It was a blockbuster weekend on the live felts with several big moments gracing the felts. We saw two female poker pros steal the spotlight with the 2024 Women in Poker Hall of Famer Kristen Foxen going back-to-back to win the PGT Kickoff grand finales and Australia’s Holzmann Soo Guek making waves at the Poker Dream 15 Malaysia with a victory in the Mini High Roller. Here is a quick recap of their recent victories on the live felts!
Kristen Foxen Goes Back-To-Back To Win PGT Kickoff Finales
Kristen Foxen continues her momentum in 2025. Following her runner-up finish for $187,550 in PokerGo Tour’s Last Chance #5, Foxen has achieved another big score of the year with a victory in the PGT Kickoff Event, the same event she won last year. With her win in the last event of the 2025 PGT Kickoff series, Foxen has secured an early lead in the PGT standings.
Foxen cashed both event #3 and #4 of the 2025 PGT Kickoff Series but saved the best for last. She finally won Event #5: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em, the final event of the recently-concluded PokerGo Tour Series. She entered the final table as a chip leader and held on to it for most of the day until Brazil’s Joao Simao closed the gap slightly before heads-up. Eventually, the final two players agreed for an even chop for $197,625 each, with the PGT trophy and a big chunk of PGT points for the winner.
Both Foxen and Simao overcame a star-studded final table featuring the likes of Stephen Song, Andrew Moreno, and 2024 PGT Player of the Year winner Jeremy Ausmus. The tournament ended with a thrilling hand where Simao shoved on the river with As 10h and Foxen holding 9c 7s called with a pair to win the trophy. This was his second back-to-back PGT Kickoff finale win as this Canadian ace pro won the same event last year as well. With the latest PGT win coupled with 2 more cashes, she has racked in 525 points to take the early lead in the 2025 PokerGo Tour standings. Close behind her is Patrick Leonard with 342 points on the back of 2 cashes and a win.
This final event of the 2025 PokerGo Tour Kickoff Series drew a strong field of 93 entrants, creating a prize pool of $930,000. Notably, this was Foxen’s first win of 2025 and her second PGT title. Her current live earnings now stand at a hefty $9,014,134 after her latest PGT Kickoff win.
2025 PGT Kickoff Event #5: $10,100 NLH Final Table Payouts
| Rank | Name | Prize (USD) |
| 1st | Kristen Foxen | $197,625 |
| 2nd | Joao Simao | $197,625 |
| 3rd | Stephen Song | $111,600 |
| 4th | Jeremy Ausmus | $83,700 |
| 5th | Andrew Moreno | $65,100 |
| 6th | Nick Seward | $46,500 |
| 7th | Neil Warren | $37,200 |
Australia’s Holzmann Soo Guek Wins Poker Dream 15 Mini High Roller
While Foxen shone brightly in the PGT Kickoff event, Australia’s Holzmann Soo Guek made a noise in Malaysia by taking down the #56 Mini High Roller title at the Poker Dream 15 Malaysia series. She walked away with a career-best RM 69,500 ($15k +) from a hefty prize pool of RM 261,516.
Running from January 16 to 26, the Poker Dream 15 Malaysia concluded with China reigning supreme with 21 trophies and total winnings of RM 2,024,586. The series was highlighted by the #16 Main Event , a 4 million RM guaranteed event which drew 1992 entries for a RM 4,219,700 prize pool and crowned a winner in China’s Shaoshuai Li who claimed RM 420,000 ($93,275) after a chop with his countryman Xu Hang, who banked a bigger payout of RM731,200 ($162,385) as the runner-up.
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Source: PokerGoTour & PokerDream
