If there was any question that Kristen Foxen is the greatest female poker player of all time, she strengthened her case on Sunday, winning her sixth WSOP bracelet and becoming the first woman since Leo Margets in 2021 to win one in an open event.
Foxen conquered the $25,000 8-Max High Roller for a career-best $1,773,083, and her first bracelet in a High Roller to go with WSOP victories in ladies, online and lower buy-in open events.
Foxen was delighted after winning one of the most prestigious events of the summer in just her second tournament of the series.
“So good. So good, and at the start of the series too, right? It’s just a dream come true, and to start the World Series like this and finally win one of these High Rollers, it means a lot to me.”
Foxen joins a list of just 25 other players in WSOP history to win six bracelets, a milestone she appreciates, though she'll always be striving for more.
“It’s amazing," she told us. "We [poker players] set huge goals for ourselves and we’re perfectionists. It’s really incredible and such an honour.”
From disappointment to another level
One bracelet Foxen would love to add to her résumé is the WSOP Main Event. In 2024, she came close to becoming the first woman since Barbara Enright in 1995 to reach the Main Event final table, but a bluff gone wrong ended her run in 13th place.
It’s an infamous hand that seemingly everyone had an opinion on, but here’s the thing.
This is Kristen Foxen.
She was already operating at a level few in the poker world can match, and since then she's enjoyed another level of success, scoring her four biggest tournament cashes, all of over a million dollars, and now adding that sixth bracelet.
It’s no coincidence.
"My bustout from the Main Event was highly criticized – I got so much negative attention for that. I think it actually made me a lot stronger, and also motivated me to come back stronger. It also allowed me to come back without anything to fear.”
She added, “It really, really fueled me to get back in there and close some tournaments out. I believe in myself, obviously, that’s why I keep showing up, I’m super competitive, and I definitely wasn’t gonna go out like that.”
The standard bearer for women in poker
Foxen is appreciative of her place in the poker world, as a player that men and women alike can look up to, not just for her work ethic, skill and success, but as a role model with a demeanour at the table to be admired.
She tempers any talk of her status and the rarity of her win in an open event by acknowledging the number of other talented women in poker and the fact that, with an average of 5% of tournament fields being occupied by women, they continue to hold their own in the poker world.
“I’m driven to be out here and do this to hopefully inspire other women to show you can do that. There’s nothing stopping you just because you’re a female. I always say this, it’s way more fun to take chips and money from guys than other women, so play with the guys!”
Victory and relief
The final guy that Foxen took chips from on Sunday was Galen Hall, who entered the day with the chip lead. By the time Foxen and Hall got heads-up, the duo were virtually even. Foxen gained a sizeable lead and appeared ready to close it out before Hall stormed back to regain the lead.
The turning point came when Foxen turned the nut straight against Hall's lower straight. After jamming her final 11 million chips into a 16 million-chip pot and getting called, she emerged with 38 million of the 52 million chips in play.
On the very next hand, Foxen picked up two red aces, trapped with a limp, and got her opponent to jam his ace-four into her. Foxen called and held, and the title was hers.
While she was obviously excited, another feeling came to mind when asked about those hands.
“It's such a relief. Those spots are so tense, and honestly, it wasn't about the money; it really, really was about the bracelet and just winning. I don’t know how long the heads-up went for – it felt long. I was just feeling, ‘Oh my gosh, please let this go my way.’”
So much more to come
Foxen's already remarkable career shows no signs of slowing down, with Daniel Negreanu’s seven bracelets, the most by a fellow Canadian, now firmly in her sights. But there aren't necessarily any specific goals driving her forward, just a desire to keep enjoying the game she loves.
“I just love playing. I love playing so much, there’s nothing more fun than this. I can’t imagine drugs that feel similar to going deep in a tournament, a four-day event, winning. It’s just so much adrenaline, so much excitement. Every hand of poker is different – it never gets boring to me. I just love the game.”
$25,000 8-Max High Roller final table results:
- Kristen Foxen (Canada) - $1,773,083
- Galen Hall (USA) - $1,182,050
- Ding Biao (China) - $819,504
- Joey Weissman (USA) - $577,326
- Ignacio Moron (Spain) - $413,389
- Zdenek Zizka (Czechia) - $300,942
- Ihar Soika (Belarus) - $222,798
- Giuseppe Calio (Argentina) - $167,792
- Barak Weisbrod (Israel) - $128,585
