Bryn Kenney defended himself against a stack of cheating accusations by a former member
of his online poker stable in6️⃣ an interview with PokerNews’s Sarah Herring on Tuesday.
But questions remain about his past role with GGPoker as a consultant,6️⃣ and whether or
not he directed his players to play manipulatively in order to boost tournament numbers
and meet prize-pool6️⃣ guarantees.
Last week, poker pro Martin Zamani stirred up the poker
world by accusing the world’s biggest poker tournament money winner6️⃣ of running a poker
stable that would work together, utilize real-time assistance (RTAs), and play in
unethical ways that were6️⃣ “best for the team.”
Amid the subsequent poker community
uproar, Kenney reached out to Herring, who says she has been a6️⃣ close friend for about a
decade, and sat with her on Tuesday for the interview, which was streamed live on
6️⃣ YouTube.
Questionable GGPoker partnership
Herring attempts to unpack a lot in the
one-hour, 18-minute interview with Kenney, which focuses on his partnership6️⃣ with
GGPoker, how Kenney used his stable of players to help meet tournament and satellite
guarantees, and how much Kenney6️⃣ was paid by GGPoker for his affiliate work.
Zamani
claimed Kenney earned upwards ofR$2 million a week from GGPoker, a matter6️⃣ Kenney
wouldn’t address.
“I don’t really see that as [having] merit to answer,” Kenney said.
“That’s, like, personal business I have6️⃣ with someone. I don’t feel like there’s any
reason to answer that.”
Kenney became a GGPoker ambassador in March 2024, but6️⃣ told
Herring he was with the site from its start in 2024. In November 2024, he quit as
ambassador but6️⃣ remained as a consultant, saying he helped “grow their site [and] grow
their guarantees to run bigger tournaments” and “helped6️⃣ them scale their business into
what they were when they started into what they are today.”
That work allegedly
included scheduling6️⃣ tournaments and satellites, then directing his horses to register
to help GGPoker meet the prize-pool guarantees.
According to Zamani, Kenney told6️⃣ his
players to alter their play to extend a tournament’s time and allow more people to
enter. He cites an6️⃣ example of one horse folding aces preflop three-handed to make a
satellite last longer.
CardsChat emailed GGPoker to request an interview,6️⃣ and did not
hear back prior to publication.
Kenney confirms and denies
Kenney denied several of
Zamani’s allegations, saying that his horses6️⃣ did not use real-time assistance (RTA)
software and that he never had access to anyone’s screens while they played using6️⃣ the
program TeamViewer.
He did not deny, however, accusations about team members working
together or ghosting, but said it only happened6️⃣ a few times over the years.
He did
confirm that he sent Zamani to a Las Vegas shaman who wanted to6️⃣ dose him with giant
monkey frog poison, but denied he would bust his players down in stakes if they refused
6️⃣ to follow his diet suggestions.
Poker vlogger Matt Berkey gave a “REACTION to Bryn
Kenney Poker News Interview” on his OnlyFriends6️⃣ podcast, in which he tried to make
sense of what he just heard:
“It has the least amount to do with6️⃣ cheating, but the most
amount to do with nefarious activity, which is the idea of him, though no longer being
6️⃣ a part of GG, still making a majority of his revenue from GG,” Berkey said. “Allegedly,
he was on the6️⃣ hook for the prize pools and, allegedly, he was getting a big chunk, if
not all, the rake in those6️⃣ early days of GG. So obviously, it’s not a traditional
backing deal where your interest lies in them being profitable.”
Although6️⃣ Kenney was
opaque with a lot of his answers, he made it clear how he sees himself in the
pokerverse.
“I’m6️⃣ one of the most respected people in the industry for my word, for
following my word,” Kenney said. “I see6️⃣ myself as the person who loves poker more than
anyone in the world.”
