Two of Canada’s finest ever poker players clashed heads-up last night in Las Vegas as Kristen Foxen and Daniel Negreanu made it to the final two players in the latest PokerGO Tour event. The PGT Kick Off has begun 2024 with a bang, as many players with global reputations have headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the chance to bag early PokerGO Tour leaderboard points and get into the top 40 places that last year allowed players to battle for a $1m freeroll Championship title.

Event #5 Fills Up the Field

“It feels like you’re taunting me.”

With 50 entries, this fifth event of the 2024 PGT Kick Off series had a whopping $500,000 in the prizepool and heading into the final day, Daniel Negreanu was the chip leader after dominating the closing stages of Day 1 inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA on the Las Vegas Strip. Such was Negreanu’s early dominance, the man known as Kid Poker picked up four hands right off the bat as the six-time WSOP bracelet event winner utilized the power of his stack to perfection.

The first player to bust was the Japanese player Masashi Oya, who had entered play on the final day with a micro-stack and lost it shortly afterwards. Oya was all-in pre-flop with but called by Aram Zobian with and Alex Foxen with . The board of connected with Foxen’s five and that sent Oya home with $30,000.

One of the most interesting dynamics of the final five players was between two players who more than knew each other well. Married couple Alex and Kristen Foxen, nee Bricknell, are a powerhouse of a poker couple and watching the pair playing each other as hard as the others was fascinating. Kristen threw away her cards after one particular hand and they landed in front of her husband.

“It feels like you’re taunting me,” he laughed, and Mrs Foxen laughed right back.

American Heroes Ousted

Alex Foxen never really recovered from being short stack and eventually busted in fifth place for $40,000. He was unlucky to do so as he three-bet with and called off Kristen Foxen’s four-bet shove with . Alex called and was a big favorite heading to the board. That all changed on the flop as Kristen flopped top set. The turn did open up wheel straight outs of a three for Alex but the on the river condemned one half of the Foxens to the rail.

Kristen Foxen had drawn level with Negreanu but Kid Poker wasn’t going to let that remain the case and moved all-in pre-flop with . Called by Aram Zobian with , the board of kept Negreanu’s pair in the lead and Zobian was sent to the rail for a score of $50,000.

Three became two when the third American in succession was eliminated from the competition. On a flop of , Sam Laskowitz moved all-in with and Foxen called with . A turn of the didn’t help Laskowitz, as only a spade would do and the on the river ended his hopes of winning the tournament, his exit in third place worth $70,000.

Oh, Carnivore!

“If I fold this, they’ll laugh at me. Man, I’m so dead.”

Two remained, and both hailed from Canada. As heads-up began, Kristen Foxen had 4,265,000 chips, with Daniel Negreanu on 3,235,000. It didn’t take long for Negreanu to draw himself level in a no-showdown pot but Foxen took the next two sizeable pots to open up an almost 3:1 chip lead.

A pivotal pot saw a board of lead to a chunky 1 million chip bet from Foxen.

“My spidey senses say this isn’t good for me,” said Negreanu out loud. “If I fold this, they’ll laugh at me. Man, I’m so dead. How can I be dead, though?”

Eventually Negreanu made the crying call with but was shown that his unfollowed instinct had been correct. Foxen turned over for a flopped two pair and the hand gave her a seemingly unassailable 10:1 chip lead.

In the final hand, the same hole cards doomed Kid Poker to defeat. All-in for his tournament life with , Negreanu was up against Foxen’s . The flop of was no good for Negreanu, and while the turn added straight outs for Negreanu, he didn’t hit any of the 11 cards he was chasing on the river, which ended the battle. Afterwards, Negreanu paid tribute to Foxen on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Not too bad… “for a girl”

😂😂😂

All seriousness, Kristen is tough as nails and deserved the win, she played a great final table and I enjoyed the fun hands we had in the heads up match

Hope those of you that tuned in enjoyed the show https://t.co/B9NCoYciwA

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) January 17, 2024

Shots fired? Not in all seriousness. In fact, there was a lot of respect between the pair, with Foxen happy to put some friendly fire right back across the social media site.

Haha. Well, thank you very much @RealKidPoker ! It was a fun battle, (and I got dealt the win). Hopefully another rematch in the future! You're a pleasure to play with.

You played well too…

"for a vegan" 😜🤭 https://t.co/jrC38AngHt

— Kristen Foxen (@krissyb24poker) January 17, 2024

With the final PokerGO Tour Kick Off event concluding, here’s how things stand on the PGT Leaderboard after the first fortnight of the new season.