Alex Foxen breaks $45M career mark with PGT PLO victory

It's been a fruitful week for Alex Foxen inside of the PokerGO Studio. On Monday, Foxen battled Christopher Costa heads-up and settled for second place in Event #5, a $10,100 Pot Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty event, settling for second and $123,200.

That finish maintained an unusually long stretch for Foxen, who went over 800 days between PokerGO titles despite having seven previous PGT trophies on his mantle. The drought ended on Tuesday with Foxen's second big result of this PGT PLO Series, as he won Event #7, a $15,100 PLO event for $315,000.

In addition to his eighth career PGT title, Foxen's cash also pushed him to over $45 million in lifetime live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. He's currently No. 15 on poker's all-time money list, the highest position he's ever occupied.

Foxen's road to victory

At the start of play on Wednesday, five players remained in the hunt for the title in Event 7 of this PGT PLO series. Foxen held the chip lead but faced a predictably difficult final hurdle with Jesse Lonis and Josh Arieh — both of whom are WSOP PLO bracelet winners — chief among them.

It would come down to Foxen, Lonis, and Arieh three-handed for the title, and Arieh jumped out to a considerable lead, holding more than two-thirds of the chips in play at one point. A Foxen double short-circuited Arieh's momentum, however, a pot containing half of the chips in play came together in short order.

Arieh raised to 500,000 from the small blind and Foxen three-bet to 1,625,000 from the big blind. Arieh called, and the flop of prompted Arieh to shove, having Foxen well covered. Foxen called, and his was ahead against Arieh's . Arieh picked up a flush draw on the turn, though Foxen's hand blocked quite a few of the flush outs, and the river safely double-paired the board to keep Foxen's kings as the best hand.

Lonis vs. Foxen

Lonis would claim Arieh's remaining chips shortly thereafter, setting up a heavyweight heads-up battle in which Foxen and Lonis started on even ground.

Foxen made quick work of the heads-up battle, extending a lead heading into what would become the final hand of the tournament. The chips went in on a board, with Lonis holding for top set against Foxen's for a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw. The turn gave Foxen the flush and the river sealed the deal.

For all of his multitude of live successes, Wednesday's victory marks the first non-hold'em live tournament victory of Foxen's career, according to The Hendon Mob. Foxen did win a WSOP gold bracelet in a $500 PLO Mystery Bounty back in October.

"There's a learning curve with PLO, and I think coming and playing these tournaments actually has been a big method to improve," said Foxen. "Just watching some of the other players, watching what they do and try to dissect it."

With this win, his third cash overall in this PGT PLO Series, Foxen put himself comfortably in front in the race for Player of the Series with four more events left on the schedule.

PGT PLO Series Event #7, $15,100 Pot Limit Omaha, final table results

^{Image courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.}