Stephen Chidwick Archives - Page 2 of 2

You get the impression that Stephen Chidwick rocks up to these things, pulls out a thermos full of Bovril, takes his beef paste sandwiches from his Spongebob Squarepants lunchbox, loosens his slippers, and then chills for the next few days {I didn’t include a pipe in that scene as that would be morally reprehensible}.

The British-pro took down Event #7: £25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) at the British Poker Open (BPO), his fourth ITM finish in seven events. Chidwick beat a small field of 15-entrants and now sits second in the overall leaderboard behind Sam Soverel, who finished third.

The Hendon Mob would have you believe that Chidwick has spent the past 12-months in a PLO clan running four-card combo hands through some magical piece of software. After all, in the summer he won the $25,000 PLO event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and a $25,000 PLO at the US Poker Open.

The truth is far simpler.

“I’d like to say that I’ve figured out how to play tournament PLO,” he said, “But honestly, I’ve been running very good. These last three 25k PLOs, I’ve registered at the last minute and run well. That’s kind of what it takes.”

Let’s check out that run good.

Day 2 Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Stephen Chidwick – 618,000

Seat 2: Sam Soverel – 849,000

Seat 3: George Wolff – 650,000

Seat 4: Ben Tollerene – 133,000

The Action

Four of the remaining five players were in line to earn enough money to open up a mushroom farm, and one would see nothing but a mushroom cloud. It turned out to be Ben Tollerene.

The man who climbed to the zenith of online poker, lost successive hands to Stephen Chidwick to fall into the red zone. Then he quadrupled up after his AcKd7d2s found an ace on the river to beat the Tc9c8h6h of Sam Soverel after the BPO leader had bet both Stephen Chidwick and George Wolff out of the pot on the flop.

Tollerene doubled again, this time through George Wolff, turning a 23% shot into a 100% sure thing flopping trip jacks when all-in pre-flop against the AsAdKsKc of the Event #2 winner.

Then Tollerene’s Fortune Ferrari ran out of gas.

Wolff opened to 48,000 holding QsQcTh4d, and Tollerene made the call with KsQd5s3c. The dealer placed the Qh7h6c onto the flop, and Tollerene moved all-in with top pair and a gutshot; Wolff called with top set. The fours remained hidden in the deck like eunuchs at naked saunas, and the dealer stepped up to christen Tollerene “Bubble Boy.”

Then we lost the runaway leader.

Wolff opened to 48,000, holding AdQhTd8h, and Soverel made the call with QcTc9c7c. The dealer flung the Jc4c2s out of the deck to hand Soverel a flush draw. Wolff bet 30,000 with his ace-high and Soverel called. The turn was the 3h, Wolff checked, Soverel bet 80,000, and Wolff called with only ace-high and scooped after the Jh hit the river.

Then Soverel moved all-in holding AcQh5d3c, and Wolff called with AsQx8s6h and a hatchet to cut the Poker Central darling from the lineup.

Heads-Up

George Wolff – 1,601,000

Stephen Chidwick – 649,000

Wolff had all of the chips.

In the time it takes to make a cup of tea, and lose two digestives, Chidwick had the chip lead.

Wolff opened the action for 60,000, Chidwick three-bet to 180,000 holding AsAd5c3d, and Wolff made the call with AcQc6c5d. The dealer placed 8c8s6d onto the flop, Wolff bet 325,000 with his two pair hand, and Chidwick moved all-in with his better two-pair hand; Wolff called. The Ts and 2d completed the action, and Chidwick was in charge, for a bit.

Wolff retook the chip lead after winning a succession of fair to middling pots.

Then Chidwick used all of his spidey senses to hammer several nails into Wolff’s coffin when the latter had moved all-in holding AdKc6c5d on a board of Qs9s3dJs8d for a bag of melted ice. Chidwick held Ks8s6h5c for the king-high flush.

Then it was all-over.

