The poker pro they call “Chainsaw” made it look easy, cutting his way through the competition at this year’s World Series of Poker on his way to eight cashes in the 20 tournaments he played.
 
Talking about it later, 40-year-old Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler might have played the humble, aw shucks card, but on the other hand, the world of seasoned poker veterans has its share of larger than life egos and he might have figured that if anyone is to take up the task of putting his eight cashes in perspective, he might as well be the one doing it.
 
“There wasn’t anything else like this,” he told Poker Player Newspaper. “And you want to know the amazing thing,” not really a question as much as it was a statement, “my cashes included a number of different games”—two HORSE events and varying versions of eight-or-better and pot limit.
 
It pays to know how to play something besides no limit hold’em, a point he made in offering advice to the growing world of wannabe poker professionals, many of whom have seen nothing but countless television productions of no limit hold’em.
 
Finishing in the money eight times in the six or seven weeks of poker that comprise the World Series gave Kessler more than $370,000 in prize money, from the $3,089 won finishing 191st in a $1,500 buy-in no limit hold’em event to his biggest payday, second place and $276,486 in the $10,000 buy-in 7-stud/8 championship.
 
Kessler added a cautionary note, possibly with an eye on the tax people who are always paying attention to such matters, that the total prize money was not all that it may seem because he spent about $100,000 entering the 20 WSOP events in which he played, and about half of those had $10,000 buy-ins.
 
As for the rest of the money, Kessler pointed out that he stays busy on the tournament trail, which has been extended enough to keep an ambitious hopeful traveling the world. Kessler maintains homes in Las Vegas and Pennsylvania but he has not yet tired of traveling to wherever the action may be. The roughly $370,000 comes close to covering about a year’s worth of buy-ins.
 
Having played poker seriously since the mid-1980s, Kessler has been a witness to its explosive evolution, changes that include the growth of tournaments appealing enough to keep him busy throughout the year.
 
He’s also taken note of the increasing number of women playing in open events. It’s a change that can probably be attributed in part to the number of women’s tournaments such as the annual championship at the World Series. A dozen men entered it this year, probably taking a shot at what they figured would be an easy payday.
 
Kessler does not feel that there is any real need for women’s tournaments, but says that as long as they continue to generate interest among tournament sponsors they should be limited to women. But it is a fact, he maintains, that they have been a factor in more women developing the confidence that encourages them to enter other tournaments.
 
He says, “I don’t think you’ve ever seen young people trying to enter a seniors’ tournament and this is basically the same thing.”
 
Kessler does not currently have any books in the works but says he is a regulator contributor at various Internet sites.
 
Where did the Chainsaw moniker come from? Kessler does not appear to recall the exact moment in time, but believes it came out of conversation during a Foxwoods tournament several years ago when he was enjoying a satisfying level of success. Someone, he says, likened his steady success to the effect of a chainsaw.
 
Whatever the facts are, the nickname had enough of a cutting edge that it stuck, giving birth to some of those moments when life begins to imitate art.
 
“People started coming up to me and instead of using my name they were calling me chainsaw.”
 
He says there is or was a player in the San Jose, California area who also had the nickname chainsaw for a while. “I understand he got pretty upset at me cutting in on his imagery.”
 
It is on the Internet that Kessler has had a lot of success developing an approach to poker commentary that has made him something of a “cult figure … people either like me or they hate me.”
 
He seems to give that a slight smile and shrug that suggests he would not want to have it any other way.
 
Kessler can be found on the Internet almost daily where he enjoys an association with Doyle’s Room.
 
He’s had a Las Vegas home since the early years of this decade but began his serious approach to poker when he traveled to Atlantic City from his Pennsylvania home for weekend games in the rooms there. Atlantic City was where he got to know talents such as Phil Ivey, Alan Cunningham and Cyndy Violette.
 
He did not pay much attention then to the big no-limit hold’em tournaments, usually preferring games such as 7-card stud or Omaha/8 and limits of maybe $100-$200, although he would go higher than that when the moment seemed to be right.
 
Kessler’s first brush with the main event at the world series of poker came in 2004 when he won a satellite that put him in one of the seats. He did not last long, but the experience was enough to keep him coming back.
 
His tournament winnings over the years come to nearly $1.8 million. This includes 117 cashes and 9 first place finishes.