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Alex Foxen Seeks Runner-up or Higher at WPT Five Diamond to Earn GPI Title

Dec 20, 2019

Alex Foxen

By Sean Chaffin

As Day 5 of the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic gets underway, one player remaining has some extra incentive at moving on to the final table. According to Eric Danis, president of the Global Poker Index (GPI), if Alex Foxen can snag at least a runner-up finish he’ll move into the top spot for the GPI Player of the Year.

Sean Winter moved into the spot on Thursday after winning a $25,000 High Roller at Bellagio for $342,000. Danis is quick to note that are still a few events remaining in the last days of the year that could still affect the standings. But Foxen is still in the running and hoping the Five Diamond becomes the tournament that vaults him to the top.

If Foxen can make it happen, that would mean back-to-back GPI titles and a late move from 10th to first. 

“There are definitely a lot of Player of the Year implications with this tournament, so that’s definitely something that would mean a lot to me,” he says. “I think if I were to win this I’d probably win Player of the Year.

“And having won it last year, that would be insane. That means a lot to me for sure. I’m just trying to focus on the moment and play my hands as best I can.”

A regular at some of the biggest events in the world, Foxen has more than $13.5 million in live tournament winnings and already has five final table appearances in Five Diamond preliminary events this year for $390,277. On the WPT, Foxen has more than $1.7 million and just missed joining the Champions Club in Season XVI when he finished runner-up for $1.1 million. With a deep run again, this could be the year he breaks through with a WPT title.

“Any time you go deep in big main event field like this it’s a lot of fun,” he says. “It’s definitely one of the moments in poker that you put in the work for and it feels really good to have a shot at it again.”

Foxen has numerous wins and cashes at events around the world and is considered one of the top names in the game. That includes several nice scores at Bellagio through the years. The fourth day of action was a bit of an up and down experience for Foxen, but ended with him sitting among the chip leaders.

Alex Foxen

Alex Foxen at the Season XVI WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table. 

“Today was actually really crazy,” he said after the day’s action. “For the first three levels, I was really card dead and really didn’t have much to work with for the majority of the day. And then I managed to win a flip to double up when I was down to 20 big blinds.

“Then a couple hands later, I won a nice pot. And then on the hand after that, I got Aces in against Jacks and Nines. It was a ridiculously big pot at the time. Not much else happened after that. Honestly, it was a lot of boredom and then a flurry of action really fast, and then more boredom afterward. But you’ve just got to react to the cards.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.

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