The Global Poker Index (GPI) has finalized the winners of the 2018 Player of the Year (POY) title and the winners are Alex Foxen and Kristen Bicknell who claimed the POY award in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.
The GPI updates its list on a weekly basis based on live poker tournaments around the world and the players are ranked according to their performances. Foxen and Bicknell have had a number of victories in 2018 and can now also lay claim to being the number one power couple in the world of poker.
Consecutive GPI POY Awards For Kristen Bicknell
In 2016, Bicknell was close to capturing the POY title but had to settle for second place as American Cate Hall took the POY. Bicknell improved her game and put in a strong performance in 2017 to beat out both Hall and Maria Lampropulos who finished in second place. Bicknell followed up her 2017 POY performance with a repeat as she once again topped the GPI rankings in 2018 to claim the top spot.
No one is surprised with her winning the GPI POY as Kristen Bicknell has held the top spot on the GPI leaderboard for most of the year, cashing in 28 events in which she won a total of $1,095,611. The Canadian poker pro has had a record-breaking 2018, the best year yet of her professional poker career.
Her 2018 journey started to take off in March when she won the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) HK$80,000 National High Roller which took place in Macau. She earned $279,549 for that victory. In the same tournament, she finished fourth in a HK$100,000 buy-in high roller event, adding $194,081 to her winnings.
She continued her good run and finished strong in 20 other events during the year, which include a $200,000 runner-up win to her boyfriend Alex Foxen at the $5,000 buy-in MSPT Venetian DeepStacks event which took place in June. Her total career prize money as of now is a little over $2.3 million.
Alex Foxen Has A Great Run In 2018
New York poker pro Alex Foxen is just 27 years old but he has been grinding hard for the last few years, looking to improve his game and get into the big league. His tremendous run in 2018 has brought a lot of attention to him and fitting he ended the year being awarded the 2018 GPI male POY award.
Foxen’s massive winnings for the year include a HK$7,560,000 (about $963,000) top prize at the APPT Super High Roller in Macau. In December, he finished second to Isaac Haxton at the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl V, taking home $2.16 million. He went on cashing in numerous other events throughout the year that helped him overtake early frontrunner Stephen Chidwick in November. His 2018 earnings exceeded the $6 million mark, which represents the largest chunk of his total career tournament earnings of $8.8 million.
Foxen had a decent year in 2017 and took the 12^th place on the GPI rankings. His performance in 2018 has shown just how much he has grown and improved his game as he has finished ahead of a number of top poker players including the likes of Stephen Chidwick, Jake Schindler, Justin Bonomo and David Peters.
Some of the other 2018 GPI POY award winners include Michal Soyza who took the GPI Player of the Year Asia award; Stephen Chidwick who claimed the the GPI European Player of the Year award and Joao Simao who won the GPI Player of the Year Latam award.
Poker Couple Goals
While Bicknell is primarily motivated by her strong desire to prove that women have equal chances as men to succeed in the game of poker, she is also grateful for having partner Alex Foxen by her side as the two share the same passion and love for poker. Highlighting the positive impact that the couple has on each other, Bicknell said their relationship has brought out the best in both of them.
Foxen and Bicknell were happy to finish in first place on top of the GPI leaderboard and will look to continue their good run in 2019. Bicknell hopes to break her own record and win her very first million in a calendar year – a goal which she believes is very much possible. Foxen will want to win more high stakes poker events and push his earnings over the $10 million mark in 2019.