After falling as low as three bigs, Wolff moved all-in holding Qh9c5c3c, and Chidwick called and won with Ac8d7h4c, for the 19th live tournament victory of his career.

ITM Results

1. Stephen Chidwick – £202,500

2. George Wolff – £112,500

3. Sam Soverel – £60,000

British Poker Open Championship Standings

1. Sam Soverel – £561,200 (580 Points)

2. Stephen Chidwick – £343,500 (420)

3. George Wolff – £232,500 (340)

4. Sam Greenwood – £147,200 (260)

5. Robert Flink – £108,800 (240)

6. Sergi Reixach – £253,000 (200)

7. Elio Fox – £156,000 (200)

8. Paul Newey – £156,400 (200)

9. Luc Greenwood – £119,600 (200)

10. Rainer Kempe – £196,600 (140)

Remaining Events

Event #8: £25,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Event #9: £50,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Event #10: £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em

To win something once is a beautiful thing indeed. To win it again, now you’re talking some next level nonsense, right there.

Take the English Premier League (EPL) for example. Not since 2008/9 has a team defended the title.

Poker is even more complicated given the enormous fields that the giants of the live tournament genre seem to churn out these days. Even in the higher echelons of poker power, with smaller fields, you’re still more likely to see Daniel Negreanu staying at the Holiday Inn than a successful title defence.

Take the US Poker Open, for example.

Stephen Chidwick won the inaugural series back in 2018, making five final tables and winning two events. If the man leading the All-Time Money Earned list in the UK wants to repeat that feat, then he has to collect more money than anyone else throughout the ten series follow-up.

When you consider how much his opponents would have improved in the past 12-months, the hunger of those players, and the possibility that personal motivation levels may have dropped a tad after becoming the 2018 champion – it’s a Jack and the Beanstalk tall order.

No-one has told Chidwick.

The US Poker Open Champion has taken down Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The man from Deal in the UK who loves the cadence of the PokerGo Studios, calling it the ‘best place to play poker anywhere in the world,’ surmounted a field of 90-entrants to collect the $216,000 first prize, including beating an in-form Sean Winter in the process.

Let’s see how it went down.

Day 1 consisted of 20-levels, and by the time the players were reaching for their toothbrushes, Joseph Cheong was barking and howling at the top of the chip counts with only six players remaining.

It was a final table rammed with talent from the USA, with only Chidwick spoiling the perfect picture, and it also contained more Joseph’s than the manuscript of the Technicoloured Dreamcoat.

Final Table Seat Draw

1. Stephen Chidwick – 1,950,000 (200 points)

2. Sean Winter – 1,190,000 (140 points)

3. Joseph Cheong – 2,885,000 (100 points)

4. Joseph Cappello – 1,380,000 (80 points)

5. Lazaro Hernandez – 2,195,000 (60 points)

6. Joseph Orsino – 1,635,000 (40 points)

The first player to leave without donning his final photo bow tie was Joseph Orsino. With blinds at 30k/60k/60k, Joseph Cheong opened to 175,000 with AcTh from the cutoff, and Orsino defended the big blind holding QdTc. When Orsino saw the AdQsTs flop, we imagine he was a tad excited. Such a shame then, that Cheong had flopped a stronger two pairs. The pair got it in, and the Floridian was first out, albeit with a personal best ITM finish of $54,000 decorating his Hendon Mob page.

Sean Winter looked likely to fall next when Lazaro Hernandez took chunks, leaving him with six big blinds, but he was able to double up through Stephen Chidwick A6dd>T7o. Hernandez wasn’t as fortunate. Soon after giving Winter a hangover, he ran into a champion in inspired mood.

