Some interesting dynamics played out for husband-and-wife poker couple Alex and Kristen Foxen at the World Series of Poker Europe this week.
In the €25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller, Alex sent his wife to the re-entry line after busting Kristen early on day 2. Then, as the field played towards the final table, he busted her again!
The first elimination was a case of bad timing. With blinds at 10,000-20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante, Martin Kabrhel raised from the hijack to 50,000 and Alex three-bet to 150,000 on his left. Kristen then moved all in from the small blind for her last 500,000 with 8
8
.
Alex had about 1.2 million chips and made the call with Q
Q after Kabrhel got out of the way. The board ran out Q
J 7 5 10 and while Alex added a healthy pot to his stack, Kristen had to pony up another buy-in. This time, she was able hang around for a bit before once again being sent to the rail by Alex.
With two tables remaining and blinds at 20,000-40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante, Alex raised from the small blind with 9 8 to put Kristen all in. On a short stack of just 365,000, she made the call with A 3. The flop brought 10 9 3, giving Alex a lead he wouldn’t lose when the 5 and K came on the turn and river.
While Team Foxen lost another buy-in, the suckout did give Alex the chip lead, which he would ride to the final table and ultimately, a heads-up showdown with Italy’s Alessandro Pichierri for the title. Despite a nearly 4:1 lead, however, Pichierri won a key coinflip to battle back and steal away the €335,900 first-place prize and the bracelet, which was his first.
Alex settled for €223,900 for as the runner-up, bringing his career tournament earnings to $33.8 million, good for 22nd place on the all-time money list.
Although Alex does have one bracelet, having taken down the $250,000 buy-in super high roller at the 2022 summer series for $4.6 million, Kristen has more WSOP gold, having won four bracelets. This summer, she finished 13th in the WSOP main event for a career-best payday of $600,000.
On The Felt History
In the early days of live poker tournaments, many relatives would be separated if they happened to be seated the same table, depending on the venue and tournament director. Nowadays, however, it comes down to the luck of the draw. And given the small-field high rollers that the Foxens frequent, it’s not uncommon to see them battling for the same pots.
The Foxens made news in 2018, however, when they made it down to the final three in a $5,000 MSPT event at Venetian. Then-dating, the couple offered Australian high-stakes pro Kahle Burns a deal to avoid the awkward situation of him being outnumbered. Burns declined, given his chip lead, but would go on to finish third. Alex and Kristen then chopped, with Alex claiming the title.
Some criticized them for how the tournament played out, even going so far to accuse them of soft play. Although others pointed out that conflicts of interest happen all the time at the poker table, given how many players swap percentages with each other, and that the Foxens handled the situation as best as they could by offering a deal.
Kristen recently discussed her career for the cover of Card Player Magazine and said the couple are constantly talking poker.
“Honestly, for the most part our life is poker, food, gym, hanging out at home, and we’re both really happy with that,” she said. “I don’t want to say we’re boring people, because I don’t think we are, but we’re just focused. We’re both locked in right now on poker.”