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OLN’s reality series Storage Wars: Canada star Paul Kenny is tagged as “The High Roller.” He has been a professional poker player for over thirty years. He takes risks, some good and some bad. Get ready for he is not afraid to play high stakes at auction.

He says: “My wife tells me not to be caustic, sarcastic, or demeaning to anybody today. Sometimes I make it through the day, sometimes I don’t.” He is actually a very personable individual who can make anyone feel at ease.

Paul took time out of his incredibly hectic schedule to answer a few questions for iBid4Storage.

Paul Kenny Interview

Q. What was life like growing up in London, Ontario?

A. I was born in Lindsay, Ontario.  The first 6 years of my life I lived in Toronto.  I almost died of appendicitis at the age of 6.  I spent 2 months in the hospital while the rest of my family moved to London.  I grew up with three younger brothers and my sister who was the youngest.  We were a middle class family. 

My father worked for the government and my mom was a stay-at-home mom.  We went to a catholic school.  I was a straight-A student. I played on multiple high school sports teams and I was the school chess champion; which was an odd combination.

My sister skipped two grades; she has a photographed mind. One younger brother went to a special school for the gifted. My other brother looks like Pierce Bronson and was a "C" student. I graduated taking three science and three math classes. I was not into taking any liberal arts classes.

Being of Irish descent, I was a bit of a class clown and always had a quirky sense of humour.  I was caught up in the Trudeau mania as my Dad was the Treasurer of the local Liberal Party and Pierre E. Trudeau came to our house often. 

Q. Who was the greatest influence in your life growing up?

A. Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a smart person and able to change a way of thinking. He thought outside the box and did not peg himself as part of the establishment. Steve McQueen was a guy who just wanted to do it his way and he was nuts. I loved the humour of The Marx brothers.

Q. What was your childhood dream?

A. I loved business and the art of making a deal even at an early age. I was gifted in math and able to communicate with others on any level. I had a boardroom mentality in my youth.

Q. Tell us how you decided to go to university and if you earned a degree.

A. One night I won around $90,000 in a poker game and I decided to move to western Canada.  I stopped by York University and met a girl. I decided to enroll and hang around the university. Then I didn’t see the girl anymore. (Laughs.) Being a student was a great life when you have some money and don’t take too many classes. 

I also managed to cram in being a disc jockey at the local pub at the university; which is also a great job if you don’t need the money.  I managed a blues bar that had a stripper bar (I mean exotic dancers) in the day time and blues bands in the evening.

I brought in people such as Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thorton (she recorded Hound Dog before Elvis Presley), Sunnyland Slim (American blues pianist) and Carole Pope (won the Juno Award for Female Vocalist 1981-1983) to name a few.

All these things contributed to me not earning a degree. 

Q. Tell us about your antique and collectibles store experience.

A. I got the antique bug naturally.  My mother was an antique dealer as well as my sister.  I would take a win playing poker and spend part of that on picking antiques, silver and gold.   I would also go to auctions. If I saw something unusual or weird, I would buy it.  I actually bought two different John A. MacDonald chairs (first Prime Minister of Canada) at two different estate sales.  I still have one.

I was one of Replacements largest Canadian suppliers of China, cut glass and cutlery in the late 1990s.  I had a thriving antique business in Canada and West Virginia. I can be considered as one of Canadia`s top 10 experts on old silver and cut glass.

I also wrote the hockey card price guide for the hockey news in the early 1990s.  I owned a comic book store in 1970-1980.  My areas of interest and expertise are varied, but limited to anything that I can make money. 

Very seldom I go to auction and not find something to buy.  In this business knowledge is power.  Coupling this with my eagerness to gamble has resulted in me buying a real weird mixture of things of the years.  Some of which I still own. 

Q. You had the first hockey and sports memorabilia store in Canada. Tell us about that experience.

A. I opened Dreamland Comics and Cards in Hamilton, Ontario in the early l980s.  I had a partner Stu who knew about comics books and I knew about both comic books and cards. I sold all the major comic books such as Captain America #1 ($6,000), Superman #1 ($3,200) and over 50 Spider Man # 1 (as high as $15,000).

I also bought and sold multiple 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball cards (as high as $17,000) plus every rare hockey cards and sets. It was a great learning experience where I sold people back their childhood at slightly inflated prices.

