Kristen Bicknell sits atop WPT Player of the Championship leaderboard

Jon Sofen
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Posted on: August 23, 2020 9:27 pm EDT

Kristen Bicknell continues to pile up the accolades as she makes a case for the top female poker player ever. The partypoker ambassador won her third WSOP bracelet earlier this summer and is now on top of the WPT World Online Championship series as she chases the Player of the Championship.

The online series, much like the WSOP Online Bracelet Series, was put in place after COVID-19 canceled many of the WPT Main Tour events for the 2019-2020 season. Through the half of the internet poker series, Bicknell has been the overall top performer.

Bicknell, the two-time defending GPI Female Player of the Year, has earned 201.17 POC points. Scott Margerson is in 2nd place at 159.48. Roberto Romanello is right behind him with 152.73 points.

The WPT series takes place on partypoker, the site Bicknell has long represented. And she’s doing an even better job representing the poker site this month given her performance on the virtual felt. If she wins the POC, she’ll earn an additional $100,000 as a bonus.

So far during the WPT WOC series, she won the 7-max no-limit hold’em high roller and knockout turbo events. Last month in the WSOP Online Bracelet Series on GGPoker, the Canadian poker pro shipped her third bracelet, this one in Event #44, $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed for $356,412.

Bicknell now has $5.1 million in live tournament cashes. Vanessa Selbst, with $11.9 million in earnings, is the only woman who has earned more over her career.

Bicknell and her boyfriend Alex Foxen form one of the most talented poker couples ever. Foxen, who is also one of the top high rollers in the game today, is the two-time defending GPI Player of the Year winner. Unlike his girlfriend, however, he’s never won a World Series of Poker bracelet. But he does have $16.8 million in live tournament cashes.

What happened to the WPT Main Tour season?

When the casinos all closed down across the US due to the coronavirus in mid-March, the current World Poker Tour season was put on hold. Five months later and the postponed events are still without a reschedule date, if one will ever exist.

There are also three high-stakes tournaments that played down to the final table and were scheduled to conclude in Las Vegas in early April. But the 18 players all chasing big bucks are still waiting to find out when they’ll get to play.

The $3,500 Borgata Winter Poker Open, which began in Atlantic City, will pay its winner $674,840. Each of the six remaining players are guaranteed at least $143,264, an amount they’ve already been paid. Brian Altman, the presumed WPT Player of the Year, finished play back on January 30 third in chips and is set to extend his POY lead that already appears to be insurmountable.

The prestigious $10,000 LA Poker Classic, hosted up until the final table at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, had 490 entrants with $1,015,000 set to go to the champion. Everyone at the final table has already received $185,330 — the minimum payout.

And the final postponed Las Vegas final table is the $10,000 WPT Gardens Poker Championship, originally at the Gardens Casino in Los Angeles. Poker coach and bracelet winner is the chip leader in this one as he chases his first WPT title and the $554,495 1st place prize. He, along with the other five players at the final table, were paid 6th place money of $111,795.