With just 62 players left at the WPT bestbet Scramble here in Jacksonville, Florida, Josh Reichard found himself in a very familiar position — the top of the chip counts. The Wisconsin native came into Day 2 as the overall chip leader, bagging over 100,000 chips more than his closest competitor.
By our count, Reichard is looking to become just the ninth player to win two WPT titles in a calendar year and the first since Art Papazyan achieved the feat in 2017. The 15-time WSOP Circuit ring winner earned a career-best $839,300 after topping the 1,869-entry field in April’s WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, finishing the job in May at the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas.
Despite this, Reichard, an MSPT Hall of Famer, continues to push himself to keep taking his game to new heights. On the second break of the day, he took the time to speak with PokerOrg.
Congrats on the last 18 months. You’ve had your three biggest scores, winning your first WPT title, nearly winning your first bracelet, and winning the Elgin Circuit Main. What do you attribute to your recent run of huge results?
I mean, I’ve been putting in more volume lately and playing bigger tournaments than in years past. I’ve run good in some big spots, I’m playing well, and I have a lot of confidence. In poker, results tend to snowball like that, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Do you feel like you’re continuing to get better?
Yeah, I think if you’re playing for a living, you should always be getting better. The game is always evolving, so you need to be better than you were a month ago. Otherwise, you’re going to be falling behind the way players are these days.
There’s still a long way to go but you have a chance to become one of a select few to win two WPT titles in a calendar year. What would that mean to you?
You know, that would be awesome. I haven’t even played that many WPTs, so to start off this hot is great. Of course, we’re not in the money yet (46 players) but I like to stay positive and think about things like that happening. I think it’s good to envision these things and hope for the best.
You’re pretty well known for your WSOP Circuit Ring haul. You’re only three behind Ari Engel’s 18 rings. What does the chase mean to you?
You know, one time I said that I don’t care and Maurice (Hawkins) took offense to that. We talked about it and we’re fine now.
No disrespect to the people that care about it but it really doesn’t matter to me. I don’t like a lot of changes that the Circuit has made, so I’m hardly even playing any Circuit stops anymore.
The guys at the top are all really good players. I don’t like my chances to catch them and it’s not a goal of mine.
Have you done anything special with the rings?
For a long time, they were in a drawer, but now I have a trophy case where they’re prominently displayed. You know, actually, I still haven’t received my ring for the 2023 Main Event! I think I have to email Jostens to get the ring, it’s been so long.
To be fair, every time I speak with the casino, they tell me to email them and I guess I’m the worst procrastinator so I still don’t have it. Usually, you just get the rings right there but Jostens customizes Main Event rings so I need to take care of that.
Finally, you’ve already achieved so much in the game of poker. What else do you hope to accomplish so you can die happy?
Obviously, winning a bracelet is the glaring omission on my resume. We’ll keep trying, I’m out there every summer and there should be plenty more opportunities to get it done.
I don’t think anything as far as poker results is going to contribute to whether I die happy or not. But getting a bracelet continues to be my biggest goal at this point.
Photos courtesy of World Poker Tour/Katerina Lukina/Enrique Malfavon
