Voulgaris lost a flip for his stack to Chan, who found himself surging to the top of the leaderboard.
Chan kept his foot on the gas, taking out Punsri in third place after a battle of the blinds. Punsri picked up $2,045,000 for his latest deep finish, which came just two days after he earned $1,021,000 in the $50,000 event. Earlier this year the Thai player also won the Triton Jeju $50,000 event for $2,010,000. As a result, he now sits in fourth place in the Card Player Player of the Year race.
Chan had all the momentum and a nearly 3:2 lead going into heads up play, but a lucky river for Kenney turned the tables. Kenney had four-bet shoved with A
J
, only to run into Chan’s pocket kings. The board ran out J 7
2 3 J, and Kenney made trips to leave Chan on fumes. The few big blinds he had left went in a few hands later, and Chan was eliminated in second place, good for $2,970,000.
This was his third high-profile runner-up finish. In 2018, he finished second in the Triton Jeju main event for $3,251,141, and in 2019, he again took second in the Caribbean Poker Party high roller for $2,677,500.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | *POY |
| 1 | Bryn Kenney | $4,410,000 | 1,440 |
| 2 | Wai Leon Chan | $2,970,000 | 1,200 |
| 3 | Punnat Punsri | $2,045,000 | 960 |
| 4 | Haralabos Voulgaris | $1,665,000 | 720 |
| 5 | Jonathan Jaffe | $1,330,000 | 600 |
| 6 | Mario Mosbock | $1,020,000 | 480 |
| 7 | Danny Tang | $743,000 | 360 |
| 8 | Thomas Muhlocker | $538,000 | 240 |
| 9 | Jesse Lonis | $445,000 | 120 |
The Triton Monte Carlo Super High Roller Poker Series runs from Nov. 1-14.
*_Photo Credit: Triton Poker_