Joshua Reichard Wins World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown

Joshua Reichard has been a fixture on the mid-major poker tournament circuit for over a decade, and in that time has established himself as one of the top players at that level. The Janesville, Wisconsin resident has accumulated 15 World Series of Poker Circuit rings, putting him in a tie for the third most titles in the history of that tour.

While Reichard had cashed for millions of dollars across more than 230 in-the-money finishes, he was lacking a marquee win in a major tournament. The average buy-in of his 22 recorded titles sat at just $811.

Reichard’s big breakthrough finally came in the 2024 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown no-limit hold’em main event. Reichard topped a field of 1,869 entries in the $3,500 buy-in tournament to earn his first WPT title and a career-high payday of $839,300.

“All of my titles are minor league titles, but this is a major league title," Reichard told WPT reporters after coming out on top. “It feels good to finally breakthrough and have one of this magnitude.”

Reichard now sits with nearly $4 million in recorded earnings, with 23 career titles to his name.

This victory also awarded Reichard 1,620 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his first title and third final-table finish of 2024. With 2,090 total points, he now sits just outside the top 50 in the POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

This tournament began back on Apr. 19 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in South Florida. The 1,869-entry field drawn over two starting flights built a prize pool of $5,980,800 that was split amongst the top 234 finishers. After three more days of action, the sea of entrants was narrowed down to just six contenders, with Dylan Smith leading and Reichard sitting in second chip position.

It took just a few orbits for the first elimination to take place. Aaron Kupin raised from under the gun and then four-bet shoved over Smith’s cutoff three-bet with pocket tens. Smith snap-called with pocket kings and held to narrow the field to five. Kupin earned $176,000 as the sixth-place finisher, the largest payday yet for the Boca Raton, Florida resident.

It took several hours before the next knockout was made. Smith had slid out of the lead as five-handed play continued. He then lost a big pot against Reichard, who moved all-in over the top of a Smith check-raise on the river. Smith released, but the damage was done. After that hand, he was left as the short stack. He soon got all-in with A-K leading the A-Q of Reichard, but the board brought four clubs to go with Reichard’s A. Smith earned $230,000 as the fifth-place finisher. He now has more than $2.3 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name.

Reichard entered four-handed play with more than half of the chips in play in his stack. He was involved in the next key clash, which saw a three-way all-in between him, Alex Queen, and two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis. Lonis held A-K, while both Reichard and Queen had A-Q. Lonis dragged the pot with top pair of kings and an ace kicker, eliminating Queen in the process. The reigning Borgata Winter Poker Open main event winner earned $305,000 as the fourth-place finisher. He also climbed to 31st place in the POY race.

Lonis fell back to the short stack during three-handed play when his K-Q lost a big preflop confrontation against the pocket aces of Landon Tice. Lonis eventually got his last 15 big blinds in with A-8, three-bet shoving over Reichard’s button min-raise. Reichard called with A-K and held to send Lonis to the rail in third place. This was the 13th final-table finish of the year for Lonis, with two titles won and more than $2 million in POY earnings accrued along the way. He now sits in second place in the POY standings.

Heads-up play began with Reichard holding 49,600,000 to Tice’s 43,800,000. It didn’t take long for him to stretch that lead and then close out the win. On the 16th hand of their clash, Reichard limped in for 1,000,000 with KK from the button and Tice checked his option with 76. The flop came down 754 and Tice check-called a bet of 2,000,000 with his pair and straight draw. The J on the turn drew another check from Tice. Reichard fired 5,000,000 with his overpair and Tice called.

The 4 completed the board and Tice knuckled. Reichard moved all-in and Tice made the call for his last 9,400,000. Reichard’s pocket kings were enough to earn him the pot, bringing this event to a close.

Tice walked away with a career-best score of $550,000. The Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian champion and Only Friends podcast co-host now has more than $1.6 million in career tournament earnings after this deep run. He is now set to square off against Jeremy Becker in a widely-discussed bet that will run during the WSOP.

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

Photo credits: World Poker Tour / Enrique Malfavon.

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