Parx Casino Poker Tournament 2016

Written By Janice Doughtrey

Parx CasinoThere is no doubt that poker has come a long way. It’s now viewed by many people as a sport that almost anyone can participate in. This is evident not only by the number of tournaments broadcast on television and cable but also by the people that have won huge amounts of money with little background in the game or on the poker circuit. Even more basic reason for its popularity is because Poker is now viewed as a legitimate sport.

Of all the tournaments held around the United States, one of the most popular is the Big Stax series held at the Parx Casino. The Parx Casino is Pennsylvania’s number one casino experience offering not only upscale gaming, entertainment, and amenities, but also superior customer service. Of course, there is also the large numbers of people drawn into the Parx by the Big Stax tournament. These tournaments have become a huge favorite of poker fans worldwide and the latest event, the Big Stax XVI 2016 was no different. The tournaments highlight was the trio of Big Stax XVI 300, Big Stax XVI 500, and Big Stax XVI 1100. These events brought in over 3000 players and generated over $1,500,000.00 in prize money for the tournament.

Even though the Big Stax XVI 1100 provided the biggest payout in the tournament, the real story in this year’s Parx Casino Tournament centered around Kevin Grabel. Kevin made history this year by winning not only the Big Stax XVI 300 1st prize of $78,450.00 but also the Big Stax XVI 500 1st prize of $43,000.00 With these wins Kevin became the very first player to win two back to back titles at the Casino’s Big Stax tournaments. The other amazing statistic is that to win both Big Stax events he outplayed 2,732 other players.

At the start of the Big Stax 300, Kevin Grabel entered the event at the top of the final 10 players. He began strongly by busting Dixie Patel in 10th, Chris Farmer in 9th, and Daniel Conway in 6th. At that point, the table took a dinner break with Kevin leading the final four being Mike Lavenburg, James Labrie, Chris Farmer, and Geno Raman. Play resumed after dinner. When play resumed Raman busted to Grabel and Grabel beat Labrie.

Kevin Grabel then did a head to head play with Lavenburg but in the end, Kevin Grabel won the day as a consequence of a big flop that gave him two pair versus Lavenburg’s kings

After winning the Big Stax XVI 300 ‘s confidence was soaring and Grabel went over to the final table of ten for the Big Stax XVI 500. At the table, Grabel was eighth in the number of chips that he held and was ahead of only two players. When play began, Grabel fought his way up the field passing both Jeff Walker and Charles Dang. Because the number of players had dropped to eight, eight handed play was agreed on by the remaining players. However, the eight-handed play was long and uneventful. Because of this, the final players finally agreed that the top four stacks would be split between the remaining player’s stacks. Grabel was also able to negotiate with the other players that he would get the official title and be the event’s winner.