Bryn Kenney has become the first player in poker history to pass $90 million in career tournament cashes, reaching the $90 million milestone after taking down the $100,000 King’s Charity Super High Roller at the King’s Poker Cup in Jeju, South Korea. The win adds another seven figure score to a resume that already stood alone at the top of poker’s all time money list, and it further widens the gap between Kenney and the rest of the high stakes tournament field.
A Stacked Field in Jeju
The $100,000 buy-in event drew 71 entries at Les A Casino inside Jeju Shinhwa World, building a prize pool of $6,674,000 as part of the broader King’s Poker Cup series. The field carried the kind of star power typical of a Super High Roller on the Asian high stakes circuit, with names like Tom Dwan, Elton Tsang and Xuanyi Wang all making deep runs before the tournament narrowed to its final two.
Kenney and fellow American Jesse Lonis emerged as the last two standing, and rather than play out the full heads up match, the pair negotiated a chop that locked in $1.6 million for each player, along with the trophy going to whoever won the final hand. That hand played out with Lonis holding K-2 against Kenney’s J-10, a spot that swung heavily once a 10 landed on the flop and held through the river, sealing the title and the milestone for Kenney.
Breaking Down the Payouts
Behind the two chip leaders, the rest of the final table cashed for substantial sums that underline just how top heavy Super High Roller economics have become. Elton Tsang finished third for $880,000, Xuanyi Wang followed in fourth for $630,000, a player identified as Xing took fifth for $450,000, and Tom Dwan rounded out the money making finishers in sixth for $350,000. Even at that end of the payout ladder, the numbers dwarf what most players will see across an entire year of tournament poker, a reminder of how far the $100,000 buy-in tier has separated itself from the rest of the game.
The Milestone in Context
What sets Kenney’s win apart from a typical Super High Roller title is the number it pushed him past. With career tournament cashes now surpassing $90 million, Kenney becomes the first player ever to cross that threshold, and notably he has now been the first to reach the $70 million, $80 million and $90 million marks in succession, a run of milestones that has effectively made him the pace setter for the entire high stakes ecosystem over the past several years. The closest pursuer on the all time list, Stephen Chidwick, sits roughly $11 million behind with cashes near $79 million, a gap that this single result widened rather than narrowed.
Kenney’s rise to the top of poker’s money list has been built less on one signature score and more on relentless volume at the game’s highest stakes, chasing Triton Series stops, King’s Poker Cup events and other Super High Roller series across multiple continents almost year round. That schedule has occasionally invited criticism about pace of life and burnout in high stakes poker, a topic Kenney himself has been unusually candid about in the past. Reflecting on his journey after the win, Kenney said, “We’ve all made lots of mistakes in life, sometimes ashamed to admit it. Have been trying to be open about it,” a comment that speaks to the personal side of a career defined publicly by record breaking numbers.
Why the Super High Roller Circuit Keeps Growing
Events like the King’s Poker Cup underline why the $100,000 and up tournament tier keeps expanding despite drawing relatively small fields compared to mainstream tournaments. A 71 entry field generating a prize pool north of $6.6 million shows just how much capital moves through a single event when buy-ins reach six figures, and it explains why destinations like Jeju have become regular stops for the small circle of players who can afford to compete at that level. For players still building toward that stratosphere, understanding how deep stack tournament strategy scales from mid stakes to the nosebleeds starts with fundamentals covered in Poker Pro Academy’s poker hand rankings guidea foundation every serious grinder revisits no matter how high the stakes eventually climb.
For now, the headline belongs entirely to Kenney. Crossing $90 million in cashes cements a run that already looked untouchable, and with the King’s Poker Cup series continuing through mid August, there is little reason to think he will slow down before adding to the total again. Whether any player closes the gap on the all time list anytime soon remains an open question, but for the moment, Kenney stands alone at a height no one else in the game’s history has reached.
