Bradley Ritschel Runs Away With World Series of Poker Circuit Harvey's Lake Tahoe Main Event Title

Bradley Ritschel entered the final day of the 2023 World Series of Poker Harvey’s Lake Tahoe $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event with a sizable chip lead among the remaining six contenders. It took him just over two hours to convert that advantage into the title, scoring every knockout on his way to securing the WSOP Circuit gold ring and the top prize of $115,740.

“It’s awesome, it’s a dream come true, I never would have imagined first,” he told Poker.org live reporters covering the event after coming out on top.

This was the second-largest live tournament payday yet for the 25-year-old New Jersey resident. His biggest cash remains the $141,000 he earned as the third-place finisher in the 2021 Prime Poker Open at Prime Social Club in Houston.

Ritcschel now has more than $465,000 in total live tournament earnings to his name after this breakthrough victory for his first WSOPC ring.

In addition to the hardware and the money, Ritschel was also awarded 600 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. This was his second title and third final-table finish of the year. With 1,064 total points, he now sits just outside the top 600 in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

After managing the first four knockouts of the day, Ritschel entered heads-up play with a big lead over James Chavanarojrit. While that gap was narrowed somewhat in the early going, Ritschel was still well out in front by the time the final hand of the tournament was dealt.

Ritschel raised with 43 from the button and called a three-bet from Chavanarojrit, who held KK in the big blind. The flop came down J52 and Chavanarojrit led out with his overpair. Ritschel called with his open-ended straight draw and the J paired the board on the turn. Chavanarojrit checked and Ritschel fired a bet of 1,000,000. Chavanarojrit made the call and the 6 on the river completed Ritschel’s straight. Chavanarojrit checked again and Ritschel moved all in. Chavanarojrit thought it over for a couple of minutes before making the call. His overpair was second best, though, and he was sent to the rail with $71,000 for his runner-up showing.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: WSOP.

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