WSOP Super High Roller Won by Alex Foxen for $4.5 million

The $250,000-entry WSOP Event #50, the Super High Roller, saw Alex Foxen win his first-ever WSOP bracelet, taking his own name out of the discussion about who the best player never to win a bracelet is. Taking down a table packed with some of the world’s best players, Foxen won not only $4.5 million and the famous WSOP bracelet, but the respect and admiration of his peers.

Phil Ivey Busted from the Final

The money bubble had burst the previous evening, when Nick Petrangelo busted in 10^th place, putting the remaining nine players into the money places and guaranteeing them a return on their investment of $250,000 each (or $500,000 if they rebought). Shortly after the field was nine, it turned to eight, with Czech player Martin Kabrhel busting Danish poker star Henrick Hecklen. All that meant that when play began on the final day, only eight men stood a chance of walking away with the biggest op prize of the 2022 World Series of Poker so far.

It was the current WSOP Player of the Year leader Dan Zack who busted first of the eight, cashing for $488,095 when his shove pre-flop with ace-queen was called by Foxen, who had previously raised it up with pocket tens. As it happened, the run-out was cruel for Zack, with a queen coming on the flop but Foxen hitting a straight on the river to knock him out.

It was Phil Ivey who busted next, heading home in seventh place for $597,381 when his queen-jack was dominated by Brandon Steven’s ace-queen, with both an ace and a queen coming on the board to take out the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner.

Motormouth Kabrhel Drops Out of the Party

Martin Kabrhel is well known in the game for talking the hind legs off several donkeys, but not even his usual charismatic linguistics could save him. His all-in with king-deuce was called by Brandon Steven’s pocket jacks and Kabrhel lost out in sixth place for $759,362.

It was American PokerGO legend Sam Soverel who went next as his day of laddering as short stack came to an end in fifth place for $1,001,142.Soveral, who has won Poker Masters and U.S. Poker Open events aplenty on the PokerGO stream, lost in unlucky fashion, his pocket kings shot down by Steven’s ace-seven when an ace landed on the flop, all the chips having gone in pre-flop.

In fourth place, last year’s winner saw his attempt to win back-to-back bracelets in the biggest buy-in event of the World Series finally come to an end. Spanish player Adrian Mateos already has four WSOP bracelets by the age of just 27 and the man whose birthday it will be in Vegas next week cashed for another outrageous seven-figure score of $1,367,206. His king-ten started out behind ace-six and finished that way as he fell three places short of last year’s result but could still celebrate an incredible return on his investment.

Foxen Dominates Business End of Event

Three players were left but only one of them could win the gold. Chris Hunichen was the short stack among them and that proved crucial as he moved all-in with ace-seven against Foxen’s queen-three. Foxen paired both of his cards by the turn, meaning Hunichen’s ace on the flop meant nothing and ‘Big Huni’ crashed out, albeit for a score of $1,931,718.

With a lead of 8:1 in chips, Alex Foxen never looked like losing the chance to grab his first gold bracelet of a superb career that still looks to have a long way to go in terms of longevity. Brandon Steven thought he had the perfect chance for a vital double up when he got it in on a flop of Q-5-2 holding five-deuce for bottom two pair. He was ahead of Foxen’s queen-ten, too.

The turn was a king, keeping Steven on the path to a double up, but the river of a ten ended the event in Foxen’s favor and his rail celebrated wildly as he claimed the first bracelet of his poker career to date. Steven cashed for $2,820,581 in second place, but Foxen took home the $4,563,700 top prize and deservedly so.

After going close before, Alex Foxen has followed Dan Smith in winning a bracelet in 2022 to finally end the chase for that most elusive of poker ambitions to be made reality. So the question now is: who is the best player never to have won a bracelet?