Alex Foxen Wins 9th PGT Title and $340K at U.S. Poker Open

Alex Foxen entered the final table of Event #7: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2025 U.S. Poker Open with the chip lead, but when the heads-up match with Neil Warren began, he found himself with just eight big blinds to Warren's nearly fifty. Foxen remained undeterred in the face of the daunting chip disadvantage but, after winning a flip on the first few hands to double, ran away with the rest of the match, taking home the $340,200 first-place prize and his 9th career PGT title. 

Warren took the nearly five-to-one chip advantage into heads-up play courtesy of John Riordan, who moved all in from the button with queen-ten of clubs, only for Warren to wake up with ace-jack of hearts from the small blind. The flop fell ten-high as it appeared Riordan would take the chip lead into heads-up play, but running hearts gave Warren the nut flush, and Riordan went from chip leader to three big blinds. 

After Riordan doubled through Foxen with six-high, Warren finished him off when his ten-seven off flopped a pair of tens against Riordan's king-nine suited. Riordan turned a straight draw but could improve no further and hit the payout desk in third place for $157,950 plus 126 PGT points. 

The elimination set the stage for Warren, but Foxen would pick up king-nine of diamonds from the big blind. Warren picked up pocket sixes on the button, and the last of Foxen's ten big blinds ended up in the middle. Foxen flopped trip kings, Warren couldn't find a six on the turn over river, and Foxen was nearly even in chips.

Foxen would work his magic to get to the chip lead without seeing many a flop, turn, and river before he flopped a flush with ten-nine of spades and found value as Warren turned a smaller flush to hand Foxen a four-to-one chip lead. Foxen would whittle Warren down, but Warren looked to be gaining momentum when he flopped a queen-high flush to score a double. 

However, with the blinds in nose-bleed territory, Warren found himself all in and at risk with ace-ten against Foxen's jack-nine. A nine in the window left Warren reeling, and despite turning a straight draw, he remained unimproved, hitting the rail in second place for $218,700 plus 175 PGT points. 

While three-handed play saw Foxen tumble from the chip lead to the short stack early in the day, he could do no wrong and was handed a gift from David Coleman. With Coleman sitting second in chips six-handed and multiple sub-twenty big blind stacks, Coleman put in a double check raise on king-nine-two-ten two spades, the second of which was an all-in for just over 1.6 million chips. 

Foxen snap-called with pocket kings for top set, Coleman's jack-eight of spades couldn't connect on his straight or flush draws, and Foxen held nearly sixty percent of the chips in play. Foxen would then send the short stack of Justin Zaki home in fifth place for $85,050 plus 68 PGT points, and Nick Seward home in fourth place for $115,425 plus 92 PGT points before taking the tumble to the bottom of the counts. 

Two-time GPI female player of the year Cherish Andrews made the final table of Event #7 as she continues to make her presence felt inside the PokerGO Studio, but with only eight big blinds to start play, she found herself all in with all in from the small blind with ace-king sutied against both Riordan and Seward. 

The board ran out queen-jack-duece-jack-queen, Seward tabled pocket aces from the big blind, and Andrews day was done in seventh place for $48,600 plus 39 PGT points before it could begin. 

Event #7: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Foxen Moves Within Striking Distance of Matthew Wantman 

With the win, Foxen picked up his second cash of the 2025 U.S Poker Open, and with the 272 points from Event #7, coupled with his 82 points from Event #6, he now sits with 354 points, 158 behind Matthew Wantman in the race for the Golden Eagle trophy. 

With 73 entrants into Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship, there are 318 points up for grabs for the final Event of the series, meaning that, depending on how things shake out, anyone in the top ten could pass Wantman at the top of the leaderboard. 

With the race for the Golden Eagle heading into the home stretch, you can catch all the day one action from the PGT Live Reporting team here before tuning into the Circus with Donnie Peters and Jeremy Becker starting at 9 p.m. PT wherever you stream PokerGO as they play down to the final table and into the money. 

2025 U.S. Poker Open Top Ten Leaderboard

2025 PGT Season Leaderboard Top Ten 

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