Players Present Their Ideal Off Day Plans at WPT bestbet Scramble

As a tournament poker pro, there are plenty of reasons why a major, multi-flight event is appealing. If you can’t get things going on Day 1A, you have at least one additional chance to find a bag and make a deep run in that tournament after traveling a long way.

The ideal scenario is, of course, to fire one entry in the first session, bag up a bunch of chips and then sit back and wait for Day 2 to come around. That outcome does, however, leave an open day on the schedule to be filled, though it is, of course, a luxury and a privilege to have such a “problem.”

At the end of Day 1A Friday night in the WPT bestbet Scramble, several notable players found themselves in such an advantageous spot. And just as there are a virtually endless number of angles at which to form a strategy to attack a poker tournament, the methods by which to best handle an off-day cover a wide spectrum of possibilities as well.

First and foremost, Josh Reichard bagged the biggest stack of all on Friday. After breaking through for his first major title earlier this year in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship, Reichard has given himself a strong head start towards another deep run and a real chance to establish himself as the frontrunner in the WPT Season XXII Player of the Year race.

For now, Reichard’s strong start is affording him a free Saturday to enjoy one of his other favorite pastimes – Wisconsin football.

“I’ll watch a full slate of football – the Badger game, playing Oregon at home,” said Reichard of his initial plans for Saturday. “They’re probably gonna get wrecked, but I’m still gonna watch.”

There was also a thought of staying physically active in between what’ll hopefully be some long days of being sedentary, sitting in place.

“I think I might go play disc golf into the morning – see if anybody wants to do that, and then just get some good food and some rest,” Reichard said.

Michael Wang, who is fresh off a victory at WPT Playground and right back on the hunt in Jacksonville, also bagged chips on Day 1A. He’s been quite active in playing WPT events around the world over the last few years, and so he has quite a bit of experience when it comes to planning out an off day.

Without a bigger buy-in tournament on offer Saturday, Wang foresaw a very low-key day.

“I’ve been to Jacksonville quite a few times, and so I don’t view this as a city where I have to do a lot more exploring,” said Wang. “I’ve been to a few places here already, so most likely, in this specific instance I’ll keep it low key.”

“In general, if I’m in a new city, for example when I went to WPT Korea for the first time, that’s an example of a place where on my days off I was going out exploring a lot. Generally, it just depends on the venue, depends on the city and where I’ve been before.”

Not everyone has the luxury of unwinding and resetting on a down day, though. WPT Global Ambassador Brad Owen could easily be mistaken for a perpetual motion machine on his busiest days, as he pushes out poker content, plays cash games, travels the world and cares for a child who was born earlier this year.

Bagging up chips on Friday night just means a couple more hours to focus on some of his other professional responsibilities on Saturday.

“For me, I’ve got a good amount going on,” said Owen. “So tomorrow, I’m glad to have the day off from tournament play but I’ll still have to work, editing videos. It’s kind of nonstop for me.”

There’s always poker on the mind, though, and Owen was fully prepared to put in a few extra hours at the tables on his “off” day.

“Once I get enough done, I might come and play a little bit of cash, because the cash games are great out here in Jacksonville,” said Owen.

Therein lies one of the biggest questions players who bag on a Day 1A face. Should they keep their mind engaged and focused upon poker, or with the hope of making a deep run, allow the brain to rest ahead of a few challenging days to come.

Reichard made perhaps the most cogent argument for his particular point of view.

“There’s probably not a day in my life where there’s not a poker thought,” said Reichard. “But I’ll be unplugged. I’m not gonna be super intense studying poker or anything like that.”