Josh Reichard made one of the gutsiest decisions of the 2025 World Series of Poker so far, calling for his tournament life with nothing but ace-high on the stone money bubble of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.
Thankfully for Reichard, the ace-high was good, and he sailed through the bubble, which burst shortly after following the eliminations of Marco Dickner, Sachin Joshi, and Matthew Frankland. The latter earned a $30,000 package to the $25,000 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event in the Bahamas, which boasts a record-setting $60 million guarantee.
Already a 16-time WSOP Circuit ring winner and reigning MSPT Heart Poker Champion, Reichard came into the Main Event on a serious heater. He’d cashed in nine WSOP events this summer, including a third-place finish worth $702,360 in the controversial Millionaire Maker.
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On the stone bubble where the blinds were 4,000/8,000, Reichard open-raised to 16,000 from early position. Thi Xoa Nguyen flatted in the hijack, and they went heads up to a 5♣2♥10♠ flop. Reichard continued with a bet of 18,000, which Nguyen called.
Reichard slowed down on the 6♦ turn, checking it over to Nguyen. Nguyen took the initiative with a bet of 50,000, and Reichard called.
After Reichard checked the 6♣ river as well, Nguyen moved all in. Reichard's stack of 200,000 was covered, and he called off for his tournament life.
“It was a spot where most people are more sane than me and wouldn’t have put their money in”
After the cameras had arrived, Reichard tabled A♠4♠ for just ace-high. Nguyen could only show 9♣7♣ for nine-high, however, and Reichard doubled up to 588,000 through his hero-call.
Both players were still in after the second break of the day, with Reichard climbing to 1.32 million and Nguyen rebounding to 1.2 million.
“It was a spot where most people are more sane than me and wouldn’t have put their money in,” Reichard admitted.
“So it was a good play by her. I have to have some respect for her—she’s capable of bluffing in that spot, and I felt she was. It’s a little suicidal by me, but I just always trust my reads, trust my instincts, and I thought I had the best hand.”
“My game is all instincts and reads"
According to Reichard, it was the turn where he felt he might've had to go with his hand. “That’s when I felt like she was probably going to be all in on a lot of rivers,” he said.
“I would’ve had to fold if the board completed some straights that I didn’t have, but I got lucky the river was a card that really condensed her range into either really strong hands or not. And I just felt like I had the best hand.”
“I’m a very lucky guy,” he said. “My game is all instincts and reads, like I talked about. So when you’re doing well and confident, it’s a lot easier to trust yourself in these spots. That’s probably helped me, along with running hot and being here. Everything’s going well.”
Asked how deep he thinks he can go in the Main Event, Reichard had some high hopes.
“In my mind I'd like to hope that I can go all the way” he said. “Like it's a really huge field, tough players, hard to navigate, but I like to think optimistically. I think it's good to view things from a positive light and, I'm always hoping for the best."
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game.
Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
