Bryn Kenney Wins 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open High Roller

The rich got richer in the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $25,500 buy-in high roller event that just wrapped up at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in South Florida.

Bryn Kenney, the top ranked player on poker’s all-time money list, topped the field of 67 entries to add another $487,990 to his career haul. The 37-year-old bracelet winner now has nearly $67.3 million in career tournament earnings accrued across 297 recorded in-the-money finishes. He now has a $1,019,873 lead over second-ranked Justin Bonomo ($66,248,460).

This was Kenney’s 31st title, and his first win since taking down the $262,500 buy-in invitational event at the 2023 Triton London for a staggering $6,860,000. Incredibly, that was just the second-largest payday on Kenney’s resume, as he made a heads-up deal in the 2019 Triton Millions charity invitational that saw him walk away with more than $20.6 million.

In addition to the title and the money, Kenney’s most recent victory also earned him 504 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his third final-table finish of the year. His 890 total points put him within reach of the top 600 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This event featured a $1,000,000 guarantee. The solid turnout of 67 entries resulted in a final prize pool of $1,654,900 that was paid out among the top 10 finishers. Justin Zaki was knocked out in 10th place ($52,900) late on day 1, leaving bracelet winner Alex Foxen to lead the final nine contenders into day 2.

Foxen added to that advantage early, picking up pocket aces and holding against the K-J of Brock Wilson (9th – $52,900) to narrow the field to eight. Daniel Rezaei soon followed Wilson to the rail (7th – $54,600), busting at the hands of World Poker Tour champion Jonathan Jaffe. Despite earning that knockout, Jaffe was ultimately the next to fall. He lost most of his stack with A-K against the pocket aces of Kenney, who took his remaining couple of blinds in the next hand. Jaffe earned $62,900 for his seventh-place showing.

Darren Elias soon got all-in with A-4 suited trailing the A-10 of Kenney. Elias flopped a pair of fours to take the lead, but Kenney rivered a ten to earn the pot and the knockout. Elias, a four-time WPT main event winner, settled for $77,800 as the sixth-place finisher in this event.

Reigning WPT World Championship winner Daniel Sepiol won a preflop coin flip with 8-6 outracing the pocket fives of two-time bracelet winner Brandon Wittmeyer in a battle of the blinds. Sepiol spiked an eight on the end to send Wittmeyer packing in fifth place ($102,600).

Brandon Wilson’s top pair of kings was bested by the turned jacks and sixes of Foxen to leave just three contenders remaining. Wilson, who won both the $25,500 and a $50,000 buy-in event at the SHR Poker Showdown earlier this year, earned $152,300 for his fourth-place finish.

The final big all-in confrontation of this event saw Foxen get in a raising war with Kenney. Foxen opened to 65,000 from the button with AQ and Kenney three-bet to 300,000 out of the big blindwith AK. Foxen four-bet to 535,000, leaving 965,000 behind. Kenney five-bet shoved and Foxen made the call. The board ran out 776105 and Foxen was eliminated in third place ($220,100). He now has nearly $33.5 million in lifetime earnings. This was also his 13th final-table finish of the year. The 336 points he earned were enough to move him into 30th place on the POY leaderboard.

Kenney held 5,400,000 to Sepiol’s 1,300,000 heading into heads-up. The pair halted play and hashed out a deal to bring the event to a close. Kenney earned $487,990 and the title while Sepiol secured $390,810 as the runner-up. This was the seventh final-table finish of the year for Sepiol, who earned his first bracelet earlier this summer by taking down the $1,500 shootout at the World Series of Poker. He now sits in 29th place in the POY standings.

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

Photo credits: SHRPO blog.

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