With blinds at 40k/80k/80k Hernandez limped from the button holding A9dd, Chidwick raised to 325,000 from the small blind holding T9hh, the big blind folded, Hernandez raised to 650,000, and Chidwick called. The dealer cut 8h7c6c out of the deck to give Chidwick the nuts, and Hernandez ace high with an open-ended straight draw. The pair got it in, and after a worthless turn and river, Hernandez fell to 9 big blinds, which Chidwick gobbled up several hands later when AJ beat AT all-in pre-flop. Like Orsino before him, the $72,000 that Hernandez banked for his fifth-place finish was also a personal best.

Winter continued his Lazarus impression by doubling through Chidwick a second time when pocket tens beat the pretty looking 54dd, but at the end of Level 23, Chidwick still held a big lead.

Chip Counts

1. Stephen Chidwick – 6,765,000

2. Joseph Cappello – 1,570,000

3. Joseph Cheong – 1,570,000

4. Sean Winter – 1,350,000

After a brief break, Winter doubled through Cheong KQ>KT, and Cheong doubled through Cappello AQ>77 after flopping an ace and a queen to leave Cappello with two big blinds. Cappello survived his first all-in when he found pocket tens to double through the KJo of Chidwick, but he wasn’t so lucky when he moved all-in holding A2, only for Chidwick to wake up with A4 and a call. The split pot possibilities evaporated on the flop when Chidwick picked up a pair of fours. The former World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Main Event Champion was out in fourth.

Winter maintained his miraculous run of evading the razor blade after hitting a miracle river card in a chaotic hand against Chidwick. Winter was in beautiful shape when he got it in with pocket kings against the Q9hh of Chidwick only for the defending champion to turn a two pair hand; then with one card to go, the board paired to give Winter a stronger two pair hand, and a great chance of winning the event.

Cheong then doubled through Chidwick when moving all-in on the flop with a flush draw versus a pair of sevens, and the draw got there on the turn, only for Chidwick to claw them all back and more when his AK beat the A2hh of Cheong when all-in pre-flop.

The heads-up encounter between Chidwick and Winter began with Chidwick holding a 2:1 chip lead, and it lasted as long as a politician telling the truth. Chidwick limped with 75dd and then called after Winter raised to 650,000 holding pocket eights. The dealer placed Ks9s6c onto the flop to give Chidwick a gutshot, and he called after Winter c-bet to 375,000. Then the card to end all competitions arrived on the turn in the shape of the 8s. Winter had a set, and Chidwick had a straight. The pair got it in, and the defending champion had begun the defence of his title with the exuberance of a poor man looking forward to his Christmas bonus.

Final Table Results

1. Stephen Chidwick – $216,000

2. Sean Winter – $157,500

3. Joseph Cheong – $112,500

4. Joseph Cappello – $90,000

5. Lazaro Hernandez – $72,000

6. Joseph Orsino – $54,000

Other veterans of the high roller scene that made money include Jake Schindler (9th), Bryn Kenney (10th) and Erik Seidel (13th).

Often, when writing about poker, an image of the little old woman who lived in a shoe pops into my head. She had so many children she didn’t know what to do. And here I am writing about poker, a game that builds beautiful butterflies, while the rest never make it out of the chrysalis, drowning in their juices.
Another day.
Another article.
The little old woman who lived in the shoe is here again. I can see her fragility, and I can hear the echoes of her screams. The blinkers lost, the earplugs not to be found.
It’s the final day of the Super High Roller Bowl V (SHRB). A $300,000 buy-in, a $10m prize pool, and a £3.67m first prize.
That’s more than enough shoes.
I can choose any angle, like the one where partypoker’s Isaac Haxton finally binks his major title.