I also realized that there was a market for just about anything if the story behind it was interesting enough.

Q. Tell us about your business promoting collectibles at trade shows.

A. My first trade show was held at York University in 1979.  I held a comic book and card show (which I treated like a party) and invited comic book artists that I wanted to meet.  We had people from the National Lampoon magazine, the entire artistic team from Marvel comics who did X-Men (the hottest comic book at that time).  I think it was Frank Miller`s (Sin City and Daredevil) first show appearance.  The event did not make much money, but it lasted for three days and it was a fun time.

A couple of years later when I needed to make money, I had a 25,000 square foot facility where I brought in players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Guests such as John Beliveau, Dick Duff and Borje Salming.  I use to run weekly events and brought in about 50 guests. This made money and as the collector in me, I was given the opportunity to meet my childhood heroes.

Q. How did you get started as a professional poker player?

A. I grew up in an Irish household where it was mandatory that we learned how to play poker.  I am also blessed with a strong mathematical mind.  I became a top level poker player around the age of 19. Back in my twenties poker was unregulated. In 1975 I was at a house poker game with about $50,000 at the table.

Without warning, about 3 or 4 guys with GUNS entered the room.

They tied us up and placed us face down on the floor. One player was in another room taking a nap. One of the gunmen went into that room. Player awoke and panicked - then was SHOT and KILLED.

As I was face down on the floor a thought ran through my mind - “This is not good.” After they killed my friend they shot (but only grazed) the guy next to me. You don`t really know fear until you are in a life and death situation. We were told not to move, so we did not move. Even after the gunmen left the room there was complete silence.

We were finally released and the cops did catch the criminals and they were sentenced to 17-25 years in prison. That was a life changing event for me.

I became more pragmatic. It was, "My way or the Highway." I’m only here one time and I was gonna have fun. I did have a problem with authority. I stopped caring about pleasing people or seeking their approval. I was emotionally scarred but I coped with it. But it didn`t stop me from playing poker.

Later on I played a lot of tournaments with some of the top players such as Danny Negreanu (he won six World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour championship titles) and Gavin Smith (World Poker Tour Player of the Year award in 2005). 

I belonged to a small poker club in Toronto, which produced seven different WSP bracelet winners. For many years, this is how I provided for my family and if you want to talk about pressure, think about if you do not win you do not eat. I still play poker, but on a more limited basis.

Q. How did you into the auction business?

A. I began going to auctions with my Mother. She introduced me to the auction scene.  I became addicted. There is a certain allure to buying something for 10.00 that is worth hundreds. Because we had to sell the stuff, you really had to learn the values.

Q. Tell us what it was like opening and operating a new store with your son Bogart.

A. I wanted to get him into a business so that he could learn from the ground up. I wanted to nurture his entrepreneurial spirit. Plus, there`s the joy of working with my son and building a business together.

Storage Wars: Canada

Q. How did you get cast on the show?

A. It was an unusual set of circumstances.  I normally would phone in my bids at this particular auction unless there was a large amount of silver and gold. I just happened to be present that day and bought a few postcards of ship wrecks and Chinese postcards -“Death by a Thousand Cuts" with photos of actual beheadings. I was just being me having a good time when I was cast.

Q. How did the Hawaiian shirt become your signature look?

A. I do not like shirts that I have to tuck in; hence the Hawaiian shirt never has to be tucked in. In fact, there should be a rule that you should not be allowed to tuck in a Hawaiian shirt. I have not been known to be shy or try to sneak into a room and Hawaiian shirts scream, "I am here and I am here to have fun."

Q. Describe your dream locker?

A. I do not care what is in it as long as I spend a little and get back a lot.  I would like to say find a fantastic old comic book collection or coin collection.  But if the stuff was really, really nice... I may be reluctant to sell it and no profit would be gained.

Q. What is your obsession with buying big-ass sofas?

A. Do you know HOW MUCH CHANGE you can find inside these sofas?!  Sometimes, through my insane sense of humour, I am not afraid of a little lifting... As long as Bogart is doing it.

Q. Describe your cast mates:

A.
Don: Steady Eddy and straight as an arrow; loved to be playing poker with him.

Roy: Definitely the smartest buyer out there, besides me. He disguises his intelligence well by his crazy antics.

