From the outset of the final day of play in the $1.500 Pot Limit Holdem tournament at the 2011 World Series of Poker it seemed as though Brian Rast and Allen Kessler were on a collision course to meet for the bracelet, and this is precisely what happened as the two long-time pros met in the heads-up portion of the tournament.

Rast entered the day with a massive chip-lead, and early on managed to build it up even further. However, lurking in the background was Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, who suddenly opened up his game as the final table approached.

Rast would outlast Kessler during the back and forth heads-up duel, and the cash-game specialist would earn his first WSOP bracelet in the process. Amazingly, Rast had no intentions of playing in the tournament, but was goaded into playing by Antonio Esfandiari according to BLUFFMagazine.com. Here is how Esfandiari summed up Rast’s involvement in the tournament:

“He had just gotten back from Brazil and, in a nutshell, I was coming down to Rio and all my buddies had left already. I was kind of late, so I didn’t have anybody to ride with.”

“He didn’t want to play and I offered him a deal he couldn’t say no to… He is a big cash game player, so the money isn’t an issue. He just didn’t feel like playing, so I gave him a pretty sick freeroll for him to play in the tournament. He took it, and he won.”

Here is a look at the final table payouts for the tournament:

1. Brian Rast – $227,232

2. Allen Kessler – $140,309

3. Dajuan Whorley- $91,212

4. Daisuke Endo – $66,994

5. Mika Paasolen- $49,902

6. Ali Eslami – $37,654

7. John Gordon – $28,741

8. Ted Lawson – $22,183

9. Ronald Lee – $17,298

Results courtesy of wsop.com

Tags: Ali Eslami, Antonio Esfandiari, Buddies, Cash Game, Chainsaw, Collision Course, Endo, Freeroll, Game Player, Game Specialist, Kessler, Lawson, Long Time, Nutshell, Outset, Pot Limit, Time Pros, Whorley, world series, World Series of Poker

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