Lost amid the start of the 2024 World Series of Poker (seriously, World Poker Tour…have you not learned by now to NOT hold these things right before the WSOP?) was the fact that the WPT finished off some of their delayed final tables from earlier this year. One of those final tables was the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, which began earlier in May and was completed on Wednesday night. After coming to the final table second in chips, Josh Reichard broke through and captured his first major title, defeating Landon Tice on the way to the nearly million-dollar payday.
Dylan Smith Starts with the Lead…
The six men vying for the title were back on the felt in the HyperX Sports Arena, ready to conclude what they left off a month previous. Dylan Smith was out in front with a sizeable 28.4 million chip stack, but Reichard was in a strong position with his 20.575 million stack. Three players were tightly bunched together – Tice (13.7 million), Alex Queen (13.45 million), and Jesse Lonis (12.35 million) – while Aaron Kupin (4.925 million) brought up the rear.
As the short stack, Kupin tried to stay in the game, and he did…for about a dozen hands. On Hand 14, Kupin would pop the action to 550K, and Smith challenged him with a three-bet to 1.2 million. Kupin considered the situation and decided this was the time, pushing all in for 4.6 million in chips. Smith wasted no time making the call, slapping a pair of Kings on the table, while Kupin could only muster a pair of tens. The board brought absolutely no drama, keeping Smith in the lead, and once the river ran dry Kupin was out in sixth place.
There were no departures for the next forty-plus hands, but the lead shifted around the table. Reichard held the lead for a spell, as did Queen, and Smith was hovering around the top of the standings. It was going to take a big collision to break the logjam and, once it came, it also shifted the course of the tournament.
After a raise from Reichard, Smith would move all in for a substantial amount and Reichard made the call. Reichard turned up an A-Q, which paled in comparison to Smith’s A-K, and the K-Q-9 flop nailed each man. A deuce on the turn and a trey on the river did not seem to change anything – until Reichard’s A♣ came into play on the four-club board. Smith went from the top of the standings to on the rail that quickly on Hand 93, earning the fifth-place prize and lamenting his unfortunate luck.
Reichard Plays Power Game
Stacked with 50.9 million chips, Josh Reichard proceeded to pound on his other three tablemates. Although Lonis would get a major boost to his stack in knocking out Queen in fourth place and doubling through Reichard, Lonis would hand a stack of those chips to Tice in doubling him up when Tice found pocket Aces at just the right time against Lonis’ K-Q. Once Reichard took out Lonis in third place, his Big Slick standing strong over Lonis’ A-8, he held a six million chip lead over Tice going to heads-up action.
Tice never found the traction in the heads-up match. It would take fifteen hands for Reichard to whittle the chips out of Tice’s grasp, but he did it stylishly. After limping in preflop, Reichard saw Tice check to see a 7-5-4 flop. Tice would check-call a two million bet from Reichard and, after a Jack on the turn, check-call a five million chip bet. A four paired the board, bringing another check from Tice and an all-in move from Reichard.
Tice thought he had played the hand perfectly. He immediately made the call, turning up a 7-6 for a rivered two pair (and the missed open-ended straight draw), but Reichard had him marked. Reichard showed down his pocket pair of Kings for a better two pair, Kings over fours, to take home the 2024 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown title.
1. Josh Reichard, $839,300
2. Landon Tice, $550,000
3. Jesse Lonis, $410,000
4. Alex Queen, $305,000
5. Dylan Smith, $230,000
6. Aaron Kupin, $176,000
(Photo courtesy of World Poker Tour)
