Barstool Sports’ ‘Mintzy’ Skips Work for Deep Poker Run, Portnoy Mad

“Mintzy Just Bagged chip lead with 14 left and $120k up top by rivering quads in a CRAZY Hand!” So tweeted Ben “Mintzy” Mintz just hours ago.

The colorful Barstool Sports media personality had found himself as the chip leader in the $2.5K Moneymaker Tour Main Event at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida on Monday. He had  the chance to win $120K.

Happy days! Except when Mintzy was rivering those quads, he was supposed to be at the Barstool Combine, an annual frattish carnival of amateur sports and professional partying currently taking place 1,300 miles away in Chicago.

It seems Mintz didn’t expect to go quite as deep in the tournament as he did, which left him with a difficult decision.

Unfortunately for Mintz, Barstool’s brash founder Dave Portnoy wasn’t feeling the vibes and objected to his choice of poker glory over his regular job.

“BREAKING: Every cent Mintzy makes in this tournament will be deducted from his salary for him choosing poker over a mandatory corporate event,” he tweeted quickly in response to Mintzy’s post.

Portnoy’s Complaint  

Later, Portnoy posted a video of a telephone conversation with Mintz in which the Moneymaker Tour chip leader offered a stuttering apology for skipping the event.

“So, if you win, do I not have to pay your salary anymore, since that’s why we pay you a salary – for these events that you’re just skipping?” spat Portnoy.

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 a part of, and you’re just skipping it because you’re doing well in a poker tournament,” Portnoy added. “Well, great! Go make your money playing poker then.”

In a previous life, Mintz was a professional poker player with gross tournament earnings of more than $600K, according to the Hendon Mob Database. He’s currently heading toward the biggest score of his career as we write. His best score is for just over 90K for a 75th-place finish at the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

Many on social media had sympathy for Mintz and questioned why his boss would shame him publicly on Instagram – a move that has presumably frazzled his brain as he chases that big score.

Not Mintzing Words

This isn’t the first time Mintz has been in trouble with his employer. In fact, he was fired by Barstool in May last year after rapping the song “1st of Tha Month” by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, including the N-word, during a live stream.

On that occasion, Portnoy supported Mintz and disagreed with the decision. In August 2023, Penn concluded that Barstool and Portnoy were dangerous liabilities, and sold the company back to Portnoy for $1, having acquired it for around $550 million six months prior. That left Portnoy very, very rich and free to rehire Mintz.

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BREAKING: Just as we were about to publish, Mintz busted the tournament in eighth place for $14,600.

“I ain’t happy,” he tweeted, adding that he was getting straight on a plane to Chicago.