The eight-event, three-week long 2018 Parx Casino Big Stax XXIV came to a close on Wednesday after weathering a couple of nor’easters along the way.
It is home to some of the best-known names in poker, mainly claiming Pennsylvania as their home. Those names came out to show support for their hometown PA casino and stake claim to their share of the prize money.
If you are a poker fan, then the Parx Poker Room is where you wanted to be this past month. Just a few of the players wandering around the poker room included:
- Scott Blumstein, World Series of Poker Main Event Champion
- Matt Glantz, WSOP Circuit Champion, and Producer for Poker Night in America
- Greg Weber, WPT Borgata Main Event Runner-up
- Christian Harder, PokerStars Championship Bahamas Champion
- Joseph Palma, Big Stax 300 Champion from Series XXII and XXIII
Arkadiy Tsinis wins Parx Big Stax XXIV 2500 Main Event
Day three of the three-day Parx Big Stax XXIV 2500 Main Event began with the unofficial final table already set.
Arkadiy Tsinis started the day off strong and remained in control until the very end. He eliminated five of the final eight players to give him a nearly 9:1 chip lead going into heads up. Ryan Tamanini couldn’t get anything going, and the chip deficit was too significant to overcome.
Tsinis has over $1.7 million in live tournament winnings, according to Hendon Mob. The WSOP bracelet winner has been on a heater of late and just last November he earned three rings within two days at the WSOP Circuit Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada.
His recent results are not too bad for someone whose Twitter profile describes him as a “retired poker and backgammon player making my foray into fashion.”
The Parx Big Stax XXIV $2500 final table results:
- 1st: Arkadiy Tsinis ($77,053)
- 2nd: Ryan Tamanini ($49,210)
- 3rd: Abe Faroni ($31,714)
- 4th: Nick Lee ($23,121)
- 5th: Brett Apter ($17,341)
- 6th: Ron Sims ($10,167)
- 7th: Aaron Mermelstein ($13,109)
- 8th: Ryan McKnight ($7,664)
- 9th: Keith Morrow ($6,580)
Greg Weber and Anthony Garofalo Co-Champions of Parx Big Stax XXIV 1500
It’s not often to see co-champions in a poker tournament. The goal of every tournament is to be the last man or woman standing. Even when deals are made, there is usually the title, trophy and some prize money left in the middle for players to battle for.
Greg Weber and Anthony Garofalo were heads-up in the $1,600 buy-in Parx Big Stax XXIV 1500. Being close to even in chips, the two players agreed to a deal that included the co-champion designation.
Even so, Weber, whose success in this series over the last few years has been more than impressive, negotiated a bigger paycheck ($104,233) and will be recorded as the first-place finisher in the official record book. Garofalo pocketed $97,521 and shared the winner’s photo with Weber.
The Parx Big Stax XXIV 1500 final table results:
- 1st: Gregory Weber ($104,233)
- 2nd: Anthony Garofalo ($97,521)
- 3rd: Joseph Palma ($51,043)
- 4th: Christian Harder ($37,311)
- 5th: Joe Reddick ($27,956)
- 6th: Jason Deane ($21,063)
- 7th: Justin Liberto ($16,194)
- 8th: Aaron Overton ($12,473)
- 9th: Scott Blumstein ($10,012)
More event winners
One of the reasons why the Parx Big Stack series is so popular is it hosts fun events such as the $5K Survivor and the Double Black Chip Bounty that provide players with an opportunity to earn some serious cash.
Unfortunately, due to a slew of storms that paid a visit to the East Coast this past month, the $5K Survivor event was canceled. But the Double Black Chip Bounty played out with Brandon Vescio-Bermender earning $6,746 for the win plus a few bounties along the way.
Moving on to the Big Stax XXIV 300 event, after nearly seven and a half hours of three-handed play, the players agreed to an ICM chop. Justin Liberto found himself with a slight chip-lead at the time of the chop, which earned him the title.
Here is how things stood at the time of the deal:
- 1st: Justin Liberto with 26,500,000 chips earned $79,169
- 2nd: Vinny Pahuja with 25,500,000 earned $79,169
- 3rd: Kevin Grabel with 16,100,000 earned $69,598.00
Big Stax XXV coming in May
The Big Stax series is a massive draw for the Parx Casino poker room, and they are already making plans for Big Stax XXV in May. Stay tuned to the Parx Casino website for the official schedule which will be available soon.
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