Bryn Kenney Faces Legal Threats Amid Cheating Allegations

Poker player Bryn Kenney, the current live tournament all-time leading moneywinner with more than $57 million to his name, is facing serious allegations of cheating and mistreating fellow players. Doug Polk, the host of the Upswing Poker podcast, claimed he was threatened with legal action by Kenney before his podcast with Martin Zamani, who has accused Kenney of multiple instances of cheating and mistreating fellow players.

Henry Kilbane, a commentator and pro, accused Kenney of cheating and mistreating fellow players a year ago. Kenney responded to the allegations by threatening legal action against Kilbane. Zamani, a former horse in Kenney’s poker stable, claimed he had “nothing left to lose” when he went public this week with some of the most remarkable accusations ever seen in the poker world.

Among the claims of collusion and ghosting forced upon Kenney’s “horses”, perhaps the biggest story to emerge was that of Lauren Roberts, one of the relatively few high-stakes female players. Zamani had previously tweeted that “a good friend of BK a very close friend who BK stayed with and threw parties at their house and they treated Bryn like his son. What did BK do? Made his horses play when his fish friend was playing. Poached them well.” In the Polk podcast, he revealed that player to be Lauren Roberts, stating: “Anyone who was around Lauren and Bryn knows how insanely bad he took advantage of her,” claims Zamani. Roberts was playing on an account under the name “He22”, staked by Kenney, who Zamani claims was also forcing his other horses to play whenever Roberts – described as a “fish” – was in a game. Zamani also says that Kenney would sometimes play on Roberts “He22” account, adding multi-accounting to the list of alleged offences.