He is the chip leader after all. What about the thought of Ali Imsirovic or Stephen Chidwick winning their second major Poker Central title in 12-months. The Poker Masters and US Poker Open winners are choosing to avoid a leg wax to play in the final, later, today.
What about the brilliant Spaniard, Adrian Mateos, who is in the frame to win his fifth major title, after leaving his homeland as a pup, and is now travelling the world, tearing poker games apart like a rottweiler.
And then you have the most obvious angle of all.
Alex Foxen.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) #1 ranked player in the world, and the favourite to take the mantle of GPI Player of the Year (PoY) from the savvy Spaniard who just filled the paragraph above.
He has made the final table of the SHRB.
If I were 12, I would write OMG.
But I am not going to focus on any of these stories (or the caterpillars that crawl over the eyes of the man sitting opposite me), I am going to focus on Igor Kurganov and Talal Shakerchi.
£3.67m is life-changing money.
If Kurganov or Shakerchi win it, then it becomes life-saving.
The two of them have made it their vocation to serve others through philanthropy. Shakerchi ploughs millions into his vision of a better future for earthlings, and Kurganov does the same as a board member of Raising for Effective Giving (REG),
I know I could be doing everyone else at the table a disservice, but I know, like a toothpick knows where the Chia Seeds hangout, that these two people will save lives.
So that’s where I am going to go with it.

Life-Savers Talal Shakerchi & Igor Kurganov Make the SHRB Final Table

Here’s how they did it.
Day 1 began with 36-entrants, and Rick Salomon ended the day leading the final 27-players.
You can read the write up of Day 1, right here.
Here are the hits of Day 2.

Alex Foxen’s TT Bests AK & AK For Triple Up

Alex Foxen’s tournament line was at risk nice and early when he got it in three-ways with Dan Cates and Dan Smith. Cates was the only player not at risk of elimination. Foxen was the aggressor, and showed TT, and was as cheerful as chips when he saw the two Dan’s both held AK. The tens held up; Smith fell into the rail, Cates took a considerable blow to the solar plexus and Foxen tripled-up.

Alex Foxen v David Peters

If you were to let AI choose the two best live multi-table tournament (MTT) players in the world so we could see them duke it out like Ali v Frazier style, then the names Alex Foxen and David Peters would fly out of the printer.
The GPI #1 & #2 clashed in a cooler of a hand that left Peters on life support. Both players flopped huge on QdQs2h with Foxen holding QTo, and Peters ahead with QJcc. Peters check-raised to 58,000, and Foxen called. The 7h arrived on fourth-street and both players checked. The river was the Ts, giving Foxen the best hand. Peters bet 150,000, Foxen shipped it for 278,000, and Peters called. Foxen showed the nuts and Peters fell to 9k. A hand later, and Salomon snaffled them up when his pocket nines beat a K7o that looked as depressed as the man holding them.

Stephen Chidwick Takes the Chip Lead

Before Alex Foxen was on top of the world, Stephen Chidwick held that position for a very long time. The UK pro became a real force in this one when he opened from the first position, Rick Salomon called in late position, and then Alex Foxen three-bet from the big blind. Both Chidwick and Salomon called, and the dealer placed Tc8s4c onto the felt. Foxen checked, Chidwick bet 42,000, Salomon raised to 142,000, Foxen folded, and Chidwick called. The 3s arrived on the river, and Salomon maximised the pressure by moving all-in once checked too. Chidwick took his time before making the call. Salomon was chasing with 96cc, and Chidwick held the slight advantage with T9ss for top pair. The 4d floated down the river, and Chidwick doubled into the chip lead.

Daniel Negreanu Eliminates The Former Champion

Justin Bonomo became the only former champion in with a shout of creating deja vu after Daniel Negreanu eliminated the 2015 winner, Brian Rast. The PokerStars man opened to 12,000 from midfield, Dan Cates and Ali Imsirovic called in position before Brian Rast moved all-in for 145,000 from the big blind. Negreanu followed suit, and neither Cates nor Imsirovic wanted a piece of the action. Negreanu showed queens, Rast ATo, and the ladies reigned supreme.

We Lose The Day 1 Chip Leader

Rick Salomon has featured in three $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop Final Tables. He knows the way to reach the end zone of these things, but won’t be repeating that feat. After falling short, the Day 1 Chip Leader moved all-in with A5o, and Sean Winter called and beat him with A9cc.

