The Borgata's fire marshal has returned Allen Kessler's permit application for the Chainsaw Mixed Series of Poker with one request circled in red. The marshal wants every acronym on the schedule spelled out in full. Kessler's series runs 11 events from Nov. 4 to Nov. 14, and the application lists O.E., T.O.E. and T.O.R.S.E. as if the building were expected to know them.
Kessler complied the same afternoon. He wrote out Omaha Eight or Better, Triple Draw and the rest of the 14-line glossary, and he attached it with a paper clip. The marshal read to the bottom of page two, stopped at the word "Chainsaw" and asked a different question. The series is named for a tool, and the application contains no tool.
How It Started
Kessler explained that the chainsaw is a trophy. It is wooden, about the length of a forearm, and the teeth have been sanded round. The marshal asked whether the teeth could be sanded rounder. Kessler asked how round the building needed them. The marshal said the code does not use the word round, and the two agreed to meet at the table with a measuring tape.
The meeting ran 40 minutes and covered both championships. The $1,100 H.O.R.S.E. event carries a $25,000 guarantee and the $1,100 T.O.R.S.E. event carries $35,000. The marshal's only concern about the guarantees was whether a prize pool counts as a stored quantity. Kessler said it does not, since nobody has ever stored one. The marshal wrote that down and underlined it.
The nine $600 events took longer. The marshal approved Stud Eight or Better on sight, because the word Stud is not a hazard. Pot Limit Big O required an explanation of what the O stands for. Chainsaw's 8-Game Mix required an explanation of the other seven games, and Kessler was prepared to give one in the order the games are dealt. The marshal asked him to stop at Razz, which the marshal described as the first game that sounded like a fire.
Where It Leaves Things
Borgata staff say the series will run as scheduled. The fire marshal has agreed to sign off once the glossary is posted at the entrance, the trophy is displayed under glass, and the T.O.R.S.E. signage reads "Triple Draw, Omaha, Razz, Stud, Eight or Better" in full. The signage will be 11 feet wide. Kessler has said the extra length is an improvement, since players will now have time to read it before the cards are dealt.
The marshal will attend Day 2 of the H.O.R.S.E. Championship, in a chair near the door. The marshal has asked to be dealt in, and Kessler has said that this is allowed only if the marshal can name the game that is currently being played. The marshal has named it twice. Both times the dealer had already changed it.
Nothing about this happened. Allen Kessler has not been asked to spell anything out, no fire marshal reviewed a permit, and nobody quoted here said any of it. What is real: PokerNews reported on Oct. 28, 2026 that Kessler's Chainsaw Mixed Series of Poker is making its first Atlantic City stop at the Borgata, Nov. 4 to 14, with 11 events including a $1,100 H.O.R.S.E. Championship ($25,000 guarantee) and a $1,100 T.O.R.S.E. Championship ($35,000 guarantee) plus nine $600 events. Everything else is invented.
