62-Year-Old Accountant Takes Down Final Table Full of Pros
June 21, 2017 (Las Vegas, NV) - Thomas Reynolds is an accountant by trade, but played like a poker professional on Wednesday. The Raleigh, North Carolina native won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the early hours of Thursday morning in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
He defeated a massive 2,020-player field and bested a final table littered with pros to win $292,880.
"It feels kind of unreal to tell you the truth," said Reynolds. "It's something that I've wanted to try and do. This is my first final table, let alone winning the bracelet. It's an amazing feeling."
Reynolds was only one of a couple recreational players at the table, making his accomplishment even tougher than it already was. The final table featured three-time bracelet winner Michael Gathy, two-time Circuit ring winner Eric Blair, successful European pro Vlad Darie, Chris Johnson, and he defeated Miami-based pro James Hughes heads-up.
Reynolds credits his wife, Cindy, with the advice he took to navigate through such a tough final table.
"My wife says 'Be patient, Tom,'" said Reynolds. "I played the right cards and didn't get into too many tough spots. And I'm glad I didn't know there were that many pros. It probably would've put more pressure on me. I knew the guys were good, though."
With a wife and three sons back in Raleigh, he considers himself a family man and a big UNC Tar Heels Fan, where his middle son attends college. Between the time he spends in the office and the time spent with his family, it doesn't leave much time for poker.
Luckily, Cindy is very understanding and let him chase his poker dream of becoming a WSOP champion.
"I love playing poker and my wife is very understanding," said the 62-year-old. "So, she lets me come and play. I told her I don't know how many years I have left, but I wanted to try and do it."
Reynolds plans to stay and play for a little longer before heading back east. But with a huge, six-figure score under his belt, he's looking forward to bigger and better things - the Main Event.
"I'm going to stay for a little while, but then I have to go back for a wedding and a holiday with the family," said Reynolds. "But I'm going to try and come back for the Main Event. Now that I've paid my way in."
The final day of action got cards in the air at noon, with 20 players remaining, but quickly lost 11 players and was down to the final table in under two hours.
It was Johnson at the top of the counts, but Reynolds sat in second chip position at the outset. Reynolds took the chip lead away from Johnson early on after eliminating Joep Raemaekers in ninth place. Raemakers got all in with top pair, but needed to fade the world against Reynolds gutshot straight draw, live overcards and the nut flush draw. Reynolds rivered a better pair to eliminate Jaemakers in ninth place for $23,460.
Chad Eveslage was eliminated on the very next hand by Hughes and the seven players battled for several hours before losing another player. Johnson and Reynolds steadily lost chips, while Reginald Hampton pulled away with the chip lead.
After nearly three hours of playing seven-handed, Johnson, the chip leader at the outset of the final table, fell in seventh. He lost a flip with ace-queen against Hughes' pocket jacks. Hughes continued his upward trend on the very next hand, eliminating Darie in sixth.
Hughes held pocket jacks again and had Darie's pocket sevens in terrible shape. The jacks held up and Darie took home $52,932 for his finish.
With five players left, it was Hughes who took over the chip lead, winning the majority of the pots. He extended his lead by sending Gathy to the rail in fifth. The short-stacked Gathy moved all in with against Hughes' . Hughes flopped an ace to leave Gathy drawing to runners. He didn't get them and the three-time bracelet winner exited the tournament area.
Hughes had a massive chip lead with four players left, but Reynolds eliminated Blair in fourth place and sent Hampton home in third to nearly even things out at the outset of heads-up play against Hughes.
Hughes' started off with a slight chip lead, but the battle had just begun. Over the first hour of heads-up play, Reynolds took the chip lead back and steadily opened up a 3-to-1 chip lead. The big chip lead helped calm Reynolds' nerves, who had very little heads-up experience before the match started.
"At first, I was a little nervous," said Reynolds. "I hadn't played heads-up like that and the speed of it, but I made some missed calls and I think my opponent got a little upset with me. I would call when it was his turn to bet, but I felt like he was a little more nervous than I was."
Hughes was able to double up a few times throughout the match, but Reynolds never relinquished his lead.
"I felt in control at the beginning, but it got tight at the end," said Reynolds. "The one time I doubled him up when I had ten-nine, that was just a loose call. I thought 'I'm running hot, maybe I'll get him.' But after that, I tried to tighten up a little bit. I got cards. That always helps."
After what ended up being a three-hour heads-up match, Reynolds got the last of the chips into the middle with a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw against Hughes' overpair. Reynolds hit the on the river to fill his flush draw and send Hughes back to Miami with a runner-up finish and $180,919.
Relive the action with the live updates
Full Results
Final Table Results:
1st: Thomas Reynolds - $292,880
2nd: James Hughes - $180,919
3rd: Reginald Hampton - $131,061
4th: Eric Blair - $95,899
5th: Michael Gathy - $70,884
6th: Vlad Darie - $52,932
7th: Chris Johnson - $39,937
8th: Chad Eveslage - $30,448
9th: Joep Raemakers - $23,460