Professional poker player Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler hit a banger on his night out at Thunder Valley Resort & Casino in Nothern California. At first glance, the X community was suspicious that it was a joke, but then Allen posted a photo of him holding a big check showing a $1.2 million win.
About the Big Win
Allen Kessler posted a video on his X account where he won the $1.2 million jackpot after playing at the “Buffalo Aristocrat” slot machine for 12 hours. His bet size per spin was $125, and he was down $12,500 before he hit the jackpot.
The Dilemma
The story seems unreal, but there is a catch. Allen has to make a big decision since rules say that “Jackpot prizes of $500,000 or greater will be paid by an aristocrat in periodic payments over 20 years or a discounter lump sum upon a proper jackpot and winner verification” meaning that Allen can choose between getting $65,505 annually over 20 years, or he can take one time discounted payment of $805,120.
After posting a pool about it, Matt Berkey was in the comments, saying that this should be a question for Allen’s accountant and not the Twitter pool. Most people in the comments highly suggested that he take the discounted one-time payment of $805,120. One of the people in the comments made a good point: “These two things are not equal. Not even close to equal. Plus, you are down in tournaments this year. You won’t have to pay the full tax amount on the lump sum. You can also play tournaments for the rest of 2024 at a discounted effective buy-in.”
The pool has 12,457 votes with 88.5% suggesting he should take $805,120.
Allen Kessler’s Results
Allen has total live earnings of $4,437,768, with the most significant live cash being $276,485, which is much less than his most recent jackpot win. Allen plays a lot of MTTs, but slot machines are something he plays even more. Kessler previously hit a $100,000 jackpot on slots and won $250,000 in a slots tournament. There are speculations online that Kessler hasn’t had a winning year since 2014 when he won WSOPC $1,675 No Limit Hold’em Main Event for $170,031 on top of other good results. Allen has won 4 WSOPC rings.