Alex Foxen Takes Control

Then we had two huge hands that propelled Foxen into the lead.
The GPI #2 raised to 14,000 from the button, Sean Winter three-bet to 55,000 from the blinds and Foxen called. The dealer placed 9h6c3d onto the flop. Winter had flopped top set, and Foxen an open-ended straight draw. Winter bet 60,000 and Foxen called. The Qh appeared on fourth-street to give Foxen a flush draw. Winter bet 145,000, Foxen shipped it, and Winter made the quick call. The players focused on the space where the river would land, and after a daydream or two, the Ts took its place. Foxen hit his straight. Winter was out.
Then Alex Foxen opened from the cutoff, Justin Bonomo called in the small blind, Nick Petrangelo three-bet from the big blind to 70,000, Foxen raised to 178,000, Bonomo left the party, and Petrangelo called. The dealer delivered Kh5h3s onto the flop, Petrangelo checked, Foxen bet 95,000, and Petrangelo called. The action checked through to the river on a 3c and Th board. Petrangelo bet 175,000, Foxen moved all-in for 1.2 million, Petrangelo called and was shattered to see that his full house (TT) never stood a chance against the KK of Foxen. The GPI #1 was the chip leader. Petrangelo was out.

We Lose the SHRB V Champion

We know one thing.
Whoever wins this thing will be doing so for the first time.
Justin Bonomo, who was first to act, opened to 14,000, Isaac Haxton called in the hijack, Foxen squeezed to 57,000 from the button, Bonomo moved all-in for 710,000, Haxton folded, and Foxen made the call and had his opponent crushed KK>A4hh. Bonomo found no joy on the board and would have to sit this one out, after winning the Las Vegas and Macau events earlier this year.

Daniel Negreanu Eliminated by Stephen Chidwick

The play moved into the bubble phase after Stephen Chidwick removed the dangerous Daniel Negreanu from the equation. Both players were staring at a 6c3s2d flop when the US Poker Open Champion bet 50,000, Daniel Negreanu raised to 100,000, Chidwick made it 250,000, and Negreanu called. The 9d arrived on fourth-street, Chidwick bet 150,000, Negreanu moved all-in for 444,000, and Chidwick called. Negreanu showed pocket sevens but was way behind the T9o of Chidwick who had turned a pair of nines. The 4s ended the action, and Negreanu left his seat.

Mikita Badziakouski Bubbles the SHRB V

Stack depth saw the remaining eight players compete for three hours before we anyone made any money. Mikita Badziakouski opened to 40,000 from the first position and then moved all-in after Stephen Chidwick had three-bet to 150,000 from the big blind. Badziakouski called and showed AK; Chidwick showed TT and won the flip to set up our final table.
And I never even mentioned Shakerchi or Kurganov once.
Why did I choose that poxy headline?
Maybe tomorrow.
Here are the final table chip counts:
The Super High Roller Bowl V Final Table
1. Ali Imsirovic – 875,000
2. Stephen Chidwick – 2,405,000
3. Isaac Haxton – 2,415,000
4. Igor Kurganov – 1,550,000
5. Talal Shakerchi – 995,000
6. Alex Foxen – 1,590,000
7. Adrian Mateos – 975,000
The action begins at 4 pm (ET) on Wednesday 19 December where we will crown a winner. In the meantime, the remaining seven players have had some broth without any bread, and after being whipped soundly are now all in bed.

The Pinnacle is our weekly round-up of all things related to high stakes poker catching my attention in the past week, and I begin by firing Cupid’s arrow straight into your heart.
It’s been an excellent week for poker love.
Alex Foxen overtook Stephen Chidwick at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) World Rankings, in a move that saw Chidwick’s strive to equal Fedor Holz’s 30-week straight record fall to pieces. The New York native also took the lead in the 2018 GPI Player of the Year (POY) standings.
What does this have to do with love?
For the first time in the GPI’s history poker has a couple of lovers sitting on top of the world with Foxen’s squeeze, Kristen Bicknell leading the GPI Female Poker Player Rankings.
Foxen and Bicknell isn’t the only couple smashing things up this week. Maria Ho and Rainer Kempe also bagged a couple of honours at the WPT DeepStacks Event in Johannesburg.
Ho defeated 387-entrants on her way to a $69,166 payday in the ZAR 13,500 (USD 940) buy-in WPTDeepStacks Main Event at the Emperors Palace Casino, and
joining her for the ride was her beau, Rainer Kempe. The German star beat 15-entrants to win the ZAR 200,000 (USD 14,000) No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller for $81,270, and then beat 59-entrants to win the $28,358 first prize in a ZAR 20,000 (USD 1,400) No-Limit Hold’em event.
It seems there’s more to love than taking the digging of fingernails as you watch The Haunting of Hill House.

bitB Staking Concerns; Hellmuth Skips WSOP; Deeb Dominates
Patrick Leonard might be on a high roller live tournament hiatus, but he’s still extremely active in the online poker circuit and on social media, and this week one of his ripples turned into a tsunami after posting the following image on Twitter and Instagram.

#sunday #bitB pic.twitter.com/8nxxziCYZ8

— Patrick Leonard (@plenopads) October 14, 2018

Leonard is the co-founder of bitB Staking, and the photo is from bitB HQ in Budapest, Hungary. After Leonard posted the image, a section of the poker community reacted angrily suggesting a high proba
bility of ghosting, collusion, and all manner of infractions that would see your driving license revoked.
Leonard posted a rebuttal trying to alleviate the community’s fears, explaining how competitive the bitB Staking group is internally, and reminding everyone that staking houses like this have been around since Adam pointed the finger at Eve.
Onto the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and one high roller (sometimes) missing from the lineup is Phil Hellmuth. The 15-time WSOP bracelet holder and the only winner of WSOP Main Events in both Europe and North America skipped the event – the first time he has missed a WSOP bracelet series since 1989.
What is Hellmuth doing instead?
This week, he will be representing PokerVR in the world’s first Virtual Reality (VR) Multi-Table Tournament.
Here is virtual Phil.

Sticking with the WSOPE front, and at the time of writing none of the high roller fraternity has secured a bracelet, but Shaun Deeb is currently running away with the Player of the Year title, cashing in two of the first three events, although it helps that none of his competition made the trip.

Lambs, Elephants and Pigs
Ben Lamb doesn’t often air his thoughts on Twitter, and this week he was reminded why. Lamb posted a video of a hunter in Nambia killing an elephant.
“I never post basically any opinion on anything here. But, trophy hunting is really sickening. Intelligent creatures just minding their own business and these jackasses open fire. I don’t understand it. Sad.”
Daniel Negreanu was one of the first to respond, reminding Lamb that pigs are intelligent creatures just minding their own business. A challenge for the purveyors of cognitive dissonance, for sure.
Finally, Nick Petrangelo has released an online training course on Doug Polk’s Upswing Poker. Winning Poker Tournaments retails at $999, and given that Petrangelo is a beast with close to $16m in live tournament earnings on his resume its work smashing up that piggy bank to invest (think twice about posting on Twitter about the damage you did to your piggy bank).
And that’s this week’s Pinnacle.

As a nipper, I loved Games Day. It was an opportunity to skip boooring lessons, and a chance to elevate playground status by bringing in some state of the art game or gadgetry.
It wasn’t all circles and oblongs, though.
There was the odd triangle thrown in for good measure.
I grew up on a council estate called Poet’s Corner (our poet was Shelley). We didn’t have a pot to piss in, so Games Day was tough. I had to take the only game I had, one that I had made – WWF Wrestling.
I had taken a pack of Trivial Pursuit cards, covered them with blank scrap paper, and created players, attributes, and moves. The cards included characteristics such as Skill, Strength and Unique Finisher. The moves were things like Clothesline, Bodyslam, and Figure-Fore Leglock.
I based the rules on Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy series.
I thought the other kids would cast me to the wind.
The opposite happened.
They loved it.
And do you know what they loved about it?
The rankings.
We had a WWF Champion and an Intercontinental Champion, and the only way you got a shot at the title, was to be the top contender, and you became the top contender by accruing points through my leaderboard system.
I never told anyone my secret.
It was like KFC without killing 850 million chickens per year.

Love Rules
During the Triton Poker Series in Jeju, South Korea, I sat down with the British #2 All-Time Money Earner, Stephen Chidwick, to talk about poker and life. At the time, Chidwick was the Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, and I learned that the man from Deal had always wanted to reach that apex, and had a new goal in his crosshairs.
Chidwick wanted to take the longest streak record from Fedor Holz.
Remember when Holz was picking up more cheques than a broiler chicken farmer picks up eggs? During that insane multi-million dollar run, the German racked up a record 30 consecutive weeks as the GPI World #1. That was the record Chidwick wanted, and Alex Foxen has just turned Chidwick’s dream into mashed potatoes and gravy.

Five weeks shy of achieving his goal, the man with the ice-like stare has removed Chidwick from the head of both the GPI World Rankings and the 2018 GPI Player of the Year (POY) Rankings.
The New York native has racked up $3,935,519 in 2018 live tournament earnings – not a lot in the world that Chidwick eats his pork chops – but the GPI isn’t interested in money earned, it’s chasing after consistency, and Foxen has buckets of that beneath his ribs.
Foxen has made 13 final tables in 2018, including appearances in all the world majors: The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT), World Poker Tour (WPT), partypoker MILLIONS Main Event and The World Series of Poker (WSOP), and he has won four events.
In March, Foxen topped a field of 68-entrants to win the HKD 400,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in Macau for $963,880. He beat 50-entrants in a $25,000 High Roller at the WPT LA Poker Classic for $424,625, defeating 422-entrants to win a $2,650 side event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) for $208,452, and booked a controversial win by beating 178 entrants, including his girlfriend Kristen Bicknell, heads-up, to take the $239,000 first prize in a $5k event at the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) at the Venetian. Last week, he finished runner-up to Ioannis Angelou-Konstas in the £5,300 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS UK Main Event earning $947,916 from a field of 1,015 entrants.
All of which means Cupid is happy as we have the first-ever boyfriend/girlfriend combination at the top of the GPI World Rankings, with Kristen Bicknell currently dominating the female rankings, as well as sitting #16 in the GPI World Rankings, and #15 in the GPI POY Rankings.
One wonders how long it will be before partypoker sign Foxen, and make the most of this fantastic marketing opportunity.
Foxen has earned $6,165,247 in live tournament earnings.
He is the 19^th player to rule the poker world since the GPI’s inception.
And I reckon he applies a pretty mean Bear Hug.

The Top #10 GPI Rankings

Alex Foxen – 3,980.45
Stephen Chidwick – 3,781.56
Justin Bonomo – 3,628.40
David Peters – 3,587.77
Adrian Mateos – 3,551.66
Jake Schindler – 3,408.53
Joe McKeehen – 3,327.51
Steve O’Dwyer – 3,301.96
Ben Pollak – 3,287.99
Jason Koon – 3,203.72

The Top #10 GPI POY Rankings

Alex Foxen – 3,710.76
Stephen Chidwick – 3,691.67
Justin Bonomo – 3,660.28
Jake Schindler – 3,625.15
David Peters – 3,561.52
Adrian Mateos – 3,364.20
Shaun Deeb – 3,230.72
Jason Koon – 3,191.17
Ben Yu – 3,191.07
Chris Soyza – 3,147.81

Previous GPI POY Winners
2017 – Adrian Mateos
2016 – David Peters
2015 – Byron Kaverman