Alex Foxen Breaks 803 Day Drought to Win 8th PGT Title

It had been 803 days since Alex Foxen tasted victory inside the PokerGO Studio, and after falling to the short stack three-handed, it appeared the drought would continue before Foxen caught fire, scoring a pair of doubles through Josh Arieh before closing it out against Jesse Lonis to add an eighth PGT title to his trophy case plus the $315,000 first-place prize. 

Foxen started the day with the chip lead but quickly fell to second through the first level and some change as Lonis picked up the hot hand early before start-of-day short stack Artem Maksimov found a double to send Arieh to the bottom of the leaderboard. 

Arieh would not go quietly into the night, however, and Foxen was able to regain the chip lead as the short stacks continued to bleed chips before Lonis picked up pocket aces to send Sean Rafael's pocket kings home in fifth place for $78,750 plus 63 PGT points. Arieh once again found himself at the bottom of the chip counts, but after scoring his second double through Maksimov, he would find himself with the chip lead four-handed. 

Lonis would once again do the heavy lifting as he flopped a set of three, leaving Maksimov's overpair of queens in rough shape. However, for a brief moment, it appeared he went runner-runner to make a flush, but the river also paired the board, propelling Lonis to a boat and leaving Maksimov to hit the payout desk in fourth place for $105,000 plus 84 PGT points. 

The chips were relatively even to start three-handed play, but a stretch of aggression would see Arieh pick up nearly sixty-eight percent of the chips in play before Foxen would score his first double of the day when he flopped top and bottom pair to crack Arieh's overpair of jacks. 

Arieh would briefly re-take the chip lead from Foxen after the double, but after flopping an open-ended straight draw against Foxen's overpair of kings, all the chips he had worked so hard for once again ended up in the middle. Arieh would at the nut flush draw to his outs on the turn, but Foxen found himself back in the chip lead when the river bricked.

This left Lonis to clean up another short stack as the remaining roughly two million of Arieh's chips found their way into the middle with top pair and a gut shot to broadway against Lonis' open-ended straight draw plus a flush draw. Arieh would hit broadway on the turn, but it also gave Lonis a set of tens, and when the river paired the board, Lonis made another full house to send him to the rail in third place for $141,750 plus 113 PGT points. 

The elimination left Lonis and Foxen dead even in chips to start the heads-up match. Foxen would pull ahead with a river shove to cross the six million chip mark on the match's first hand, and all the money got into the middle a few hands later when Lonis flopped a set of tens against the straight and flush draws of Foxen. 

Foxen completed his flush on the turn, and, for the first time at the final table, Lonis failed to find a board pair on the river for a full house, and he hit the rail in second place for $204,750 plus 164 PGT points as a result.

Event #7: $15,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Payouts

Foxen Moves To Top of Series Leaderboard

Seventy entrants made their way inside the PokerGO Studio for Event #7 of the 2025 PGT PLO Series, and with the buy-in increasing from $10,100 to $15,100, those seventy entrants created a prize pool of $1,050,000, with the top ten players finding a cash prize. 

The win marked Foxen's third cash, second final table, and second top-three finish of the series. He now sits atop the series leaderboard with 449 points, 142 points ahead of Chino Rheem and 144 points ahead of Dylan Smith, who sit second and third, respectively. 

Lonis also added a third cash, a second final table, and a second top-three finish for the series, but he has failed to find the win the other three have and currently sits in fourth place with 289 points. 

Forty points behind Lonis is fifth-place finisher Rafael, who also picked up his third cash and second final table of the series to move five points ahead of James Chen (US), who has been stuck on 245 points since making the first three final tables of the series.

Ben Tollerene found a min-cash after finishing in tenth place in Event #7 for his third cash of the series and moves into seventh on the leaderboard with 238 points, two points ahead of Event #5 winner Christopher Costa and 23 points ahead of Daniel Negreanu and Billy Tarango who are tied for ninth with 215 points. 

2025 PGT PLO Series Leaderboard

Win Propels Foxen Into Top Ten on Season Leaderboard

Not only did the win mark Foxen's first victory inside the PokerGO Studio since January of 2023, but it also moved him from the bottom half of the top 40 for the 2025 season into the top ten with 493 points, bumping Chad Eveslage from the upper quarter of the leaderboard. 

The rest of the top ten remained unchanged, as only Nick Schulman picked up a cash in Event #7 and added 25 points to his season total with a ninth-place finish to widen the gap between himself and Eric Blair for third in the standings. 

Elsewhere on the leaderboard, Rafael now jumps into the top forty thanks to the fifth-place finish, while Lonis moved into 12th place with 413 points, two points behind Eveslage, while Arieh moved up to 23rd with 299 points. 

For a look at the complete top 40 in the season standings, click here.

2025 PGT Leaderboard Top Ten

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