Kenney Wins PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Super High Roller
Bryn Kenney destroyed the final table of the €100,000 Super High Roller at the 2017 PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. The fact that he ran as pure as one can helped a great deal in demolishing the opposition.
Kenney knocked out three of his eight foes at the final table. Viacheslav Buldygin took out three rivals as well, but still started the heads-up portion of the tournament with a huge chip disadvantage.
With his win, Kenney is the first poker player to win more than one super high roller with a buy-in of €100,000 or $100,000 at a PokerStars organized event.
"It's got a friend," said Kenney to PokerStars staff. "It was very comfortable, I won nearly every pot I played, landsliding the table."
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryn Kenney | United States | €1,784,500 |
| 2 | Viacheslav Buldygin | Russia | €1,290,800 |
| 3 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | €832,800 |
| 4 | David Peters | United States | €630,600 |
| 5 | Ole Schemion | Germany | €487,715 |
| 6 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | €380,700 |
| 7 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | €303,350 |
| 8 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | €237,950 |
Play got underway a little after 1 p.m. and it didn't take long before the bubble burst. Isaac Haxton was the unfortunate soul to hit the rail empty-handed. In one of the last hands of the first level of play, Haxton shoved with ace-queen suited only to run into the jacks of his neighbor David Peters. The flop brought both a queen and jack and Haxton was drawing dead on the turn.
With Haxton's departure, the remaining eight players were in the money and guaranteed to leave the table a minimum of €237,950 richer.
That amount would eventually be reserved for Sam Greenwood. Greenwood got it in with top pair against Buldygin's aces. As the turn and river bricked, Greenwood had to settle for the min-cash.
Martin Kabrhel was the next with his head on the chopping block. The Czech enfant terrible got it in with pocket threes against Buldygin's pocket tens. No help was found on the flop, turn or river for Kabrhel and he collected €303,350 for his good showing.
Buldygin took over the lead after busting Kabrhel and Greenwood, but would cede that honor back to Kenney when the two played a big pot. Kenney rivered two pair with king-ten and took a chunk of Buldygin's chips as the Russian player mucked red aces.
Kenney added more to his stack the next hand, busting Steffen Sontheimer in sixth place. Sontheimer collected €380,700 after running ace-six suited into Kenney's aces.
Schemion, who won the €10,000 Opening Event earlier this festival for €274,750, added another €487,715 to his bankroll.
The stack of PokerStars Championship Bahamas Super High Roller winner Kenney grew even bigger as he earned another scalp minutes later.
Kenney shoved on Ole Schemion with ace-nine and saw the German snap call with pocket queens. Schemion hit the rail in fifth place as the river gave Kenney a straight.
Schemion, who won the €10,000 Opening Event earlier this festival for €274,750, added another €487,715 to his bankroll. The German high roller hasn't been playing as much as he used to, but he has already earned €762,465 here this festival, and there are still two more high rollers and a big Main Event on his schedule.
Peters, who started the final table as the shortest stack but worked up his stack to second place for a bit, eventually fell in fourth. He collected €630,600 after busting with ace-seven to Kenney's queens, notching his third six-figure score on the year.
As play got going three-handed, Kenney was the one to push — quite literally — the action. He moved all in on more than one occasion only to see both of his short-stacked opponents fold.
Daniel Dvoress would eventually succumb in third place. This time it wasn't Kenney pushing, but Buldygin. Dvoress called from the small blind with pocket sixes and turned out to be up against queen-jack suited. Buldygin hit a straight on the turn to leave Dvoress drawing dead and the Canadian pro had to settle for €832,800.
"I have three heads-ups... at final tables," said Buldygin to Kenney as the heads up began, according to the PokerStars Blog.
"I lost them all," he continued with a chuckle.
Kenney grinned and replied it could happen a fourth time. With a 5-1 chip lead to start the heads-up match, that wasn't an unfair assessment of the situation.
The two played heads up for some time before they froze the action to talk numbers. They eventually couldn't agree and decided to play on. Not much later, Kenney had all of the chips in front of him as the two got it in with deuces (Kenney) against king-queen suited (Buldygin). Kenney flopped a set to end the tournament in style.
"I'd never had a good trip in Monaco," he said. "It's nice to finally win the biggest tournament here."
