Alex Foxen, a professional poker player from the Canada, recently emerged victorious in the PokerGO Cup $26,000 High Roller event. This exclusive tournament, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, attracted a select group of top poker players from around the world.
Foxen’s victory in the event was a testament to his skill and experience as a poker player. He had to outlast a field of 50 players to gain $317,040 and also his first trophy of the year, all of whom were highly skilled and experienced in the game. The tournament featured several high-profile players, including several World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winners and other top-ranked poker pros.
Foxen’s two deep go for this celebration have actually seen him build up $470,040 in revenues as well as 870 POY points just a couple of weeks into the brand-new year. As a result, he has already re-established himself inside the leading 10 in on the POY leaderboard sponsored by Global Poker.
Foxen was also awarded 240 PokerGO Tour points for the win. He now sits in second place in both the PokerGO Cup points race and the overall PGT standings.
This latest deep run marked Foxen’s 55th recorded cash for six figures or more. The 31-year-old poker pro now has more than $27.8 million in lifetime earnings to his name.
This event ran from Jan. 17-18 at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino. Day 1 was scheduled to conclude when just six players remained. Bracelet winner Brian Kim was knocked out by thee-time bracelet Nick Schulman on the bubble. Six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu secured his second cash of the series by finishing eighth ($50,000). Schulman also made the money for the second time in this series, ultimately placing seventh for $62,500.
Day 2 began with Orpen Kisacikoglu out in front and Foxen in third chip position. Bracelet winner Sam Soverel began the day with the shortest stack, and was ultimately sent home in sixth when his A-9 ran into the pocket queens of Cary Katz.
Not long after that, the ever-talkative Sean Perry was knocked out in fifth place when his pocket tens squared off against the pocket jacks of Aram Oganyan. Neither player improved on an ace-high runout and Perry settled for $100,000. This was Perry’s first live cash since last September. Based on table talk from the final table, he has been focusing on sports betting over playing poker in recent months. This latest score increased his tournament earnings to nearly $6.8 million.
A classic coin flip spelled the end of Katz’s run in this event, with his pocket fives unable to outrun the A-J of Oganyan (4th – $125,000). The payday saw Katz’s career earnings grow to nearly $35.9 million, good for 13th place on the all-time money list.
While Kisacikoglu started the final day of this event solidly ahead of the rest of the pack, he gave up much of that lead in the early going. During three-handed play, though, he began to pull away again. He ended up entering heads-up play with a 3:1 chip lead after his A-8 held against the A-7 of Oganyan (3rd – $175,000).
Heads-up was a swingy affair. Foxen battled all the way back to even, and then took a sizable lead of his own. In fact, he had more than a 10:1 chip advantage at one point before Kisacikoglu managed a couple of double ups to remove himself from the danger zone. He eeked into the lead in time for negotiations between the final two about a chop, likely motivated in part by the impending close of registration in the next event on the schedule at the PokerGO Cup. They eventually agreed to redistribute the remaining prize money based on ICM, with Kisacikoglu taking home $345,460 while Foxen earned $317,040. The pair agreed to flip for the title, with Foxen’s Q-J suited holding against the J-6 of Kisacikoglu. The pair then hurried over to the registration window to sign up for event no. 7, the penultimate tournament of the high-stakes festival.
This runner-up finish was the seventh-largest score of Kisacikoglu’s career. It increased his total earnings to nearly $10.7 million.
Here is the final table results of PokerGO Cup $26000 High Roller:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Alex Foxen | $317,040 | 420 | 240 |
2 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | $345,460 | 350 | 158 |
3 | Aram Oganyan | $175,000 | 280 | 105 |
4 | Cary Katz | $125,000 | 210 | 75 |
5 | Sean Perry | $100,000 | 175 | 60 |
6 | Sam Soverel | $75,000 | 140 | 45 |