Bryn and Tyler Kenney Attack WSOP Main Event Field from Same TableAll Four Mizrachi Brothers Remain in Main Event |
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There are still about 1,200 hopeful players returning to the Rio for day 4 action on Tuesday, but both Bryn and Tyler Kenney are confident that a deep run is in their immediate future. The two brothers have, quite literally, been side by side for much of their World Series of Poker main-event runs.
Early on in day 3, with more than 1,800 players still in the hunt, Tyler Kenney’s table was broken near the center of the Pavilion Room, and he was handed a new table assignment of table 3, seat 3. Despite spending his downtime with Bryn, it didn’t dawn on him that he was about to be placed on his brother’s direct right.
“I had no idea,” he said. “I knew he was at one of the lower numbered tables, and I got excited because I figured that it would now be easier to check on each other and get updates in between hands, but I didn’t realize that we’d be sitting next to each other.”
In the past, Harrah’s staff has taken extra measures to make sure that family members were not seated together to avoid any possible collusion, but tournament officials ruled this summer that if it happened after a random draw, the players would stay in their assigned seats.
The 23-year-old Bryn was quick to point out that while collusion was out of the question, it would be unreasonable for anybody to expect him to target his brother. “I never want to bust my brother,” he said. “I don’t care if it makes me the chip leader, I would never want to take his stack. That being said, if we were both to pick up monster hands, anything is possible.”
Tyler is making his WSOP debut, but already has a seven-figure score on his poker résumé. The 21-year-old fought through a monster field in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker main event and finished runner-up to Yevgeniy Timoshenko for a $1,286,400 payday.
Despite his achievement, Tyler credits his success to his older brother, who has earned more than $1.6 million of his own during his poker career. “He taught me everything,” said Tyler. “I started out playing very tight, but after watching Bryn play for the last couple years, I’ve started to open up my game a bit more. We’re at the point now where our games are starting to look very similar.”
There is definitely no shortage of sibling success at the WSOP. In 2008, both Blair and Grant Hinkle made history when they became the first brothers to win gold in the same year. In 2009, Adam and Dan Bilzerian were highlighted on ESPN as they both made deep runs in the main event. Even this year, Michael and Robert Mizrachi both made the final table of the $50,000 Players Championship, which the Grinder went on to eventually win.
In fact, the Mizrachi family is once again turning heads. Brothers Michael, Robert, Eric, and Donny were all able to make it to day 4 of the main event as well, though they haven’t had the pleasure of sharing a table together.
As for the Kenneys, they are looking forward to their separation on day 4, having bagged up with above average stacks of 412,600 and 290,300, respectively. “It’s a nice story, but it does give us one less target at the table,” said Tyler. “I’ll say this. I’d much rather be at the same table with him in November.”
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