Poker Grudge Match? Phil Hellmuth Responds To Bryn Kenney’s Trash TalkAll-Time Money List Leader Says All-Time Bracelet Leader Is A Minor Leaguer |
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Phil Hellmuth has taken exception to Bryn Kenney after receiving some shade from the leader on poker’s all-time money list. Kenney recently appeared on the Digital Social Hour Podcast and discussed his life in poker, but some comments about the 17-time World Series of Poker winner drew plenty of interest.
Kenney described Hellmuth as the “biggest winning WSOP player,” but also went on to note some of his shortcomings.
“He’s played some high rollers and hasn’t really fared very well in them,” Kenney pointed out. “And you know, when I think about who are the best players in poker, if you’re not competing at the highest level, you can’t really be in contention for it.”
“If you’re playing against mostly amateur players at the World Series, you’re great at beating the amateur players. It’s like you could be the king of triple A (referring to professional baseball’s highest minor league level).”
Hellmuth Responds
After a clip of the show was released on Twitter, Hellmuth was quick to respond. He noted that the WSOP is the biggest series in poker each year and defended his high roller record.
“To me the WSOP is the ‘big leagues,” he wrote on Twitter. “Always has been, always will be. It’s aggravating to me when people lie about me and my legacy. For the record, I am winning over $1.5 million in high rollers.”
Hellmuth indeed has some impressive scores in high roller events, banking $2.6 million in the $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop and cashing twice for another $1 million in the $111,111 buy-in High Roller For One Drop. He also finished fourth in the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl for $1.6 million, runner-up in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $1.1 million, and runner-up in the $50,000 pot-limit Omaha event for another $700,000.
In total, he has 20 cashes in tournaments with buy-ins of $25,000 or more, but to Kenney’s point, some high rollers can achieve that in a single year. Hellmuth has instead kept his focus on the WSOP and accumulating bracelets. He currently has a six-bracelet lead over second place Phil Ivey.
He also serves as an adviser for several companies and works as segment host for the World Poker Tour. That may have limited his time for these high roller events at times.
Kenney has earned the vast majority of his $67 million in career cashes in high roller events, including a $20.6 million payday for taking down the £1 million Triton London super high roller. He has 84 cashes in tournaments with a $25,000 buy-in or more.
Despite Hellmuth’s summer accolades, Kenney even seemed confident he could beat him at the WSOP.
“If he’s looking to ever make like a huge bet in the World Series… I’ll consider playing a whole WSOP and show him that he’s not even the best of those either.”
Hellmuth also responded to that, noting that there had been openings in the past for Kenney to play the Poker Hall of Famer heads-up on PokerGO.
“You said I wouldn’t play you heads up? Where were you (when) I challenged the entire world to a $1.6 million heads up challenge on High Stakes Duel?”
Challenge Offered
On PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel, Hellmuth has defeated players like Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Tom Dwan, and Scott Seiver before losing to Jason Koon. Kenney later responded on Twitter that he’s willing to play Hellmuth heads-up.
“I’ve told PokerGO I’m ready to play from the beginning. We know you get to cherry pick who you were playing,” Kenney said. “Let me know when the offer is there to play me for $1 million, I’ll be there. Also, if you [want to] showcase how good you aren’t, I’m happy to crossbook 100% in any Triton series.”
The comments and challenge come despite the fact that Kenney hasn’t yet been able to shake allegations of cheating. In 2022, poker pro Martin Zamani and others in his poker stable accused him of collusion, using RTA (real time assistance, which is banned by most online poker sites), and multi-accounting. He also alleged Kenney also made some members visit a shaman, who cut them and injected frog poison in the wound as part of a cleansing ritual.
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