Alex Foxen wins GPI POY for 2nd year in a row
Alex Foxen has officially won the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year award. With his title win, Foxen achieved the unparalleled feat of winning the GPI Player of the Year award two years in a row. In 2018 he was the only player who earned more than 4,000 points finishing with 4,095.52 to claim the 2018 POY title. No player in history had ever won any of the major POY races in consecutive years.
Foxen’s 2019 run for the POY title featured one of the most notable come from behind win since he went into the final month of year as an underdog in twelfth place with 3,236.71 points. Burns, Winter, and Chidwick were dominating the leaderboards, as they were placed one through three. However, Foxen knew that a first or second place finish at the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event would get him to top spot.
Foxen’s title win at the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event got him up to 3,806.09 points, eventually surpassing the poker players who crossed the 3,600-point mark: Sean Winter, Bryn Kenney, Kahle Burns, and Stephen Chidwick.
Foxen also notably made a deep run in the WSOP Main Event. He came in 40th place at the second largest ME field in WSOP – 8,569 players. He won $211,945 which is his biggest tournament cash in a WSOP event to date.
Along with his 2019 POY title, Foxen cashed $6,346,433.
Here is a list of the top 5 players in the GPI rankings
1st – William Alex Foxen (United States) 3,806.09 pts
2nd – Sean Winter (United States) 3,679.19 pts
3rd – Bryn Kenney (United States) 3,647.81 pts
4th – Kahle Burns (Australia) 3,641.63 pts
5th – Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) 3,637.94 pts
Kristen Bicknell wins Female GPI Player of the Year for third in a Row
Kristen Bicknell also created a new record after she won the 2019 GPI Female POY. She has won the prestigious GPI Female POY title for three consecutive years in a row.
Bicknell, like Foxen, was primarily an online player in her early days as a professional poker player. She reached Supernova Elite status and played live poker occasionally. She got her gold bracelet when she won the 2013 WSOP Ladies Event. Bicknell transitioned to live poker in 2015 and notably scored her second WSOP bracelet in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Bounty event at the 2016 WSOP a year and a half after her transition.
Bicknell has gathered 3,175.37 points, and has finished 18th in the 2019 GPI POY rankings, the highest position of any woman. It also puts her as the third-highest ranking Canadian player to finish the year.
Bicknell finished the year with 36 cashes and won $2.4 million in prize money.
Bicknell’s largest tournament score of 2019 was right at the beginning of the year. She cashed out $328,500 for her 11th place finish at the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC). That tournament also gave her a significant head-start for GPI rankings, earning 410.92 Player of the Year points. She also had one other score above 400 and two in the 300’s.
Bicknell is GPI Player of the Year, Alex Foxen’s girlfriend. Foxen and Bicknell have established themselves as the poker world’s number one power couple with their 2019 tournament results and achievements
Here is a list of the top 5 female players in the GPI rankings
1st – Kristen Bicknell (Canada) 3,175.37 pts
2nd – Maria Ho (United States) 2,518.42 pts
3rd – Jessica Dawley (United States) 2,102.14 pts
4th – Hui Chen Kuo (Taiwan) 2,034.73 pts
5th – Maria Constanza Lampropulos (United Kingdom) 1,832.67 pts
Danny Tang wins GPI Asia POY
Sponsored by Natural8, Danny Tang was hailed as the Asia’s 2019 GPI Player of the Year.
Tang has been consistently ranked one of the top players in GPI Asia.
In 2019, his pursuit for glory around the world earned him several four and five figure scores until the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro where he banked his first-ever career seven figures. Two months later, he added a first-ever WSOP gold bracelet to his achievements by winning the Final Fifty US$ 50k High Roller event.
In total, Tang cashed 37 times in 2019 amounting to over US$ 6.1 million.
Here is a list of the top 5 players in the Asia GPI rankings
1st – Daniel Chi Tang (Hong Kong) 3,163.58 pts
2nd – Chin Wei Lim (Malaysia) 2,876.93 pts
3rd – Christopher Michael Soyza (Malaysia) 2,876.31 pts
4th – Paul Phua (Malaysia) 2,812.32 pts
5th – Yake Wu (China) 2,630.24 pts
GPI Asia – Pacific National POY winners
A minimum of 1,000 points are required to be elected GPI National POY Winner
Australia – Kahle Burns – 3,641.63pts
China – Yake Wu – 2,630.24pts
Hong Kong – Daniel Tang – 3,163.58pts
India – Abhinav Iyer – 2,098.04pts
Japan – Tsugunari Toma – 2,055.90pts
Macau Huidong Gu 1,696.20pts
Malaysia Chin Wei Lim 2,876.93pts
New Zealand – Hamish Crawshaw – 2,242.28pts
Philippines – Mike Takayama – 1,986.43pts
Singapore – Graeme Siow – 1,968.92pts
South Korea – Sean Yu – 2,194.60pts
Taiwan – Pete Chen – 2,324.51pts
Thailand – Team Natural8 Phachara Wongwichit – 2,347.76pts
Vietnam – Thai Ha – 2,578.43pts
