He's A Main Event BEAST. 2 Final Tables & Deep Runs Galore! Kenny Hallaert Shares His Story.

Kenny Hallaert has lived almost every version of a poker life.Player.Tournament director.Casino marketer.Festival builder.PokerStars live events advisor.WSOP November Niner.Before the $1.4M score…before the Main Event final table…before he was helping shape live poker festivals around the world…Kenny was an electrician in Belgium who found poker through an online banner in 2004.Then a soccer injury forced him indoors.So he played.A lot.Limit Hold’em. Full ring. Online tournaments. Freerolls. Tiny bankroll discipline. The whole old-school grind.But Kenny’s story doesn’t stop at becoming a player.He helped build live poker in Belgium.Worked around weird legal restrictions.Launched tournament festivals.Ran floors.Designed structures.Learned the game from both sides of the table.Then he went on one of the most ridiculous WSOP stretches ever:Deep in the first Colossus.Deep in the Main Event.Then the next year…November Nine.In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Kenny joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk about the full ride:♠️ Growing up in Belgium♥️ Finding online poker in 2004♦️ Going from electrician to casino marketer♣️ Building live poker festivals in Belgium♠️ Knocking out Daniel Negreanu at EPT Monaco♥️ His first WSOP trip♦️ The first Colossus final table♣️ The 2016 November Nine run♠️ Preparing with Fedor Holz’s team♥️ Why tournament structures are broken♦️ PokerStars, AI, smart glasses, solvers, and the future of live pokerThis one is part poker origin story, part WSOP time capsule, and part masterclass on how live tournaments actually get built.👇 Drop a comment:What’s the best poker tournament structure you’ve ever played?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Show Notes00:00 — Intro + Belgium Roots 04:33 — Discovering Online Poker 08:00 — From Electrician to Casino Marketer 14:25 — Soccer Injury → Poker Boom 20:06 — Early Poker Breakthroughs 25:01 — Building Live Poker in Belgium 37:21 — EPT Monaco Heartbreak 42:07 — First WSOP Trip 45:17 — WSOP Colossus + Main Event Runs 50:13 — The November Nine Run 54:53 — Balancing Player Life & Poker Business 59:53 — Main Event Strategy & Table Dynamics 1:01:40 — Tournament Structures Are Broken 1:17:07 — PokerStars, Future Formats & Game Integrity 1:23:22 — Where to Follow Him ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kenny’s Links:X / IG - @SpaceyFCB------------------------------------------------------------------------------------T1 LinksWhat is Table 1? https://table1.vegasFollow us:X - https://x.com/table1vegas IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas