Bryn Kenney Closes 2025 as First Poker Player Ever to Reach $80 Million in Cashes
Bryn Kenney doubling his money in the World Series of Poker Paradise (WSOPP) Super Main Event turned out to be a historic min-cash.
The New York native turned a $25,000 buy-in into $50,000 with a 403rd place finish in a no-limit hold'em tournament that had $72 million in the pot. He won just a fraction of first-place money. But, with that cash, he became the first player in history to reach $80 million in live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob database — barely.
Kenney will enter 2026 with $80,035,491 in cashes dating back to 2007, but his record could be in jeopardy in the coming year, as another high-stakes superstar isn't far behind. Or, with a big year, he could extend his lead.
World Series of Poker Cashes Get Kenney to Milestone
Kenney booked three cashes totaling $1.3 million in the Bahamas. That included ninth and fifth-place finishes in high roller events, and the aforementioned Super Main Event min-cash. He racked up just a few grand under $7 million overall in 2025, his lowest output since 2022, the year he stepped aside from tournament play for the most part while facing some online poker cheating allegations.
Nearly 40% of Kenney's lifetime earnings — $30 million — came in 2019, the year he won a record $20,563,324 for second place in the £1,050,000 Triton Million for Charity Event. Aaron Zang won the tournament, but received a lower payout — $16,779,491 — due to a heads-up chop arrangement. Even without that record-breaking cash, Kenney would still rank seventh all-time in live tournament earnings.
Kenney's stranglehold atop The Hendon Mob charts could come to an end in 2026 if recent trends continue. Stephen Chidwick is just $4 million off the lead, but he's outpaced Kenney every year since 2020 and had double the cashes in 2025.
If Chidwick and Kenney both match their 2025 results in 2026, Chidwick will overtake the lead by around $2 million. Jason Koon is the only other player with much of a chance to claim the top spot by this time next year. The PokerStars ambassador has $70.2 million in cashes, so he's within striking distance. But he'd likely need a historic year, which isn't out of the question given his talent, to move into first place within the next 12 months.
Mikita Badziakouski sits in fourth place with $66.4 million in cashes, and could very well reach the top spot one day. Justin Bonomo sat out the entire year and hasn't been heard from much other than some political posts on social media since he faced disqualification for wearing Palestinian attire during the 2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event. But he's still in fifth place, less than $1 million behind Badziakouski.
The leaderboard could look different when 2026 comes to a close. Chidwick is trending in the right direction. But Kenney won't be easy to overtake.
