Following three days of play, the Triton Poker NLH $250K Luxon Invitational has reached its conclusion with Bryn Kenney walking away with the trophy, title and $6,860,000 first-place prize as he re-took the lead on poker’s all-time money list.
Kenney defeated Talal Shakerchi in heads-up play after a surprisingly short day at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House as the runner-up earned $4,650,000.
The tournament, which pits some of the world’s most successful businessmen and poker pros against each other, saw 118 entries and generated an astronomical $29,500,000 prize pool.
The bubble burst on Day 2, which saw the likes of Phil Ivey and Espen Jorstad leaving empty-handed. Jason Koon (23rd – $342,000) managed to squeak into the money with just one and a half big blinds. Other notable names to see a return on their investment included Patrik Antonius (15th – $455,000), Stephen Chidwick (13th – $501,000) and Christoph Vogelsang (10th – $575,000).
$250K Luxon Invitational Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryn Kenney | United States | $6,860,000 |
| 2 | Talal Shakerchi | United Kingdom | $4,650,000 |
| 3 | Punnat Punsri | Thailand | $3,107,000 |
| 4 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | $2,540,000 |
| 5 | Chris Moneymaker | United States | $2,030,000 |
| 6 | Robert Flink | Sweden | $1,582,000 |
| 7 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | $1,170,000 |
| 8 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | $860,000 |
| 9 | James Chen | Taiwan | $680,000 |
Kenney Overtakes Bonomo on All-Time Money List
Kenney had $57,969,392 in Hendon Mob earnings heading into the Triton event, trailing only Justin Bonomo with $61,956,381. With the victory, Kenney now sits at the top of the all-time money list with $64,829,392 in earnings.
“It’s so surreal, it’s crazy,” Kenney said in a winner’s interview. “Still, I don’t know where I am really. But I’m at a good place, at the end of the tournament, standing here. And still standing, fortunately, after using a whole lot of energy to focus and try to be as much in the moment as possible in the tournament.”
It was a fitting finish as Kenney’s largest score came in 2019 from a runner-up finish in the £1,050,000 Triton Million for Charity event in London after striking a heads-up deal with Aaron Zang. “That was the biggest tournament that Triton ran of all time, the one in London four years ago that I got second place in, didn’t get to hold up the trophy but got the most money. This one, I’m pretty sure the second biggest tournament that Triton’s ever held and holding up the trophy, I’ve got say, it’s pretty unreal.”
Kenney is a controversial player who last year was accused of running an online poker cheating stable. He hasn’t let the controversy keep him off the felt and has been active at most live poker stops. Earlier this summer, Kenney finished second in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship for $213,027 to be denied a second bracelet.
Take A Look At The Poker All-Time Money List!
All-Time Money List Top Ten
Final Day Action
Nine players returned to the Triton Poker Felt for Day 3, with Shakerch as the chip leader while Kayhan Mokri propped up the rest of the pack.
Despite being the clear short stack, Mokri was able to avoid being the first final table casualty. That unfortunate accolade went to James Chen after he four-bet jammed his ace-queen into Kenney’s ace-king on the second hand of the day. Both players made aces up, but Kenney’s king played to secure the bust out.
With huge pay jumps on the line, there was the expectation that the players were in for the long haul. However, just a few hands later, Mokri was all in and at risk preflop to Aleksejs Ponakovs. The Norwegian had pocket eights and flopped a set while Ponakovs’ king-jack had a gutshot to Broadway which came in on the turn. Mokri could not improve on the river and took home $860,000, his largest live score to date.
Three players from the United States had managed to navigate their way to the final table, but there were soon just two as Nick Petrangelo was the next player to lose a coinflip for their tournament life. His ace-queen fell to Kenney’s pocket nines, which flopped a set and avoided any drama on the turn and river.
The remaining six players had all locked $1,582,000 at this stage, with the next pay jump hiking up to $2,030,000. So it was a huge surprise that Robert Flink found himself on the wrong side of the rail just minutes after Petrangelo’s departure.
With the blinds at 50,000/125,000/125,000, Shakerchi raised from the button with queen-jack, and Blink defended his big blind with the dominated queen-ten. Blink check-jammed for 1,425,000 on the K-J-7 flop and was at risk after the British businessman called. The runout provided bricks for Blink to bring the tournament into five-handed play.
2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker had largely stayed quiet for most of the day but was on course to beat the payout he had received from winning poker’s World Championship two decades ago. That was until his entire stack was over the betting line with Jacks. The premium pair lost a race to the king-queen held by Punnat Punsri.
The just north of $2 million that Moneymaker collected was his first seven-figure payout since his Main Event triumph.
Cards had only been in the air for an hour by the time the final four were determined. Just a mere 30 minutes later, there were just three left.
Shakerchi banked his second elimination of the day after Ponakovs moved all in on the river with trip eights after Shakerchi had bet on the final street with his full house. Shakerchi wasted little time in calling to reclaim the chip lead back from Kenney.
Three-handed play saw the action slow down compared to what happened prior until Punsri limp-jammed with ace-queen for around 25 big blinds. Shakerchi, who had raised from the small blind with ace-jack, briefly tanked before he called.
Punsri was the favorite to receive the 13,450,000 pot, but a jack-high flop saw Shakerchi take the lead. There was no help from the rest of the runout, and Punsri’s exit confirmed heads-up play between Shakerchi and Kenney.
With at least $4,650,000 guaranteed for Kenney, this confirmed his return to the No.1 spot on The Hendon Mob All-Time Money List.
After a brief heads-up battle that included big folds from both Kenney and Shakerchi, all of the chips got in the middle with Shakerchi holding ace-king and Kenney holding eight-nine. An eight-high flop gave Kenney a big lead and Shakerchi couldn’t improve as he went out in second place.
2023 Triton Poker London Series Updated Results
| Tournament | Entries | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25k NLH GGMillion$ | 162 | Luc Greenwood | $897,000 |
| $25k NLH 7-Handed | 120 | Fedor Holz | $609,853 |
| $40k NLH Mystery Bounty | 133 | Espen Jorstad | $639,000 |
| $50k NLH 8-Handed | 112 | Ole Schemion | $1,350,000 |
| $25k NLH 7-Handed | 104 | Jason Koon | $1,570,000 |
| $200k NLH 8-Handed | 81 | David Yan | $3,052,002 |
| $30k NLH Turbo Bounty | 86 | Pedro Garagnani | $459,000 |
| $250k NLH Luxon Invitational | 118 | Bryn Kenney | $6,860,000 |
| $25k Pot-Limit Omaha | 77 | Seth Gottlieb | $511,000 |
*Lead image courtesy of Trition
Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.