Allen Kessler Files Formal Structure Complaint Against Golden Corral, Cites 'Inadequate Value Per Minute In Line'

Allen Kessler, the poker professional known industry-wide as 'Chainsaw' for his relentless criticism of tournament structures, has reportedly filed a formal written complaint with a Las Vegas Golden Corral regarding what he called 'an inadequate value-per-minute ratio in the buffet line.'

The four-page document, which several tournament directors say they recognized the formatting of immediately, right down to the numbered sub-clauses Kessler typically reserves for blind-structure grievances, argues that the restaurant's decision to seat parties before verifying plate-refill efficiency 'fundamentally disrespects the comp-earning customer's time.' A section midway through the complaint, titled 'Level Timing and Its Real-World Applications,' draws an extended comparison between twenty-minute tournament levels and what Kessler calls 'an unacceptably slow steam-tray rotation,' concluding that both problems stem from 'a failure to respect the player's clock.'

A shift manager, reached for comment, said the restaurant is 'reviewing the feedback' and has not ruled out becoming the first buffet in Nevada to advertise itself as Chainsaw-approved, a designation the manager acknowledged 'we made up on the spot, but he seemed to like it.' Staff say Kessler timed his own visits with a stopwatch on two separate occasions, comparing rotation speed at different hours, and left both times with detailed notes rather than a complaint on the spot, saving the full grievance for 'a more formal channel.'

Kessler is reportedly already drafting a follow-up complaint about the dessert station's blind structure, specifically its lack of a published schedule for when the soft-serve machine gets refilled, a gap he has described to friends as 'the kind of thing that would never fly at a WSOP event.' One friend, who has known Kessler for years, said the buffet complaint is 'not really about the buffet,' but declined to elaborate further, saying only that 'once you've filed one of these against a tournament, you start seeing structures everywhere.'

The restaurant has not indicated whether it plans to formally respond to the complaint in writing, though the shift manager noted that corporate 'does read these,' a claim Kessler's team says it intends to hold them to.

Word of the complaint has circulated among Kessler's regular circle, several of whom say the buffet incident fits a familiar pattern: a genuine grievance, articulated with more structural rigor than the situation strictly requires, filed through a channel that technically exists but is rarely used for this purpose. One friend, who has seen several of Kessler's tournament-floor complaints over the years, said the Golden Corral document was, if anything, 'better organized' than some of his official WSOP filings, joking that the restaurant 'got the A-game version.' Kessler, informed of the comparison, said only that 'a complaint is a complaint,' and that he intends to hold the buffet 'to the same standard' as any tournament he plays.