Cindy: She shows up on time with a sharp dagger and with a sharper voice.

Rick: Someone has to control Cindy and Rick’s the man.

Ursula: She knows less about locker buying than makeup, fashion, or shoes. It is up to you to determine how much she knows.

Bogart: Because of his Dad, he has a great future in front of him, but he is still learning.

Q. What surprised you most about working on a reality television series?

A. How much I love it.  How much work it is.  How the professionalism of the people around us makes it all come together.  I swear these guys could take a scrambled egg and put it back in the shell and you wouldn’t know it.

Q. What has been your best find at any auction?

A. I bought a painting for $850.00 and sold it to the family of the artist many years later for $18,000.00. A book collection I bought for $50 that netted me about $30,000.

Q. Tell us what you were thinking when you wore that gorilla outfit having lost a bet with your son.

A. I wish I had won the bet so Bogart would be wearing this gorilla suit. It was very, very hot in there.

Q. What did you think when you saw Roy show up on set as your twin?

A. In that episode I saw the genius in Roy. The two of us had a fantastic time. That was a fun show. I still grin when I think about it.

Q. How would you describe the show?

A. The show has brought out things in me that I didn’t know that I thought I knew. I love the hunt for hidden treasures and the show forced me to gamble.  I also have met many interesting people on the show. I get excited every time I get to work with my son. I get to share with him what we are doing as a wide audience watches my son grow and learn.

Q. How did you meet your wife?

A. We have been together for 30 years. We meet at a mutual friend`s place and we have not been apart since. We hit it off. My wife is a really, really good person. She’s so fair, she doesn’t take sides.

My wife does not embrace competitiveness. She’s completely organized and such a driving force to get things done. She calls me “My Put Up With” because she puts up with my stuff. I was completely crazy and she made me crazy for her.

My wife made good kids and would rather be a mother than anything else in the world and it shows. I am very happily married, but you will have to ask my wife about her view on this. 

She`s an author. Wrote a book Diary of a Self-Help Junkie about her first husband. She helps operate a non-profit gymnastic club for boys and girls for about 22 years now. With her I know we’ve done something good with turning the lives of these kids around. She has that gift to make you feel better.

My wife is such a unique person that one day she saw the Dali Lama in the afternoon and then that night she watched a live basketball game. The two don’t mix, but to her it seemed all so natural. She even rode a Virago motorcycle when she use to work. She’s just that cool.

My wife has made me into a much better person in that I am more sympathetic to other people. I don’t have to win all the time now. 

Q: What was it like for your family and friends when they saw you on that first episode?

A. Wow, that was a long time ago when we were first on television. Bogart and I were in two episodes of another reality show and my sister was the main character on another reality show. The surprise now is how long we lasted.

Q. How many children do you have and what is it like for you to be a father?

A. We have three children. Bogart is the youngest with two older sisters, Jessica and Shannon who have appeared in the first season and also the second of the show.

One of my proudest moments in which I could not stop smiling was when all three kids were on the set with me. I am happy every day as I think about them and how lucky I am to be their father.

Q. What are your pet peeves?

A. Drivers who speed up the side of the highway right up to the last possible place to cut in and then make everyone else slam on their brakes.

Q. What are your hobbies?

A. Collecting comics, which turned into a business. Collecting cards, which turned into a business. Collecting coins, which turned into a business.  I am afraid to start another hobby in case it turns into another business.

Q. What motto do you live by?

A. Whose mind is it anyways.

Q. What’s on your bucket list?

A. Winning a World Series Poker Bracelet.

Q. What’s your best attribute?

A. My sense of humour. I can find humour in anything.

Q. What’s your worst attribute?

A. Procrastination.

Q. How would you like to be remembered?

A. I was a good father.

Check your local listing on the OLN channel for times on episodes for Storage Wars: Canada.

What did you think of Paul`s interview?

Be sure to connect with us on Twitter @ibid4storage or Facebook.


Also


Bogart Kenny`s Interview

Ursula Stolf`s Interview

Cindy Hayden`s Interview

Rick Cofill`s Interview

Don Reinhart`s Interview


About the Author...
Chuck G. is a freelance blogger and celebrity interviewer based in Southern California. She`s quite the geek who likes to play arcade games and writes/produces short films. You may follow her on Twitter @chuckgwriter.