I'm not totally buying that he only offered action in a $1700 comp to give people a chance of a sweat.
I don't dispute that he is well off (maybe even very rich), but one of the reasons that he is well off is by him deploying the relatively simple, yet still well thought out and clever strategy of routinely selling action at ~1.15 knowing that his playing edge across all comps is likely in the 20% to 25% range, meaning that after deducting the effects of juice he simply can't lose over a decent sample size of comps, because the premium he is charging is in effect locking in his edge and his expected +EV.
I know he doesn't sell the bulk of the buy in of each comp (maybe he sells 20% to 35% of it), but he sells enough of a proportion of his buy ins to create a similar mathematical effect as if he was selling 100%. It is a similar effect because him playing a lot of comps is a form of insurance (variance tempering) in itself.
I also realise he sells at lower mark up for tougher, bigger buy in comps but then that gains him excitement and enjoyment he otherwise may not have had the chance at, plus some valuable playing experience.
Allen and I go way back over 25 years. We use to play advantage video poker together in Atlantic City. We would play Double Joker video poker at Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal. Yeah that Trump. And I can say over the last 25+ years he has without a doubt spent less money on "stuff" than anyone I've known. Hell he even won the car he was driving back then in a casino sweepstakes, therefore he didn't even spend money on a car either.
In a boringly simple example I feel confident in saying those 25+ years had him spending $10k less a year than anyone else I knew. So thats over a quarter of a million in cheese. Make more or spend less still nets the same. Spend less how? A lot of poker player don't travel much because of the expenses. But Allen is usually rocking free hotel rooms, food, beverage, often free airfare to tournaments from video poker play, bink the occasional free car (and drive it for 10 years lol), etc. He is making money and spends very little and those etceteras add up.
i was told (back when i worked for one of the poker magazines 15 years ago) that he came from a rich family or had a wealthy sister or something. i never confirmed this with him even though he was always buzzing around me and others at tournaments seeking media attention..he's personal friends with all the original famous players and they all knew each other long before the boom..
An OG poker player friend of mine introduced me to Allen Kessler in Atlantic City around 7 - 8 years ago. He's a nice guy. He's also one of the most giving and unassuming people I've ever encountered in my life. I made that last part up but he is a nice guy and was well spoken of by his peers at the time. As far as his frugality, I have an AP friend that can give Allen the 7 and the breaks in that regard. I used a bathroom in his house once and there was a 30 year old bottle of iodine in the cabinet. Half full.
A frugal lifestyle makes sense to deploy with the low variance/high ITM style of MTT poker he seems to play
But man.... a lifetime of grinding in casinos with no money allowed for partying/massages/good food/drugs/hookers. Sounds like hell to me. Props to him for managing it I guess
The comps from video poker are massive. We generated more comps than we could ever spend on even the best restaurants in the casino. Plus with a casino host the meals were often comped without even a deduction made to our comp balances. And our crew of players usually ate when we first arrived at the casino before we even started playing for the day, and had so much accrued comps and good will that the meals were free.
As for the rest, yeah the dude is frugal.
The rest of us had more fun. We played high enough for golf trips, fishing trips, and other stuff that didn't even require gambling. But back to the food and drink. We were all rated RFB for free Room. Food and Beverage. One of our group decided he was going to stock his home wine cellar and through room service every trip ordered an expensive bottle of wine. If you weren't in the room when room service delivered wine, then they wouldn't uncork it. Over the course of a year he stocked his home with an impressive collect of wines before the casino finally down graded him to RFL with the L meaning Limited beverages.
LOL. That one I have no idea. But hey what is the age dating rule, 1/2 + 7? Therefore you can hook him up with a 30something. Unless of course you are using the rule for the elderly friend.
