Jarod Minghini Dedicates WSOP Circuit Lake Tahoe Main Event Victory To His Late Brother

Bobby Minghini recently passed away in an automotive accident. The 36-year-old professional snowboarder, who competed for the U.S. Snowboarding Team, left behind a grieving fiance and family, including his brother Jarod Minghini. Just weeks removed from Bobby’s death, Jarod decided to enter the World Series of Poker Circuit Harvey’s Lake Tahoe $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event with the hopes of winning it in the memory of his late brother. Incredibly, he achieved his goal, topping a field of 513 entries to secure the title and the top prize of $153,368.

“As dumb as it sounds, I expected to win this tournament. Bobby was with me the whole way. From the end of dinner break on Day 1 I just started spinning it up from there. All of Day 2 I was just chip leading all day long, winning every hand,” Minghini told WSOP reporters. “This tournament was the least worried I’ve ever been about busting and just knew I was going to get there. I knew I was going to win hands and hold when I needed to, and my brother was with me the whole way.”

Jarod plans to donate 30 percent of his winnings to the newly-formed Bobby Minghini Foundation, which he helped establish after his brother’s passing with the goal of providing funding for young snowboarders pursuing a career in the expensive sport. He told WSOP reporters that the foundation had already raised $50,000 before his big win.

“Growing up in West Virginia, we both grew up very poor and it was really hard to make ends meet and to do all these competitions. My mother just worked her ass off to send us all over the world, but we stayed very broke because of it. This foundation is going to help kids that are underprivileged skiers and snowboarders that need help in funding,” he said of the charity.

This was the largest live tournament score ever for Minghini, himself a high-level snowboarder who has competed in notable contests like the Winter X-Games. Minghini came into this event with three prior WSOPC gold rings to his name. With this latest victory, he increased his lifetime live earnings to more than $460,000, with the majority coming in WSOPC competition.

Minghini outlasted the likes of Lexy Gavin (38th), seven-time ring winner Vincent Moscati (24th), Shawn R. Daniels (13th), and World Poker Tour champion Lee Markholt (11th) to enter the final day as the chip leader with seven remaining.

He soon knocked out Andreas ‘Rayo’ Kniep (7th – $21,829) and Scott Stewart (6th – $28,419), two of the most accomplished opponents remaining, to extend his already sizable chip advantage.

Casey McCarrel was the next to fall, with his K-4 suited running into the A-Q of Jonathan Smith. Ace high remained the best hand through the river and McCarrel was sent home with $37,564.

Taylor Hart got all-in on a ten-high flop with A-10, but he was in rough shape against the pocket aces of Minghini. The turn and river brought no help and Hart was eliminated in fourth place ($50,396).

Minghini added to his already massive stack even further when his A-J held against the Q-7 of short stack Jesse Tinsley (3rd – $68,615). A blank runout gave Minghini huge chip advantage heading into heads-up play against Smith.

It took just one hand for him to convert that lead into the title. Smith shoved from the button with A8 and Minghini called with K9. The board ran out K10392 to give Minghini kings up for the win. Smith was awarded $94,782 as the runner-up.

Here is a look at the payouts and Card Player Player of the Year points awarded at the final table:

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