Josh Reichard has gotten pretty good at posing for winner photos at the end of a tournament. He sits second on the all-time WSOP Circuit ring leaderboard with 14 wins and has seven other victories since 2013. Ten days ago, he had to shake Brad Gafford’s hand at the end of the World Series of Poker Mini Main Event and watch him pose for the photos with the WSOP bracelet.
“A lot of people said to me ‘oh you must be so disappointed’ and I’m just like ‘Why would I be disappointed?’ It’s a great result. I was super lucky to get through that many people to begin with,” Reichard said. “I just feel like I’ll be back in that situation in the future. So the bracelet slipped away, but I feel like I’ll have another opportunity – probably not in 5,000-person field, but I play some of the smaller-field stuff. I think I’ll be back.”
Of Reichard’s 14 WSOPC rings, two were of the Main Event variety with $1,700 buy-ins while the others were either $365 or $400. Currently, Reichard is in the midst of Day 2 of the World Poker Tour EveryOne for One Drop. The $10,500 buy-in event has a $16 million prize pool and brought out some of the best players in the world. It’s a bit of a different adventure for Reichard, and he’s well aware that he can’t play it like a WSOPC event.
“It’s completely different. The Circuit stuff, is a different environment. Some of the Series stuff is similar – the smaller buy-in stuff – but the bigger buy-in stuff at the Series, I have to play a completely different style,” Reichard said. “In these fields I have to just play a little more standard, not get out of the box too much, which is a hard transition to make because I’m so used to playing such an exploitative style.”
The runner-up finish in the Mini Main was the highlight of an eight-cash World Series for Reichard that saw him take home a career-best $339,646 score. Battling for the $2.56M first place prize is really just icing on the cake.
“It’s been good. I’ve been running pretty good, lucky enough to get enough chips in a lot of tournaments and make some runs. It’s been really fun. I had so many people on the rail for that runner-up finish. It’s the most fun tournament experience I’ve had, so it’s been a great summer.”
In Mid-April, Reichard won that 14th ring in the WSOPC Main Event at Grand Victoria Casino just outside of Chicago. It moved him into a tie at the time with Maurice Hawkins for most WSOPC rings. A month later, Hawkins, moved up a notch with his 15th WSOPC title. In his interview afterwards, Hawkins seemed to call out Reichard.
“Put some respect on my name! I am Maurice Hawkins, that’s who I am. if you are going to call me out go ahead and say it. I am not a fan of the passive aggressive fake humble act, acting like you don’t care about the numbers when you clearly do,” Hawkins told WSOP.com.
Reichard doesn’t exactly see it as a rivalry, and is quick to point out some differences between himself and Hawkins.
“That ring race is more blown up by people other than me, than what it is in my mind,” Reichard said about his competitive side only coming out at the table. “He’s very competitive and so am I, but I’m competitive when I sit at a table and play against these people in this tournament. I want to win this tournament.”
Even though he admits he’s going to be seeking out tournaments with a higher buy-in moving forward, it certainly seems like WSOP Circuit regulars in the Midwest will have to continue to contend with Reichard.
“I love poker, I’ll keep playing the small stuff. I stay close to home as much as I can and there’s really good stuff in the Midwest; MSPT runs great stuff there,” Reichard said. “I’ve been starting to go to Florida more which has some of the bigger buy-in stuff and the more of it I play the more comfortable I get. I feel pretty good playing in it, don’t feel out of my element. The more I play, I feel more in my element.”