Allen Kessler is an American poker player with close to $4 million in career earnings.

He regularly chimes in with poker opinions, appearing in the popular PokerNews segment 'The Chainsaw Report'

Biography

Coming out of college, Kessler took the more conventional route and took a job as an internet marketing executive. The Pennsylvania native eventually ventured to a casino found a new love for poker. With a very analytical and mathematical mind, Kessler began frequenting card rooms in Atlantic City to hone his game.

Initially a cash game player, Kessler moved up the limits before eventually moving to the tournament circuit.

Kessler at the WSOP

In 2001, Kessler had his first WSOP cash in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event. The tournament bug caught Allen with this finish and he began taking shots at tournaments year-round, but cash games were still his bread and butter. A couple years down the road in 2004, Kessler recorded his first tournament win in an event at the Winnin’ o’ the Green out in L.A.

Kessler won one of the Bellagio Weekly Tournaments in March of 2005 for over $45,000 and then placed in two WSOP events that following summer. The latter of those cashes was a second-place finish to Todd Brunson in the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event for over $132,000.

In 2006, he came away with a win in a $500 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Poker 101 in Las Vegas for over $50,000 just before the World Series kicked off for another year. At the WSOP, he went on to cash four times, including a fourth-place finish for over $75,000. He had a number of five-figure cashes that year and even won an event at the United States Poker Championship.

At the WPT’s Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2007, Kessler found himself at the final table. He wound up going out first to finish in sixth place for $136,452. Kessler looked extremely dejected after losing, but he stuck with the game and wouldn’t give up. In total, he earned over $350,000 that year, topping his earnings from the previous year.

Kessler has cashed over 75 times at the WSOP over his long career. He has finished runner-up for a WSOP bracelet on three occasions in Las Vegas, as well as one other time in Rozvadov, Czech Republic at the WSOP Europe.

In 2010, he finished runner-up to eventual WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship.

The following year, he lost out to Brian Rast in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em.

Kessler would have to wait until 2017 for his next close shave with a bracelet, finishing second in the €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha event at King's Resort in Rozvadov against Lukas Zaskodny.