Tears (of joy) at the final table

by Simon Young

We told yesterday how kenn121 picked up $44,034.61 by taking down the PartyPoker.com $300K Guaranteed Sunday. Turns out Kenn is based in the UK and, like many European players, was having to fight to the finish in the early hours of the morning. What’s more, his wife was still there by his side – and promptly burst into tears of happiness when he won.

Kenn is 34 and works for himself. He does not want to give out his full name, but was happy to pass on details of his key moment. When they were down to five players he won a huge race when his J-J held up against A-K. “Everyone had tightened up and we were all pretty even in chips. I had J-J under the gun and made a standard raise and the big blind pushed all in. It took me a while to call as I felt if he had A-A to Q-Q he would have re-raised, not pushed. So he either had a smaller pocket pair or A-K/A-Q – and I decided his range meant I was ahead. It was still a tough call to make, but I was glad it held.”

So, what happened next? “Well, straight after that hand a deal was done and I got the biggest amount as I was the new chip leader. My wife was still up and she burst into tears, and for me it did not really sink in until I saw the money in my account! Straight after that we got the Champagne out! It was a very good feeling – and hopefully it will not be my last.”

Kenn, a keen football fan who has one child, normally plays tournaments above $10, and will try to qualify for the $300K Guaranteed Sunday. But this time he bought in direct for $215 as he had enjoyed a profitable day on the previous Friday. His advice for succeeding in a tournament? “Just win your races.”

No doubt some of his winnings will help towards his future poker exploits, but Kenn is determined that most of it will be invested wisely. “Boring I know,” he said, “but into the mortgage she goes.”

Finally, Kenn’s five words to describe himself? “One lucky donkey/fish.” Okay, that’s four, but we can think of 44,000 reasons to let him off one word.