Back-to-back GPI POY titles

Though it will not be official for another day, Alex Foxen has won the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year award.

Foxen used a strong December to finish the year with 3,806.09 points, edging out a quartet of poker players who eclipsed the 3,600-point mark: Sean Winter, Bryn Kenney, Kahle Burns, and Stephen Chidwick.

No player had ever won any of the major POY races in consecutive years

With the title, Foxen achieved the unprecedented milestone of winning the GPI Player of the Year award two years in a row. No player had ever won any of the major POY races in consecutive years. He was the only player to earn more than 4,000 points in 2018, finishing with 4,095.52.

December WPT run clinched it

Foxen went into the final month of year in twelfth place with 3,236.71 points. All four rivals mentioned above were ahead of him; Burns, Winter, and Chidwick were one through three. He owned the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic, winning the Main Event and reaching another five final tables to rocket up the leaderboard.

Three tournaments, specifically, gave Foxen the points he needed to repeat as the GPI POY. He earned 226.42 POY points for his third place finish in the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller (Event #19), 238.89 points for a runner-up finish in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller (Event #14), and 690.65 points for his Main Event victory.

Foxen won more than $6.3 million in live tournaments in 2019

The three scores replaced three other tournaments on his 2019 POY record, boosting his point total by more than 569.

All told, Foxen won more than $6.3 million in live tournaments in 2019. He had 21 top-ten finishes and two titles: the WPT Five Diamond Main Event and the $20,000 High Roller at the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble in October.

GPI rewards quality over quantity

The Global Poker Index uses a player’s top 13 scoring results for the calendar year when calculating the Player of the Year point total.

Going into December, Alex Foxen’s lowest three scores that were counted were 190.41, 195.02, and 201.16. The three scores listed above knocked those off of Foxen’s POY resume. He actually had one other result at the WPT Five Diamond that was better than 190.41, but it was lower than the other three, so it didn’t make its way into his total.

The overall Global Poker Index uses a similar calculation, but uses results from the trailing three years. It also counts more than 13 scores and weights recent results more heavily. Foxen is the current leader in the overall GPI rankings.

Kristen Bicknell wins GPI Female POY

Also of note on the Global Poker Index is Kristen Bicknell, who will win the 2019 GPI Female Player of the Year award. She has 3,175.37 points, good for 18th in the 2019 GPI POY rankings and the highest position of any woman. It also puts her as the third-highest ranking Canadian player to finish the year.

Bicknell’s best scoring tournament of 2019 was right at the outset of the year. She finished 11th in the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC), earning $328,500 and 410.92 Player of the Year points. She also had one other score above 400 and two in the 300’s.

Bicknell sits even higher on the overall GPI list, ranking 13th, the highest Canadian on the Index at the moment.