The number one ranked player in New York. Number one in the USA. Number one in the world.
It’s coming up for 20 years since Bryn Kenney’s first recorded tournament cash, and looking back at the ever-growing number of major scores on his resume is like watching a snowball rolling downhill. What started with a five-figure win in 2007, at Turning Stone in New York, has steadily built into a record that stands above any and all competition.
Over $75M in tournament earnings, 25 outright victories, titles won at the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour, the World Poker Tour, the Poker Masters and, of course, the Triton Super High Roller Series. In the past 12 months alone, Kenney has added more than $10M to his winnings. He’s doing something right, but what exactly is it?
Speaking to Craig Tapscott for the latest episode of PokerOrg’s The Interview, available later this week, Kenney reveals some insights into what has driven him to unprecedented success in the poker world.
He also shares how his passion for cards — and for winning — began even earlier than his poker career, thanks to a love of the competitive card game Magic: The Gathering (MTG).
“I think it’s an amazing game,” says Kenney, “probably the best game that’s ever been built that’s not a deck of cards. It has a good mix, like poker, of skill, strategy and luck.
“I said I was going to become number one in the world in the 15-and-under category, and just put all my effort and mind into that, and became number one in the world by the time I was 15. I saw that as the finale for my Magic career. I didn't really see it as going anywhere further.”
Competitive MTG players must have breathed a sigh of relief that day, but Kenney’s decision to turn to poker was one that would reshape the landscape of the game.
Kenney’s full appearance on The Interview will be available soon, exclusively at PokerOrg, but for now let’s hear from Kenney as he explains his approach to the game, to life and to himself, and how it’s led to results that every other poker player on the planet can only hope to emulate.
'I put in as much work as anyone else'
I have what we could call ‘alligator blood’, where things don't really phase you the way that they do other people. Things like suppressing emotions, for example; when you're playing these games and not thinking about money or outside factors that come as a result of this, these things can really cloud your mind.
But then at the same time, you can get so good at turning off your emotions, you’re so focused on this one thing that you're putting all your energy into, you become like a robot in life as well.
You have to figure your own balance. My whole poker career was very focused on just becoming the best. And, you know, it was going in that direction, but then once I was able to separate myself a bit from it and incorporate a bit more balance and calmness, and not just be in the nonstop whirlwind of a gambling life, that became better for me.
I put in as much work as anyone else playing poker, you know, maybe not studying, but playing it all day, every day, which for me was my way of studying and what worked for me.
I think that there's kind of a wrong idea that if you're not playing this perfect GTO game, that you're not really going to be great or winning at poker. Yes, you should understand this concept, but at the same time, no one's really playing like a perfect robot; you need to be able to adapt and adjust to the way that other people are playing, which maybe gets kind of overlooked because they see this math approach as the be-all-and-end-all.
Yes, it's a piece of the puzzle, but it’s not everything. There's also a big factor in being calm in the situations that you wind up in and working on things outside of the game, like your health and fitness and such, which will bring you better results inside.
‘Play with fire every single day’
If you play with fire every single day, a lot of times the fire blows up in your face and that might not be what people see. They see the finished product, they don't see you burning yourself over and over again, trying new things and this not working and that working, and accepting what works and trying to learn from what doesn't.
To be great at anything, you have to try, over and over again, and a lot's not going to work. And some eventually is going to work through persistence, belief, hard work, all of these factors that it takes to become great or a winner in anything.
I'm still going through the same process of burning myself in the fire. And, you know, people see me confident and winning in these Triton events, but maybe on the side of that there's a whole lot of fire burning, as we go through this process of trying to be the best version of ourselves.
It's a humbling experience. You go through these ups and downs, these peaks and valleys, and it seems like it's so easy for people, it looks like from the outside that things are going their way, but just like the yin and the yang, you have to give something, it goes both ways. There's a push and a pull to everything.
Seeing someone in their glory phase, you might think that that's the only phase that they live in, but I think that the ones that achieve the most are also the ones who make the most mistakes. And our society knocks people down for making mistakes.
The Interview with Bryn Kenney drops soon on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Images courtesy of WPT/Triton Poker Series/Hayley Hochstetler/Joe Giron.
