| Comeback Win for Kessler!
Allen Kessler was a 9-1 chip underdog when he got heads-up with Dan Quick in tonight’s $500 7-stud hi-lo contest. Spurning an offer of an extra $200 to go away, the Pennsylvania resident dug in, took the lead in 14 hands and eight hands after that won it all with a 6-low and a straight.
Though he’s had many final tables, this marks the first tournament win for Kessler, a split-game specialist who owns two gaming websites. Earlier, he had been trading the chip lead with Margot Friis. Then, after catching a succession of great starting hands that went nowhere, he dipped way down and went all in three times before making his great comeback.
Tonight’s event started with 41:56 remaining at limits of $800-$1,600, with $100 antes and a $200 low card bring-in. Quick had the lead with 18,200 in chips. Kessler started with an average 9,100, then began moving up when he scooped a big pot with aces and a 7-low on hand 11.
On hand 19, David Kelly made two-pair and an 8-low to scoop Patrick Schulz, who was making his third final table. Left with $500, Schulz went all in on the next hand in what started out as six-way action. Several players dropped out after Tim Fu bet on fourth street, and Schulz survived with two pair. “I hope he comes back and busts you,” Hasan Habib half-jokingly chided Fu. He didn’t. On the next hand, Schulz missed his draw to a 6-low and Habib finished him off with two pair.
Habib, meanwhile, had been setting some kind of record for being the low card. In the first 25 hands, he caught a baby more than half the time.
Soon after limits went to $1,000-$2,000, Tony Grand finished seventh. He started with low cards, ended with three pair and succumbed to Keller’s set of 8s. After beating Quick on the next hand, aces and 8s versus aces and 7s, Kessler moved into a clear lead with about 24k. On the very next hand, Habib finished sixth when the best he could find was a pair of treys against Quick’s straight 7.
Friis, who plays $40-$80 at the Bike when she isn’t out golfing, moved into a slight lead when she raised with a board of 5-5-6-4, and Quick folded. David Kelly, meanwhile, wasn’t catching anything and he wasn’t happy. “Anyone ever heard card-dead?” he grumbled. Losing to Kessler’s larger two pair, he was down to $1,400 as Kessler regained the lead. A few hands later Kelly tossed in his last $800 with (A-K)3. and busted out fifth with 3-3 against Quick’s 8-8.
At the break, the chip count stood at: Kessler, 32,500; Friis, 23,700; Quick, 15,600; and Fu, 500. Play resumed and Fu’s lone chip immediately flew to Kessler. All Kessler made was A-K, but that sufficed against Fu, who started with (4-5)A, s and ended up with A-Q. The three finalists made a deal for the bulk of the prize pool and played on. As play continued, Quick eased into the lead and then increased it when he made two pair against Kessler, who started with four low cards and made kings.
Kessler’s luck continued to desert him when he started with (3-6)4-5 and ended up with two 4s against Quick’s aces-up. Then it got heads-up after Friis raised with (A-3)6. Quick put her all in with (8s-10s)9s and made his flush.
Trailing 7k to 65k, Kessler started catching cards as limits went to 2-4k. After surviving with a flush, he made a full house against Quick’s flush, then took the lead with about 50k after making a straight 7. Then came another straight and a 6-low, and Kessler’s remarkable comeback was complete. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY: Allen Kessler owns two gaming websites, DoubleJoker.com and PlaySolitaire.com, and does advertising for another website for singles. He’s been playing poker seriously about six years and has final tables at Foxwoods, the Bellagio and Four Queens, as well as a second-table finish in Omaha hi-lo at the World Series. He plays mostly $75-$150 stud hi-lo, but will play a tournament if it’s hi-lo, or sometimes a mixed-game event.
Kessler likes hi-lo games because he feels that a bad player has a much better chance of winning in hold’em, which he says is more of a gambling game and a mind game: “You just put in your chips and see what happens. But in stud hi-lo, if you don’t start with the right hands, you have very little chance. Like playing middle pair, for example.” Tonight he was the chip leader at the third level, then remained stuck with that chip count until making the final table.
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