JAROD MINGHINI CALLS HIS SHOT FOR HIS BROTHER AND WINS LAKE TAHOE MAIN EVENT FOR $153,368

South Lake Tahoe, Nevada (31 Oct 2022) - Poker players have been known to ‘call their shot’ to win a tournament. Rarely does their bold prediction ever come to fruition, but almost never does it actually happen, and also come with such an incredible story attached.

Just two weeks ago, Jarod Minghini’s brother Bobby passed away before the start of the WSOP Circuit series at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe. While mourning his brother, Jarod also used the tragedy to motivate himself, telling friends he was going to win the Main Event for Bobby.

Monday, he did exactly that. And he did it in incredible fashion.

Minghini took the chip lead from Day 1A of the tournament and ran it all the way to the $153,368 first prize, crushing every opponent that dared to impede his destiny.

“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.”

Indeed, his Day 2 performance was dominant to say the least. He took the overall chip lead in the first level of the day and never looked back, finishing the day with almost three times the chips as his nearest competitor.

“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.”

Minghini carried almost six million chips into the final day of play with just seven players remaining. His next closest competitor was Scott Stewart with under two million. While Minghini had a huge lead, he knew he still had tough competition to get past, notably Stewart and Rayo Kniep.

So what did he do? He eliminated both within the first half hour of the day.

“The day started off really well when two of the guys I was most worried to play with I was able to knock out right off the bat. That’s why I gambled with Rayo (Kniep), because I wanted him to just be out. And then even from there those flips where I had like king-ten against ace high, I just knew I was getting there. Bob wasn’t going to let me lose them.”

Minghini indeed eliminated Kniep with king-ten against Kniep’s ace high, then took out Stewart shortly after, hitting trip eights on the river holding ace-eight after Stewart had paired his queen on the turn holding queen-five.

From there it seemed like a formality as Minghini’s lead was never in any sense of danger. The room was full of Minghini’s friends and family who came to watch the ball sail over the proverbial fence. Minghini had called his shot and knocked it out of the park for his brother.

Down to three-handed play, Minghini eliminated his last two opponents, Jesse Tinsley and Jonathon Smith in back-to-back hands, sending the room into jubilation in less than two hours.

In the days following his brother’s passing, Minghini created the Bobby Minghini Foundation, a charity that will serve underprivileged children in the skiing and snowboarding community. Jarod will be donating 30 percent of his winnings to the foundation and a multitude of friends in the tournament also committed to donating to the foundation. Minghini says that even before the tournament, the foundation had raised almost $50,000.

Minghini is a high-level snowboarder, who with his brother who had competed in World Cups and the X-Games. He says the ability to create the foundation and give something back to the winter sports community in the name of his brother means the world to him.

“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.”

Minghini told WSOP.com that a website for the Bobby Minghini Foundation will be up later this week.

First though, he’s off to celebrate his incredible victory, with friends, family, and even members of the US Snowboarding team that flew in from Europe to support their friend.

“It was awesome to have this kind of crew in support on the rail so I’m just going to go have a good time with them and celebrate for my brother.”

Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Main Event Day 3 Final Table Results: