He’s finally done it.
One of the most accomplished mid-stakes no-limit hold‘em players on the planet, with 17 WSOP Circuit rings, a WPT title, a spot in the MSPT Hall of Fame, and countless other accolades and victories.
And now Josh Reichard finally has a World Series of Poker bracelet, after winning the WSOP $2,500 No-Limit Hold‘em event on Wednesday night.
“It feels great. It’s a weight lifted for sure. For a long time, I never even got close, then I started getting close more and more often, and then finally it happened, so here we are.”
Reichard had already come agonizingly near to a win this summer, with third-place finishes in both the $600 Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold‘em mix and $10,000 Mystery Bounty events. But those results didn’t bring him down. He felt like his time was coming.
“100 percent encouraging, 0 percent frustrating. I’m a competitor, I like to win, but I understand this is poker. We lose almost always; winning is very hard. I’m an optimist, but I’m a realist, and I know these kinds of things are not easy to do.”
What a rail!
Reichard’s win for $555,198 and the bracelet came over 1,736 entries, which was almost the number of family and friends on easily the most rambunctious rail of the summer, who were as excited for his win as he was, if not more so.
“That’s the best part, better than anything else is these guys. Everybody caring about me and being here to support me, they make it happen, and they make it awesome.”
When Reichard called runner-up Caleb Harris’ river jam with a winning straight against his opponent’s bluffed ace-high, his rail erupted, and a wave of relief rolled over the champion.
He embraced and kissed his wife, Ashley, then circled the rail, high-fiving and hugging his many supporters, before sitting down to hold that precious piece of WSOP hardware for the first time in a moment he won’t soon forget.
“It felt great. Satisfying, gratifying. I’ve tried my whole adult life to do that, so it feels good.”
Next up, POY?
With his win in this event to go with those third-place finishes, Reichard is now unofficially second in the race for WSOP Player of the Year with 2,261 points, trailing only leader Alex Foxen.
While he says he’ll try to make a run at it, he won’t be going out of his comfort zone and firing mixed game events that he’s not versed in.
Above all, he again just wanted to thank those both here in the Paris ballroom, and those at home who’ve supported his journey to this long-awaited bracelet.
"My dad, my mom, my grandparents, my brothers, my sister, my nieces and nephews, my family. My in-laws, my wife’s grandma and grandpa are some of my biggest fans, everybody, it’s just awesome."
WSOP $2,500 No-Limit Hold ‘em final table results:
- Josh Reichard (USA) - $555,198
- Caleb Harris (USA) - $370,037
- Spyridon Apartoplou (Greece) - $267,938
- Orson Young (USA) - $196,225
- Myles Mullaly (USA) - $145,365
- John Ciccarelli (USA) - $108,946
- Maher Achour (Switzerland) - $82,616
- Robbie Bull (UK) - $63,399
- Corentin Soulier (France) - $49,241
