Allen Kessler in Twitter Spat with Shaun Deeb After Being Called a Losing Player

07:29
29 Aug

Shaun Deeb has inadvertently kicked off a Twitter spat with Allen Kessler after calling him a losing player in an episode of The Nick Vertucci Show. The self-appointed markup police was characteristically straight to the point, describing Kessler as one of the players who the game has passed by over the last few years.

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The Markup Police Vigilante Is Back

The conversation soon came around to markup, a topic which Shaun Deeb is clearly passionate about and one which has motivated him to even call some players scammers over extortionate rates.

Nick Vertucci asked Deeb what makes him the “Markup Police Vigilante”? The reply was simple: the buyers are mostly trusting the player to provide a profitable deal.

“When you have professionals selling at markups that are unbeatable for the buyers, they end up freerolling the buyers. And so as a top tournament guy who knows edges really well and is very in tune with what ROIs should be, with the volume I’ve played for 20 years, I want to speak upon that, as an expert, against it. If you just allow people to sell whatever they want at whatever markups they want and no one ever corrects them and there is not a two-way market, then unfortunately the community gets fleeced, and I care about the poker community for long-term growth.”

That sounds fair enough and it’s good to see a top professional looking out for those who aren’t as familiar with it all, but is calling someone a scammer fair?

Deeb thinks so, stating simply that if you deliberately sell something for more than what you know it to be worth then that is scamming in the world of poker markup, an opinion shared by many in the community.

Kessler, of course, disagreed with Deeb’s take and fired back a retort about some of his success in the past.

“Lol @shaundeeb needs to get his facts straight. He said I have no shot ever cashing in the $50K ppc, yet the last time I played it I final tabled it, and @scott_seiver grudgingly admitted that I was plus ev in the event. Also, in this year's $25K HORSE, I'm sure @EWassPoker will admit I was plus EV vs. that field as well. I cashed 15 live WSOP events this summer with several deep runs and would gladly buy myself from Deeb at par in all the $1500 mixed.“

Deeb responded by offering a cross book on any mixed games events over $10,000 and any NL Hold’em over $1,000. We will see if they can get this on.

As it happens, Allen Kessler fired back in the best possible way after this spat by racking up another victory on his career record. The American took down the $400 buy-in Stud-8/Omaha-8 event at Graton Casino in California less than a week after this argument to win his fourth WSOP Circuit event. His live tournament career earnings total now stands at $4,311,704.