Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler emerged as the champion of the Main Event of the Bayou Poker Challenge at Harrah’s New Orleans. A total of 80 players turned out for the $3,120 buy-in tournament and Kessler earned $71,000 after a four-way chop.
In addition to the prize money, Kessler took home a $10,000 seat into the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas and $1,000 to use for travel expenses. In November of 2008, Kessler made the final table of the WSOP Circuit Championship at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe for $31,00. He claimed his first gold ring one year prior after defeating a field of 522 players in a $500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $73,000. Kessler has shined on the World Poker Tour (WPT), where he’s made two final tables, including a third place showing in the Season 4 WPT Invitational for $20,000. In Season 5, he finished sixth at Foxwoods for $136,000.
Kessler entered the final table in New Orleans at the Bayou Poker Challenge as a 2:1 chip leader over his next closest competitor and never looked back. Taking ninth place in the Crescent City was Phil Hall, a 61 year-old software engineer. Hall hit the rails less than a half-hour into final table play after coming out on the losing end of a race with pocket fives against A-K when a king hit, but earned $8,300.
The next to go was Will “The Monkey” Souther, a pro from nearby Biloxi, Mississippi. In his final hand, Souther pushed all-in with pocket jacks, but ran into pocket kings. The better hand held and Souther was sent packing, $9,400 richer for his wear. Taking seventh place was Ben “The Destroyer” Mintz, who entered the final table as the third largest stack. He ultimately ran Q-J into pocket queens, earning $11,000.
Justin “Lockdowntex” Allen made history by finishing in sixth place at Harrah’s New Orleans. Allen took down last year’s Bayou Poker Challenge Championship to the tune of $158,000 and, when combined with a final table appearance at a WSOP Circuit Event Championship held in May at Harrah’s New Orleans, has made three straight Main Event feature tables at the casino. His sixth place finish this year was worth $13,000.
Fifth place in the 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge Championship went to Michael “Car Wash” Schneider. He was the field’s shortest stack entering the final table, but rebounded to earn $16,000. Four-handed, an undisclosed deal was forged. Officially taking fourth was Jim McBride, who earned $19,000. Third place belonged to Moutray McLaren, a poker pro from South Carolina. The official third place payout was $28,000.
Second place after the deal went to Ed Corrado, a retired player from Florida. He banked $44,000, falling short of only Kessler. The tournament’s ultimate champion told Bayou Poker Challenge officials following his win, “I really like supporting these events. These are great structures. It’s one of the best tournament structures I’ve seen for this buy-in amount.” Kessler then purportedly headed to the high-limit gaming area of Harrah’s New Orleans to celebrate.
Going on concurrently with the Bayou Poker Challenge Championship, and perhaps taking away from some of its luster, was an NFL game between the undefeated New Orleans Saints and the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys upended the Saints to snap the team’s perfect season on Saturday night in one of the biggest upsets of the 2009 NFL schedule. On Sunday, the city played host to the New Orleans Bowl between Southern Mississippi and Middle Tennessee State, with the latter winning the 42-32 shootout. Both games were played inside the Louisiana Superdome.
Harrah’s New Orleans serves as the final stop of the 2009-2010 WSOP Circuit schedule. The festivities begin at the urban casino on May 7th.
