Poker likes to promote itself as the ultimate inclusive game. But actually, an ongoing frustration within the poker community has been the fact that so few women participate in events that are open to all players.
Given that reality, there is a strong rooting interest on behalf of female players. That especially extends to the World Series of Poker, currently going on at the newly rebranded Horseshoe Las Vegas.
One such example comes out of the Ontario professional poker scene and her name is Kristen Bicknell Foxen. With casino apps in Ontario having been fully legal and regulated for more than a year, perhaps sheâll lead by example for others to follow.
Women Fighting For Seats At Poker Table
There is always a storyline about the âlast women standingâ in the Main Event, which began July 3 and runs through July 16-17. However, itâs also always noteworthy when a female player makes a deep run in any WSOP tournament.
For the record, poker Hall of Famer Barbara Enright is the only women to make a Main Event final table when she finished fifth in 1995.
Many players sharpening their poker skills at Ontario online casinos will be dreaming of the day they can make a deep run in a major event, particularly the WSOP.
So far in 2023, no woman has won an open tournament. In early July, Tamar Abraham, of Cypress, California, won the Ladiesâ $1,000 No-limit Holdâem Championship for more than $192,000. It was just the fifth cash for Abraham in either a WSOP or WSOP Circuit event.
However, the overall most impressive performance by a woman so far â barring the eventual results of the Main Event that has more time to go â belongs to Foxen.
Poker is among the many card games available at Toronto online casinos.
More About Foxenâs Background
Born in St. Catherines, Ontario, and listed as an Ottawa resident, the 36-year-old Foxen has been a force on the poker scene over the last decade. She has played fearlessly in some of the highest stakes events in the world.
At this yearâs WSOP, Foxen has placed in the top 20 four times and earned more than $439,000 in winnings in her six cashes. Her deepest run was a seventh-place finish in a $5,000 buy-in mixed event (no-limit holdâem and pot-limit Omaha). But her biggest payday so far was for a 10th-place finish in a $100,000 buy-in no-limit holdâem tournament for about $187,000.
Foxenâs first WSOP cash was in 2013 when she won her first of three World Series bracelets in the Ladiesâ Championship for nearly $174,000.
Over the course of more than 10 years playing in WSOP events â in person in Las Vegas, in Europe, and over the internet with options such as those available to Ontario online poker customers â she has 60 cashes for almost $1.8 million in winnings.
Online Poker Database Ranks Foxen Very High
The Hendon Mob database, which tracks more than just WSOP play, credits Foxen with more than $6.4 million in career earnings. A lot of that coming in online tournament play.
The site ranks Foxen No. 14 all-time in poker winnings. Superstar Daniel Negreanu is No. 1 among Canadian players with almost $51 million in career winnings.
Players wishing to emulate Foxenâs success coming out of Canada can sharpen their skills with several options, including the WSOP Ontario online app.
Foxen is married to another successful poker professional, New Yorker Alex Foxen, a former football player at Boston College. Kristen Foxen describes herself humbly as a poker grinder. Her poker interest began in college and she honed her skills online, reportedly playing millions of hands in a single year.
The Hendon Mob database dates her first tournament cash in 2006 for a mere $845 at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. Seven years later, she had her in-person tournament break-out moment at the 2013 WOP Ladies Tournament.
And she has been stacking chips ever since.
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