214 players paid $2,500 to play the Moneymaker Poker Tour Main Eventat the Palm Beach Kennel Club this weekend. By the end of Day 2 on Sunday, there was one player at the top of the leaderboard: Mintzy.
The trouble is, Mintzy was supposed to be at work on Monday, taking part in a high-profile event, the Barstool Combine. He decided the best course of action was to style it out, play his poker, and hope Barstool boss Dave Portnoy would understand.
That didn't work out so well for him.
Portnoy blows his top
When Portnoy found out Mintzy had skipped the Barstool Combine to play poker, he let the world listen in on what went down.
"Mintzy, are you at the Combine today?" Portnoy asked.
"No, I'm the chip leader of this $2,500 poker tournament with 14 left, playing for $120,000," Mintzy spluttered.
"So if you win, do I not have to pay your salary any more? I just don't know what I'm paying you for... If you're a professional poker player, go do that. We have a major sponsored event that you have a jersey for, that you're supposed to be part of, and you're just f*****g skipping it because you're doing well in a poker tournament. Great, well, go make your money playing poker then."
"I hate hearing you say that... This will never happen again," Mintzy replied.
"Whatever you win, I'm just deducting from your salary," Portnoy said.
You can hear the whole conversation below.
Mintzy trends on Twitter, makes final table
But it's all for jokes and engagement, right? We reached out to our man on the floor to get the scoop, and he said, "It is not. He [Portnoy] is definitely genuinely pissed at Mintzy."
Mintzy, meanwhile, was spending almost as much time on the phone as he was playing poker. And on his second break today, he spent the entire time pacing and talking on the phone, presumably to Portnoy.
By this time, he was trending 17th on X/Twitter, but we don't think that's what Portnoy was talking to him about.
The day only got worse for Mintzy.
He made the final table with the third-biggest stack but ended up busting in eighth for $14,550. He lost most of his chips when he flopped two pair and ran them into a flopped straight, and lost the rest when his A6 came off worst against KJ.
The one consolation for Mintzy is that he won't need another excuse for a day off tomorrow.
The final six will return to play for the trophy and the $120,000 first prize tomorrow. You can follow it all on the PokerOrg socials. Mintzy is glad he can return to work.
