Wisconsin's Josh Reichard has moved into a tie atop the World Series of Poker's Circuit ring-winner leaderboard by taking down the WSOP Circuit Grand Victoria (Elgin, Illinois) main event for his 14th official ring-event triumph. Reichard's latest Circuit victory pushes him even with Floridian Maurice Hawkins atop the WSOP Circuit's all-time winner's rankings.
Reichard earned $253,073 for his win at the Grand Vic, a newly acquired Caesars Entertainment property that held its first Circuit series last November. Reichard picked up two second-place finishes in the November debut series but at the time came up just short in his quest to match Hawkins's mark.
Reichard's payday moved him into sixth place on the all-time Circuit earnings list with just under $1.2 million. Hawkins remains the leader in that category with nearly $2.2 million in lifetime Circuit earnings.
Reichard doesn't care about records, but...
"To be honest, I really don't care too much about records but this one is kind of cool," Reichard told the WSOP's Anthony Thompson. "On your website, there're pictures of all the record holders and Phil Hellmuth holds the bracelet title and I thought it'd be cool if my picture was next to his because we are two Wisconsin guys. I'm sure Maurice's picture will stay on there right now but that just keeps me motivated to get there one day."
Reichard moved within one Circuit ring of Hawkins's 14 by winning a separate Circuit main event last September at the Circuit Council Bluffs (Iowa) stop. He and Hawkins are two rings ahead of Reichard's close friend Arkansas's Daniel "Duma" Lowery and California's Valentin Vornicu.
The Elgin stop also saw another Circuit veteran, Roland Israelashvili, win his own ninth ring in a prelim event to move into a tie for tenth on the all-time list. Israelashvili also extended his own mark as the Circuit's all-time cashes leader with his 211th such payday.
The top eleven ring winners in WSOP Circuit history are as follows:
1. Maurice Hawkins - 14
1. Joshua Reichard - 14
3. Daniel Lowery - 12
3. Valentin Vornicu - 12
5. Ari Engel - 11
6. Robert Hankins - 10
6. Martin Ryan - 10
6. David Larson - 10
6. Jeffrey Trudeau, Jr. - 10
10. John Holley - 9
10. Roland Israleashvili - 9
Featured image source: WSOP.com
