Niveau 44
: Blinds 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
Bradley Gafford
Josh Reichard bet for 16,000,000 from the button. Bradley Gafford defended from the big blind.
The flop came 10♥6♠3♥ and Gafford was quick to check to Reichard. He led out for 12,000,000 and was quickly raised to 36,000,000. Reichard jammed all in and was snap-called by Gafford.
Bradley Gafford: Q♦10♠
Josh Reichard: 10♦2♠
The board completed 7♦5♣ for Gafford to scoop the pot and a commanding chip lead.
Niveau 44
: Blinds 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
Joshua Reichard
Bradley Gafford jammed all in from the small blind. Josh Reichard called for his tournament life from the big blind as both players revealed their hands.
Josh Reichard: A♠9♣
Bradley Gafford: 4♦3♥
The board ran out J♥J♣6♥3♣5♠ for Gafford to eliminate Reichard in second place.
Niveau 44
: Blinds 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
Bradley Gafford
Start of the day low-stack Bradley Gafford has won Event #74 $1,000 Mini Main Event No Limit Hold’em for $549,555. Gafford from San Diego, California came into the day with only six big blinds and made the biggest comeback since Lazarus to take the top prize and the coveted World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet.
Gafford, who outlasted 5,257 players over three days of play, secured their biggest recorded cash despite coming into Day 3 with only six big blinds. In the first significant hand of the day, Gafford doubled up against Jennifer Abad when his pocket threes bested Abad’s ace-king.
Bradley Gafford
The power shift came when Gafford doubled through Josh Reichard twice in the space of three hands. Firstly, Gafford flopped quad threes, then shortly after his pair of aces beat Reichard’s kings which spearheaded a chain of momentum that Gafford did not surrender.
The winning moment was when Gafford in the small blind forced Reichard all in with only three big blinds. Gafford hit a three on the turn to make two pair to knockout Reichard to win their first-ever bracelet.
Event #74: $1,000 Mini Main Event Final Table Results
Place
Winner
Country
Prize
1
Bradley Gafford
United States
$549,555
2
Josh Reichard
United States
$339,646
3
Jeremy Oleon
France
$255,215
4
Jennifer Abad
United States
$193,103
5
Oliver Berens
United States
$147,129
Winners Reaction
PokerNews asked Gafford if he believed he could win the bracelet despite being short-stacked coming into the final day. “I knew that there would be a possibility if I could win the first flip of the day. I just thought everything would go my way today and it did!”
Gafford was asked how it felt to win his first bracelet. “It has come way earlier than I thought, and I haven’t really processed it yet and I am sure there will be a lot of deeper thinking over the next couple of days.”
And finally, Gafford was asked if he was planning on jumping into the Main Event. “Absolutely I was planning on playing tomorrow (Day 1c) but we will see what happens tonight and I might jump in the final flight (Day 1d).
Day 3 Action
It looked like Reichard would steamroll his opponents throughout the two hours of play. Starting the day fourth in chips Reichard soon amassed a huge chip lead thanks to an aggressive style of play. He knocked out Oliver Berens after flopping a set of tens against their ace-queen.
Jennifer Abad had the most eccentric rail at the final table, one member of her squad was giving out t-shirts with ‘Jenny for the Mini’ printed on them and tried to coax members of her rivals’ rails to join them. Unfortunately, this exuberance didn’t help Abad out who finished fourth after getting it in with king-jack and running into Reichard’s ace-high which held.
Josh Reichard
The overnight chip leader Jeremy Oleon could not get going on the final day. The Frenchman struggled to make any hands and was knocked out in third place after Reichard made a flush against their pair of kings.
Despite knocking out Berens, Abad, and Oleon, Reichard could not find the knockout moment on Gafford, and the start-of-day short-stack was not going to be denied their first WSOP Gold Bracelet.
Stick with PokerNews for more ongoing coverage of the 2023 World Series of Poker
