Bryn Kenney Wins Seminole Hard Rock Rock & Roll Poker Open High Roller

Bryn Kenney has won the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Rock & Roll Poker Open $25,000 buy-in high roller, earning $354,565 for his 29th career title. Kenney was already poker’s all-time leading earner, and this win helped him increase his career total to more than $56.1 million. Kenney overcame a field of 45 entries, striking a deal heads-up to lock up the victory.

Kenney also earned 420 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. It was his fifth win and his seventh final-table finish in a POY-qualified event. As a result, he now sits in fourth place in the 2019 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

“It was a fun time,” Kenney told SHR reporters after securing the win. “I was in New York for Thanksgiving and flew in the morning of [the][High][Roller] and played. Two days, 45 players, in a nice city. Great weather and I’m going to the beach now. It’s perfect.”

The turnout of 45 entries in this event saw its $1,000,000 guarantee surpassed, with a final total of $1,115,500 paid out to the top seven finishers in this event. The money bubble burst late on day 1 of the event, and play was halted for the night following the elimination of Lazaro Hernandez in seventh place ($44,460).

Day 2 began with recent Caribbean Poker Party high roller runner-up finisher Brock Wilson in the lead. Andjelko Andrejevic was the first to hit the rail when he got all-in with KQ up against the AQof Jerry Robinson and the 98 of Jason Mercier. Robinson paired his ace on the turn and held from there to secure the pot, eliminating Andrejevic in sixth place ($61,135).

Three-time World Poker Tour champion and two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Anthony Zinno’s run in this event was brought to an end by a cooler. He flopped a queen-high flush with QJ and got all-in after a blank turn, only to find that Brock Wilson had flopped the nuts with A10. Zinno was drawing dead going into the river, and earned $77,805 for his fifth-place showing. This was Zinno’s 11th final-table finish of 2019. The 175 POY points he earned were enough to see him move into 17th place in the overall standings.

Kenney scored the next two knockouts in relatively quick succession. He picked up KK and called Jason Mercier’s all-in. Mercier’s AQ failed to come from behind and he was knocked out in fourth place ($111,150). Jerry Robinson found himself at risk with K10 up against Kenney;s 95. Kenney made a flush on a Q104JA runout to secure the pot. Robinson earned $161,170 as the third-place finisher.

Kenney began heads-up play with 3,340,000 to Brock Wilson’s 1,160,000. Kenney was able to grind Wilson down to 725,000 by the time the first all-in and call of the match took place. Wilson limped in with A3 from the button and Kenney shoved holding K8. Wilson called and made a straight on a J5524 runout. Wilson was still at roughly a 2:1 chip defecit after the hand. At that point the two cut a deal that saw Kenney secure the title and $354,565, while Wilson earned $301,215 as the runner-up.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Seminole Hard Rock poker blog.

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