Kristen Foxen Takes Down PGT Kickoff Finale

Held at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino, the inaugural PGT Kickoff series concluded with its final tournament,  Event #5: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em, crowning a winner in Kristen Foxen

The fifth and final event of the series drew in 50 entrants who played down to the final six players. The final table began with Daniel Negreanu (2,515,000) in the lead. Kristen Foxen (870,000) was in the middle of the pack, but she quickly gained control and finally seized the coveted title and the $165,000 first prize.

Unsurprisingly, Japan’s Masashi Oya, who began the final table with just seven big blinds, was the first causality exiting in sixth place for $30,000 without much of a fuss. Kristen, who had already worked her way up to second in chips, solidified her position further when she railed her husband, Alex Foxen in fifth place for $40,000. She held pocket queens and flopped a set against Alex’s pocket aces to win the pot.

However, Kristen’s lead was short lived as Negreanu picked up pocket tens against Aram Zobian’s king-queen. Zobian needed a king or a queen to survive the final table, but the board ran out ace-high, eliminating Zobian in fourth place for $50,000. Kristen moved into the lead again when she flopped a set of nines against short stack Samuel Laskowitz who had a flopped flush draw. All the chips got in on the flop. The turn and river bricked out, and Laskowitz was eliminated in third place for $70,000.

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Kristen began the heads-up with a million chip lead over Negreanu, who had a roller coaster ride, before three monumental hands going Kristen’s way. Negreanu battled his way back but two river calls costed him in the end. The final hand saw Negreanu get his last 450,000 in from the big blind holding king-nine. He looked in good shape for the double when Foxen turned over her jack-six. 

However, a jack on the flop dashed Negreanu’s hopes. Despite a straight draw, Negreanu was left with just a pair of nines by the river. His run ended in second place for $105,000 and Kristen took down the final PGT Kickoff event, taking home an impressive $165,000 in the first-place prize. This was Kristen’s second career PGT title and 12th career victory overall, according to the HendonMob

The win marked Kristen’s second cash of the 2024 PGT season after her third-place finish in Event #3. She earned 330 points to move to the second spot on the leaderboard, 161 points shy of David Coleman, who secured four final table finishes (including two victories) during the PGT Kickoff Series.

The final event of the PGT Kickoff series had a $10,000 buy-in and saw 50 entrants make their way into the PokerGO Studio, building a prize pool of $500,000 that was shared by the top 8 finishers. Jim Collopy was the unfortunate money bubble whose rivered flush lost to the full house of Zobian.

Event #5: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em Payouts

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