Alex Foxen Wins U.S. Poker Open Event #7 for $283,500

Alex Foxen landed himself back in the PokerGO Studio winner’s circle on Wednesday when he won Event #7: $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2022 U.S. Poker Open. The victory earned Foxen a $283,500 payday and vaulted him into second place on the series leaderboard.

“I feel good,” Foxen said. “It’s actually been a bit of a rough stretch in the PokerGO Studio. I feel like I’ve had a lot of good opportunities and haven’t followed through on any of them, so it feels really good to get one closed out and have a good shot at the U.S. Poker Open championship.”

Foxen’s finish in Event #7 was his third cash of the 2022 U.S. Poker Open series. He previously finished sixth in Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $46,200 and 11th in Event #3: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $26,400. All three finishes have Foxen at 356 points and in second place on the series leaderboard, where Foxen is behind only Tamon Nakamura.

“It would mean a lot to me for sure,” Foxen said of the possibility of winning the overall U.S. Poker Open championship. “This is definitely the highest level of tournament competition that exists and winning one of the overall trophies is something that I haven’t done yet. It’s definitely something I want to do. That Golden Eagle Trophy is pretty sweet, too.”

In 2022 U.S. Poker Open Event #7, Foxen topped a field of 70 entries to get the win. He defeated Chino Rheem in heads-up play after what was a stacked final table of elite competitors. Also at Wednesday’s final table were Stephen Chidwick, Thomas Boivin, Joseph Cheong, and Dan Smith.

“I love it,” Foxen said of playing against the tough opponents he regularly faces on the PokerGO Tour (PGT) and inside the PokerGO Studio. “That’s really what keeps me passionate about the game. I love having high-level competition. It’s what drew me to poker in the first place. I just feel really lucky to be able to play against the best all the time and do my best to try to beat them. It’s just a lot of fun. I wake up every day excited to play. It’s awesome.”

2022 U.S. Poker Open Event #7 Results

Event #7: $15,000NL Hold’em attracted a field of 70 entries and created a prize pool of $1,050,000. The top spots finished in the money. Vikenty Shegal placed seventh, Adam Hendrix took eighth, Bill Klein was ninth, and Joe McKeehen took 10th. All players to cash earned both U.S. Poker Open and PGT leaderboard points.

Foxen’s Road To Victory in Event #7

Foxen ended Day 1 of Event #7: $15,000 NL Hold’em in third place with six players remaining. Dan Smith was fourth in chips right behind Foxen, and he ended up being the first elimination on Wednesday.

Smith opened with a raise holding pocket kings. He was in the cutoff seat in the 20,000-40,000 level with a 40,000 big blind ante and made it 90,000 to go. Stephen Chidwick was in the small blind and reraised all in for 1,295,000. Smith called off his stack of 1,020,000 and saw that Chidwick had jammed with queen-ten of hearts. Chidwick flopped a ten and rivered a queen to bust Smith.

Joseph Cheong was next to bust, losing with ace-nine to Foxen’s ace-queen. Then it was Thomas Boivin’s turn to exit when his king-seven of hearts lost to Foxen’s pocket jacks.

During three-handed play, Foxen picked up pocket aces when Chidwick looked down at pocket tens. The money went in and Foxen’s pocket rockets held up to leave Chidwick very short. Chidwick tried to battle back but ultimately got bounced from the tournament in third place.

Foxen started heads-up play with the chip lead over Chino Rheem. Foxen had 5,765,000 and Rheem had 2,980,000.

On the final hand, Rheem limped the button at 40,000-80,000 blinds with ten-seven of spades. Foxen raised from the big blind to 350,000 with pocket eights. Rheem called. The flop was eight-five-four to give Foxen top set. He bet 200,000 and Rheem called. The turn was the two of spades, giving Rheem additional outs to a flush. Foxen checked and Rheem fired 500,000. Foxen check-raised to 1,100,000 and Rheem called. The river was a ten, giving Rheem top pair. Foxen checked on Rheem’s stack, which remained at 1,780,000, and then moved all in. Rheem made the call and saw the bad news. With that, Foxen was crowned the winner for $283,500.

Foxen Now Second On USPO Leaderboard

Now with 356 leaderboard points this series, Alex Foxen has moved to second place on the 2022 U.S. Poker Open leaderboard. He’s behind only Tamon Nakamura entering Event #8: $15,000 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Nakamura leads with 462 points after winning Event #4: $10,000 Big Bet Mix for $169,600 and Event #6: $15,000 8-Game for $239,700.

Behind Foxen is Jeremy Ausmus with 333 points, then it’s Shannon Shorr with 302 points and Adam Hendrix with 276 points.

The player with the most leaderboard points at the end of the 2022 U.S. Poker Open will be crowned U.S. Poker Open Champion and take home the $50,000 Championship Bonus.

2022 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard Top 10

Foxen Moves To Seventh PGT Leaderboard

On the 2022 PGT leaderboard, it’s still Tony Sinishtaj at the top with 1,250 points, but Alex Foxen jumped into seventh place with 854 points now. Foxen has two wins and 10 cashes in PGT events in 2022.

The top 21 point earners on the PGT leaderboard will be invited to a winner-take-all freezeout tournament at the end of the season, with the winner taking home $500,000.

Click here to view the complete PGT leaderboard.

2022 PGT Leaderboard Top 10