Alex Foxen and Kristen Bicknell make an award-winning couple. The former finished off 2018 as the GPI Player of the Year, while his girlfriend defended her crown as Female POY.
Both pros had a career year. Bicknell ran away from the competition early in 2018, while her boyfriend needed a runner-up finish in the Super High Roller Bowl to hold off Stephen Chidwick, David Peters, and Justin Bonomo.
Surprise Champion
Alex Foxen has been a successful poker player (online and live) for years. In 2017, he won over $1.7 million in live tournaments. So, it’s not like he just came out of nowhere last year to win a bunch of money. But few anticipated the New York native would dominate like he did in 2018. Eric Danis, President of the Global Poker Index, gave him some props.
A MASSIVE congratulations @WAFoxen !!!! 2018 GPI Player of the Year … also USA and Americas PoY as well – what an amazing season, congrats again! https://t.co/FgnbRQtdYD
— Eric Danis (@EricDanisPoker) January 2, 2019
Foxen’s breakout year was worth $6.6 million cashes, highlighted by a runner-up finish in the Super High Roller Bowl ($2.1 million). He also won five tournaments, most notably the $25,000 High Roller at the L.A. Poker Classic ($424,000).
The SHRB cash was good for 227 POY points. With Chidwick, Peters, and Bonomo within 200 points of the lead heading into the SHRB, Foxen either needed a cash or for his competitors to bust short of the money.
Bonomo and Peters went home empty-handed while Chidwick finished in third place ($1.5 million), receiving 199 POY points, but it wasn’t enough.
Final 2018 GPI Player of the Year Standings
- Alex Foxen (USA) 4,095 points
- Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) 3,787
- David Peters (USA) 3,776
- Justin Bonomo (USA) 3,763
- Jake Schindler (USA) 3,716
Failing to ship GPI POY was about the only thing Bonomo didn’t win in 2018. He finished the year with a record $25 million in cashes. But it wasn’t enough for POY simply because many of his cashes came in events that had less than 32 players, a requirement to earn POY points.
Still, his performance last year will go down in poker history. Not only did he set a record for highest tournament earnings, but he also leapfrogged Daniel Negreanu to become poker’s all-time winningest player ($43.4 million).
Top Woman in Poker?
Foxen’s girlfriend Kristen Bicknell also had a memorable year. After winning GPI Female Player of the Year in 2017, she nearly doubled her career winnings to $2.3 million last year.
The Partypoker pro beat out Maria Constanza Lampropulos by over 600 points to defend her award. Her top performance in 2018 was an Asia Pacific Tour High Roller title ($279,000) in March.
She also had a controversial runner-up finish in a Mid-States Poker Tour in Las Vegas this past summer ($200,000). In that infamous tournament, Bicknell and Foxen were three-handed against Kahle Burns who declined chopping with the poker power couple.
Burns ended up in third, but some viewers accused the couple of collusion. Many felt they took it easy against each other to ensure they finished first and second. However, it’s all just speculation.
