Josh Reichard wins his 7th gold ring and the Casino Championship at Horseshoe Council Bluffs.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (April 13, 2017) – Josh Reichard is the World Series of Poker’s most recent Casino Championship winner. He won the Casino Championship title at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs series. He won a gold ring during the series to become the seventh player in Circuit history to win seven career WSOP Circuit gold rings. He also reached the final tables in two other events to help propel him to the top spot on the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino Championship leaderboard. Reichard was near the top of the leaderboard for much of the series, but needed a strong finish in the final event to win the title.
Reichard’s first cash of the series came in Event #3: $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry. He defeated a 646-player field to earn his seventh career gold ring and the top prize of $39,731. It was the largest cash of Reichard’s WSOP career.
A few days later, Reichard scored his second cash and final table of the series. He made a deep run in the series’ six max event and finished in 3rd place for $7,130. The two final table finishes netted him 80 points for the series and the lead in the Casino Championship.
His lead did not last long though. He was passed by Maxwell Young in the standings just two days later after Young finished in 8th place in the Monster Stack event. It was Young’s third final table of the series. He had already finished runner-up to Reichard in Event #3 and in 4th place in Event #5: $365 No-Limit Hold’em. The three final tables earned Young 82.5 points on the series, 2.5 more than Reichard had at the time. Fortunately for both players, they had both earned enough points on the season to fall back on an at-large bid to the Global Casino Championship if they failed to earn an automatic bid through winning the Casino Championship.
Reichard and Young were dueling for the lead, but a third player joined the race one event before the start of the series’ Main Event. Charlie Nguyen finished in 3rd place in Event #9 for his second final table of the series. He was tied with Reichard at 80 points after the cash. Both players had one win and one 3rd place finish.
All three players played in the Main Event, but Nguyen was the only who cashed. He finished in 22nd place to earn five points and take the lead in the Casino Championship with 85 points total.
The last event of the series was Event #12: $365 No-Limit Hold’em (30-minute levels). It was a one-day event and would end up deciding the winner of the Casino Championship. Both Reichard and Young made deep runs in the event. Young finished in 17th place for a min-cash. He earned 2.5 more points and passed Nguyen for the lead. Both players had 85 points, but Young owned the lead for owning the tiebreaker, which was series total tournament earnings. Young needed Reichard to bust in 16th or 15th place for him to hold onto his lead. Reichard clinched the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino Championship once the field was reduced to 14 players and he was still in tournament. He went on to reach his third final table of the series and ended up finishing in 4th place for $4,331. Reichard finished the series with 107.5 points.
Reichard will be joined by the series’ Main Event winner Maurice Hawkins at the 2017 Global Casino Championship to compete for a share of the $1 million minimum prizepool and a WSOP gold bracelet. Also joining Reichard will be Young and Nguyen. Both players are in the top five of the season standings with only three more Circuit series’ to go this season. The top 50 season point earners will all earn a free Global Casino Championship seat.
Reichard’s Horseshoe Council Bluffs cashes:
Event #3 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry – 646 entries – 1st place for $39,731
Event #6 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed – 198 entries – 3rd place for $7,130
Event #12 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em (30-minutes levels) – 164 entries – 4th place for $4,331