It’s very rare that a poker player goes wire-to-wire at the final table of a major tournament, much less for the biggest prize in Latin American history. For Marcos Kenne, the stars aligned as he was crowned the champion of the BSOP Millions Championship.
The Brazilian topped a field of 503 players in the R$25,000 ($4,300) to win the top prize of R$2,140,000 ( $369,514), the largest cash ever awarded on the South American continent.
For Kenne, it was the result of much trial and tribulation, recording his first-career win and a new career high score. Kenne had previously won $140,050 from his 4th-place finish at the EPT Barcelona €3,000 Mystery Bounty event in 2023, which made up well over half of his previous career earnings. In fact, Kenne previously only recorded four scores of above $6,000, showcasing the personal magnitude of this title.
“Man, I’ve been trying for a long time to win a big title like this to see if I could dedicate more time to the game,” Kenne told PokerNews after his historic performance.
“I have another job and other responsibilities. But I kept coming close, and it just didn’t happen. I said, ‘God has the right moment for everything.’ And it happened now.”
| Place | Player | Prize (BRL) | Prize (USD) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Marcos Kenne | R$2,140,000 | $369,514 | Brazil |
| 2nd | Paulo Goncalves | R$1,346,500 | $232,500 | Brazil |
| 3rd | Dennys Ramos | R$965,170 | $166,656 | Brazil |
| 4th | Murilo Milhomem | R$760,160 | $131,257 | Brazil |
| 5th | Blas Torres | R$597,270 | $103,131 | Argentina |
| 6th | Rafael Mota | R$466,520 | $80,554 | Brazil |
| 7th | Breno Drumond | R$351,250 | $60,650 | Brazil |
| 8th | Joao Vieira | R$244,850 | $42,278 | Portugal |
| 9th | Diego Ventura | R$193,900 | $33,481 | Peru |
Kenne came into the final table with a ridiculous 172 big blinds, over two-and-a-half times his closest competitor, Peru’s Diego Ventura. Using his overwhelming chip lead, he overpowered a stacked final table, headlined by Portuguese superstar João Vieira, who came into the day in 6th place.
Vieira would take an enormous hit early in the day to go down to just two big blinds after losing a classic flip with ace-king against the pocket queens of Paulo Goncalves.
Before Vieira would bow out in 8th place ($42,278), Kenne would deliver a shock exit to Ventura, with his pocket kings holding against ace-king to build his stack closer to the moon.
By the time Breno Drumond (7th, $60,650) and Rafael Mota (6th, $80,554) hit the rail, Kenne had grown his stack to nearly 30 million chips – almost 60% of the chips in play and more than three times the 2nd-biggest stack.
After dinner break, the five players would be reduced to just two, incredibly taking just three hands to do so.
Kenne then won a flip with queen-jack against the pocket sixes of Blas Torres to send him home in 5th ($103,131) and set up an all-Brazilian final four.
Goncalves would take care of Murilo Milhomem, rivering a straight to stack his opponent. Kenne would then knock out Dennys Ramos, dominating Ramos with king-seven against seven-six suited.
With more than a five-to-one chip lead (40,725,000 to 9,575,000) at the beginning of heads-up play, Kenne was forced to sweat it out, with Goncalves cutting the lead to just two-to-one a few hands in.
After getting Goncalves down to 3,700,000 (nine big blinds), Kenne shoved Q-6 offsuit against Goncalves’ limp-called ace-nine suited and Goncalves doubled back up to 7,800,000.
However, after a few hands, the blinds went up once again and Goncalves found himself with just 14 blinds. Kenne shoved eight-seven suited and was called by ace-four.
Kenne flopped a pair and an open-ended straight draw and the board ran out a harmless three-deuce to finally seal his incredible win.
“I started really big, but at the beginning, I made a few wrong calls, kind of trying to force the win. Then I thought, ‘I’ll calm down and see how things unfold.’ But I was really big.
“After a little cooler with one of the guys, I got back to a big stack and things started falling into place. I think I managed to put a lot of pressure on the others, and everything worked out.
“It’s unusual, I think, to come into a tournament with such a massive lead. It’s usually closer. So there were moments when it was easy for me to play. I didn’t need to get involved. When I could apply pressure, I did, and the guys had no choice but to fold.
“Some players made mistakes. I’m not a professional, but I noticed some clear errors. That’s part of it, though. Everyone makes mistakes, right? But I managed to play well because of that. I had a huge stack. It was tough to take the title away from me.”
For Kenne, his poker dream has finally been realized and he can now take a fun and casual approach to tournament poker.
“Now you’ll get to know Marcos. I’ll make some noise at the tables and study more to always bring my best.
“I love playing live. I’m always traveling and competing in great events. I want to represent the community well. Those who know me know I’m always out there giving it my all. I enjoy the thrill and staying aggressive.”