Who is Kenan Taylor, chip-leader of EPT Monte Carlo?
The question everyone has been asking in Monte Carlo for the past 12 hours sounds like the title of an article on a particularly SEO-savvy website: “Who is Kenan Taylor, chip leader of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event?”
It’s not often that we find a player sitting so pretty in such a prestigious tournament who has literally nothing about them online — not even a 149th placed finish in a €50 comp in a regional casino.
But such was the case for Taylor. He might have amassed a chip stack of 3.65 million, more than twice as much as any of the other 38 remaining players in this €5K buy-in event, but we knew practically nothing else about him. It was time to find out.
Shortly before play began on Day 4 of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event, PokerStars Blog accompanied the producers of the PokerStars live stream to find out some more about Taylor. And he was happy to share a few biographical nuggets.
Taylor is a 21-year-old first-year computer science student from London. He’s been playing poker for only three years, predominantly online cash games, but more recently finding his feet in the world of PLO, which he plays live.
Poker went well for him almost immediately and he paused his studies to focus on the game. However, he went back to university this year, even as he continues to play and study poker.
Kenan Taylor: Sun-running the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
KENAN TAYLOR: LEARNING THE TOURNAMENT ROPES
“I’ve been to a couple of EPTs before,” Taylor said. “I was in Prague and London. Prague was pretty underwhelming. We actually left two days early. But EPT London, because it was my home town, I went and played a couple of tournaments. It was OK.”
As you can probably tell, Taylor isn’t one for hyperbole.
He said that he’s been impressed by what he’s seen on Monte Carlo so far, particularly the spectacular Salle des Etoiles tournament room. But he’s also managed to lock himself out of his Air BnB, and to come down with a cold early in the trip.
It’s been difficult away from the tables, but the complete opposite with cards in his hands.
“Yesterday went really well,” Taylor said of his Day 3, during which he surged to the top of the counts. “I was sun-running every all in. I definitely ran above EV for sure, but I was playing pretty unconventional. A lot of limps and stuff. I thought it was pretty good with antes and stuff. No one really knows how to respond against it.”
He isn’t going to change a winning formula.
“It’s just been working out,” he said. “I’m kind of free-styling to be honest because I’m mainly a cash player, but it’s been working out.”
Taylor is clearly one to watch. Most 21-year-olds might feel overawed in such circumstances, and with a near €1 million first prize in sight. But even the presence of a TV crew surrounding him, and the whole poker world staring in his direction, he seems unflappable.
Perhaps we haven’t yet fully answered the question “Who is Kenan Taylor, chip leader of EPT Monte Carlo?” But it seems that we’ll have plenty of chances in the future.
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