Kristen Foxen secured an early lead in the 2025 PokerGo Tour standings with a win in the last PGT Kickoff event after a final two deal with Joao Simao and a quick finish to heads-up play.
Foxen, who entered the PokerGO Studio on Saturday as the chip leader, maintained her lead for most of the day until Simao closed the gap before heads-up play. An even chop gave them both $197,625, with the PGT points and a trophy set aside for the eventual winner. They both outlasted a final table that started with Stephen Song, Andrew Moreno, and 2024 PGT Player of the Year Jeremy Ausmus.
PGT’s final Kickoff event drew 93 entrants with a $10K buy-in for a prize pool of $930,000. The victory puts Foxen at the top of the PGT leaderboard after its first event. It’s almost a mirror image of last year when she won the final event of the 2024 Kickoff for 165K.
Kristen Foxen is the early leader in the PGT standings after three cashes and a win in the Kickoff series. Foxen holds the lead
The day started with Foxen at the top of the counts and Simao in a distant second, while Song held the third spot ahead of Moreno and Neil Warren. Ausmus and Nick Seward were the short stacks, but Warren was the first to go in seventh after his ace-eight shove didn’t work out against Simao.
Soon after, Song slowed Simao’s early charge with a double. Another double from Seward put the Brazilian on the ropes, but he fought back through Foxen and found some breathing room among the final six players.
Seward didn’t have the short stack but the bottom was crowded — so he made a move with a suited ace-jack that ran into Foxen’s Big Slick. The board ran out with low cards and no flush, so Seward bounced in sixth place and Foxen remained with a comfortable lead.
Joao Simao fought back from crumbs and eventually drew even. Foxen kept climbing and a few doubles were exchanged before Moreno was dumped in fifth after a three-way hand that saw Simao take a big chunk off of the chip leader in the process. Foxen had open-jammed the button with 
, and Moreno called from right next to her with 
before Simao used several time extensions. He eventually called with 
and a board of 
gave Simao the double and Moreno the walking papers.
Ausmus runs aground, Simao draws even
Four-handed play did not last long after Ausmus ran into trouble against Foxen. She opened from under the gun and Ausmus three-bet all but one of the chips in his stack. Foxen called without seeing the chip behind and action checked through to the river. She bet and he mucked and Ausmus was out on the next hand.
The one-chip behind strategy did not work out for Jeremy Ausmus. Song started three-handed play as the short stack and Simao got it in ahead of him after Foxen shoved the button, but Simao’s ace-jack held to score the double. Song was out soon after when his ace-king couldn’t improve against Simao and the Brazilian entered heads-up play virtually even with Foxen.
The final two cut a deal that split the remaining prize pool in two with the trophy and a big chunk of PGT points set aside for the winner of the rest of it. Play ended on the next hand after Simao moved all in on the river with ace-high and Foxen called with a pair to win the trophy.
The win puts Foxen at the top of the early PGT standings with three cashes, one win, and 525 PGT points. Patrick Leonard is in second after three cashes and one win during the Kickoff series, while Simao sits in third after cashing twice.
| Place | Player | PGT Points | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kristen Foxen | 484 | $197,625* |
| 2 | Joao Simao | 307 | $197,625* |
| 3 | Stephen Song | 223 | $111,600 |
| 4 | Jeremy Ausmus | 167 | $83,700 |
| 5 | Andrew Moreno | 130 | $65,100 |
| 6 | Nick Seward | 93 | $46,500 |
| 7 | Neil Warren | 74 | $37,200 |
* - Denotes heads-up deal
Photos courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego
