One of the bigger storylines that emerged as the World Series of Poker Main Event churned to its conclusion was whether or not a woman would break the 29-year streak and make the final table. With 18 players left, the odds of that happening looked pretty good as one of the better tournament players currently working, Kristen Foxen, started Day 8 fifth in chips.
Foxen (nee Bicknell) was 8-years-old when Barbara Enright finished fifth in the Main Event, and since then only three women have gotten as close as possible by finishing tenth: Susie Isaacs in 1998, Annie Duke in 2000, and Gaelle Baumann in 2012.
But with due respect to those players, this year felt different simply because Foxen was the woman with all the chips. This is a player who could not only make the final table, but has the skill, knowledge and demeanor to win the whole damn thing. After all, Foxen, who turns 38 in December, has a collection of accolades and wins that any player — male or female — would take pride in.
A four-time Global Poker Index Female Player of the Year (2017,2018, 2019 and 2023) who will most likely hit the $10 million mark in lifetime tournament cashes before she hits 40, she is a poker junkie who called herself the “ultimate grinder” after hitting Supernova Elite status on PokerStars in 2011, 2012 and 2013 by playing more than 2.5 million hands in each of those years.
That experience built a foundation that won her four World Series of Poker bracelets, the first coming in 2013 when she became the Ladies Event champ. But she also has plenty of success in open and high-roller events, including a victory in January in a $10,000 PokerGO Tour event for $165,000.
She also scored wins at the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, the Aria Summer High Rollers series, the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour high roller series in Macau, and the Poker Masters, where she won a $25,000 buy-in event for $408,000 — her largest cash up until Sunday.
Foxen finished 13th in the Main Event after running her big stack into Joe Serock’s flopped two pair in a hand that will be talked about for a long while. Here it is.
And with that, the last woman standing in the 2024 WSOP Main Event had to take the long walk away from the feature table, wondering what would have been if she didn’t play her second pair so aggressively. Foxen cashed $600,000 for her deep run, but was disappointed in the result.
“THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to everyone who was cheering me on throughout the Main Event!” she wrote on X. “It was a very disappointing finish; I really wanted that bracelet, and I played my heart out. Very grateful for the opportunity to play in such a monumental tournament.”
She outlasted more players than any women in Main Event history, a record that should stand until she (or some other talented woman) breaks the barrier and makes the final nine.
Her deep run is even more impressive knowing that she did it in the largest Main Event in history. The poker star outlasted 10,099 players, a vast majority who are men, again showing the poker world she deserves mentioning when talking about the great players currently competing.
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