Allen Kessler, the min-cash extraordinaire, is potentially hours away from, after all these years, winning his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.
“The Chainsaw” called his shot in April, predicting he’d finally get off the schneid this summer and capture a coveted gold bracelet.
Kessler first cashed at the WSOP in 2001, a 16th-place finish for $5,710 in $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split, a tournament won by Poker Hall of Famer Scotty Nguyen. Since then, he’s been a mainstay at the Series, racking up cashes left and right. But, on Sunday, he just might get over the hump and finish one of these tournaments as the last player standing.
Kessler Has His Work Cut Out for Him
Kessler, who unofficially has 122 cashes in bracelet events, is among the final 11 players in Event #23: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship. He’ll return to action at 1 p.m. PT in eighth place with 582,000 chips. Michael Mizrachi, the reigning world champion, is chasing his ninth bracelet and has the chip lead at 1,429,000.
It won’t be an easy task for the Chainsaw. He’s looking up at some crushers above him on the leaderboard, including Mizrachi, Chris Brewer (1,301,000), and Jeremy Ausmus (702,000). Not only that, Dan Sepiol (187,000) and Brad Ruben (132,000) are behind him with a chip and a chair.
Kessler’s reputation as a min-casher could come to an end on Sunday if he were to go on to win the bracelet and the $301,970 first-place prize. He has, however, been proving outside of bracelet events recently that he can close out tournaments. The longtime gambler won an $1,100 H.O.R.S.E. event in his own Chainsaw Mixed Series of Poker (CMSOP) in May, his fifth WSOP Circuit ring and a RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) event in March.
On top of that, he’s finished in the top three five times in various tournaments over the past three months. But there are now two questions heading into Day 3 in $10k Stud that he must answer: Can he reach his first bracelet-event final table since 2023, and can he win his first WSOP bracelet after competing at the Series since 2001?
If the answer is yes to both, he’ll come just a few thousand bucks short of $5 million in lifetime live tournament cashes recorded on The Hendon Mob database. More importantly, he’ll prove his doubters wrong.
Follow Live Updates of Kessler’s $10k Stud Run
