Sometimes, dealing with Allen Kessler can be a bit like juggling a whirling chainsaw.  Make that a chainsaw with the power revved up to “high.”  In recent years, he’s developed a reputation on the poker tournament circuit as once of the game’s most prickly personalities.  He’s demanding.  He’s opinionated.  And, he can certainly be razor sharp. 

As Kessler’s most recent tournament victory in the Bayou Poker Challenge championship shows, he can also shear down plenty of other players who believe they can whack him at the poker table.

Kessler, a.k.a. “Chainsaw,” won this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge Main Event, held at Harrah’s New Orleans.  The $3,000 (+120) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament attracted a highly-competitive field of 80 entries.  This was the final event of 15 on this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge schedule.  The three-day championship generated a prize pool totaling $221,798 – the biggest payout of this year’s winter Bayou series.  The top nine finishers collected prize money.

Kessler is a full-time poker player in his mid-40s, who lives in Las Vegas, NV.  He is originally from Philadelphia.  However, Kessler’s true home in recent years has been whichever casino is hosting whatever poker tournament.  He’s been traveling around the tournament circuit for a full decade.  And with this victory, Kessler has now amassed nearly $1.5 million in tournament winnings.

This win marked Kessler’s seventh major tournament victory.  He has numerous in-the-money finishes -- most notably wins at the United States Poker Championship in 2006, and a gold ring victory at the 2007 WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Las Vegas.  This time, Kessler was officially paid $70,976.  He was also awarded a seat into the $10,000 buy-in Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, plus $1,000 for expenses.

The tournament was played over three consecutive days during one of the busiest weekends of the year in New Orleans.  With tens of thousands of pro and college football fans in the Crescent City, the Harrah’s showroom offered just as competitive an event as anything going on at the Superdome.  In fact, this was one of the more intriguing final table matches of the year, with several highly-skilled players, and interesting poker personalities.  It's exactly what one might expect from an ecclectic lineup that included players who go by names such as Chainsaw, The Destroyer, Monkey, and Car Wash.  Not only was the defending champion (Justin “Lockdowntex” Allen) present but so too were unpredictable personalities such as Kessler and Will “the Monkey” Souther.  The final table also provided an interesting contrast of different generations – with players ranging in age from 22 up to 78.

When final table play began on a Monday afternoon following 26 hours of play during the first two days, Kessler had a sizable chip lead over his rivals.  He enjoyed a nearly 2 to 1 advantage over his closest adversary, Ed Corrado.  Kessler lost his chip lead a few hours into play, and was actually all-in for his tournament life on at least two occasions.  But he won enough key hands at critical moments to regain his chip lead until a deal was crafted when play became four-handed.