On Monday, poker player Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler of Northern California's Thunder Valley Resort scooped an incredible $1.2 million prize while playing a slot machine.

"Chainsaw" personally recorded the fallout from the seismic victory and shared it to social media on Tuesday.

After a 12-hour play session on the Buffalo Power Pay slot machine from Aristocrat Leisure, it happened. Kessler was betting $125 per spin during the session and was down $12,500 when the stars aligned. Kessler was in town to play the RunGood Series poker event.

 

‘So Surreal’

WSOP Circuit Ring-winner three times In the poker world, Kessler is a colorful character who is adored for his charming and meticulous infatuation with the exact laws of the game and for his outspoken criticism of statistical injustices that the poker gods occasionally impose.

Kessler enjoys posting on social media about how expensive food is in Las Vegas, even knowing he might not be eating for a while. Furthermore, he will never be allowed to discuss poor beats again.

“Omg, this just f###in happened. Covers my entire WSOP debacle with $1m to spare,” Kessler wrote in a tweet accompanying the video of his win.

"It was so surreal,” Kessler told Casino.org Wednesday after he’d had some time to recover. “I’ve seen that wheel spin a million times, and it’s frequently a near miss, stopping at the one before or after the $1.2 million spot. When it stopped on the jackpot, my jaw dropped.”

Since slots and other casino games have a negative expected value, many poker players avoid them, but Kessler is a great fan and even arranges his poker tournament calendar to include events that are connected to actual casinos so he may play them when he busts.

He acknowledges that his Tuesday wagers were far larger than normal, but he maintains that it's leisurely and that he can afford it. He also appreciates the freebies that casinos provide to their high rollers, such free meals and accommodations.

 

Chainsaw’s Biggest Gambling Win

Even though Kessler is one of the few people who has cashed more than 100 times at WSOP events, he claims that this is "by far" his biggest gambling triumph.

The only decision left was whether to accept the lump sum payment all at once or a series of installments spread out over 20 years. Since "with my diet, I may not live 20 years," he decided to take the lump sum payment.

We would want to know whether you have any special plans for the money.

“Not really, I’ll just keep plugging along,” says Kessler.