Five years separated Alex Foxen’s first and second cashes on the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series. But having claimed a maiden title in Monte Carlo in November, it’s taken only a month for Foxen to land another.
The 33-year-old American pro vowed to play all the Triton stops as he collected his first trophy last month, and he kept his promise by returning to the series here at the Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, in the Bahamas. And tonight Foxen overpowered a characteristically difficult $100K Main Event field to pick up the incredible $3.85 million first prize, which also comes with a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.
It’s a second Triton win, and a third bracelet, and comes only days after he picked up a $2.8 million score in the Triton Invitational. This was truly a masterclass from one of tournament poker’s finest exponents. Foxen stayed in the hunt in the middle of the pack for all of three days of competition, saving his most devastating play for today’s final.
He rose from seventh in chips as the final got under way, and did not put a foot wrong. After winning a massive, tournament-defining flip against Sam Mullur, Foxen goaded Fedor Holz into paying him off when only three players remained, and he then pulled off one of the all-time most heroic hero-calls against his heads-up opponent Joao Vieira to seal the deal.
Foxen had bottom pair and was facing three barrels of betting from Vieira. But Foxen sniffed it out and took the whole thing down moments later. Foxen was irresistible when it mattered the most, and he richly deserves this most famous of victories.
“It’s pretty surreal to get a second Triton win, third bracelet, all these things,” Foxen said in his post-game interview. “I ran really good. I feel like I played almost as well as I could. Just super happy with the moment.”
He added: “It’s nice to get a couple of these, especially after spending so long away from Triton. It feels like Triton has become the pinnacle of the high stakes poker scene and having been away from that I definitely feel like I came back a maybe a little bit forgotten and potentially underestimated. So it’s exciting to get a couple right away.”
He won’t be underestimated any longer, that’s for certain.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
This three-day event began on Tuesday, just as the dust was still settling on Alejandro Lococo’s victory in the Triton Invitational. The $12 million man was among the Triton newcomers who took advantage of a location closer to home to sample Main Event action for the first time, and to build a field of 182 entries.
That put more than $18 million in the prize pool and ensured 31 places would pay.
Day 2 was about consolidation for those fortunate enough to have comfortable stacks, although getting past the bubble was the most important factor for most. Even the Day 1 chip leader David Yan couldn’t guarantee a profit (he bust in 36th) and Bryn Kenney and boss-man Paul Phua also headed out without a cash.
Wayne Heung was among those existing purely on fumes as the bubble approached, and his stack got shorter and shorter and shorter until he was forced all-in in the big blind. As if the situation wasn’t bleak enough already, he only had 
. It wasn’t enough at the start of the hand, and it definitely wasn’t enough by the end of it. Dimitar Danchev had two pair, and Heung was out.
The rest were guaranteed $160,000, and the remainder of a long Day 2 took the field down to 14. The chip-leader was one of Triton Monte Carlo’s breakout stars, Ossi Ketola, who had one again coasted through the megastars with the ease of someone supping a cocktail on sands of the Caribbean. Ketola had masses, though a chasing pack including the likes of Fedor Holz, Alex Foxen and Seth Davies wasn’t going to allow him to have it all his own way.
FINAL DAY PLAY
All eyes were on Ketola as the tournament resumed on Day 3. He was certainly untroubled at the comfortable end of the leader board as Mario Mosböck, Tom Fuchs, Stephen Chidwick and Mikita Badziakouski fell in 14th through 11th, respectively. (In case you were in any doubt as to the quality of the field, just look at that quartet who narrowly missed the final.)
Austria’s Thomas Muhlocker had 19 big blinds when the tournament was 10 handed, and he was sitting in the small blind when action folded to him. With only Holz behind him, he jammed with 
. Unfortunately for Muhlocker, Holz’s random hand was one of the best: 
was a snap call. Five blanks later and Muhlocker was out.
That set a final table at which Ketola still led, but where Holz had closed the gap.
Final table chip counts
Ossi Ketola – 10,375,000 (83 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 9,075,000 (73 BBs)
David Coleman – 5,800,000 (46 BBs)
Joao Vieira – 5,100,000 (41 BBs)
Samuel Mullur – 4,400,000 (35 BBs)
Aleksandr Zubov – 3,575,000 (29 BBs)
Alex Foxen – 3,450,000 (28 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 2,900,000 (23 BBs)
Seth Davies – 825,000 (7 BBs)
True to form at Triton final tables, there was plenty of big blinds to go around at the start of play, but things rapidly shallowed out as these GTO wizards played it by the book. Ketola was the wild card, but he lost a big pot to Holz when a massive flopped combo draw missed (Holz had two pair), and then ran pocket jacks into Alex Foxen’s queens. It drew the Finn back into the pack.
Seth Davies has had the best few months of his poker career towards the end of 2024, and here he was again at another final table. But seven big blinds wasn’t quite enough for the American crusher to run his good form into a maiden Triton title — although he got unlucky to lose his final hand. Holz opened the button with 
and Davies picked up 
in the small blind.
Davies’ last chips went in as an under-call, but Holz hit both his six and jack to do the job against Davies. Davies’ 32nd career Triton cash was for $393,000.
They played eight handed for a good long while, during which Ketola dipped and then blazed back into action, winning a decent pot with queens against Joao Vieira, then going on a relentless raising run that took him back to the top of the counts.
Amid this flurry of action, Dimitar Danchev played his final pot, losing a flip with 
against Samuel Muller’s pocket sevens. It was in the same location in 2013 that Danchev broke through as a poker player, taking down the annual PCA. But his left the stage this time unable to add to his Triton title haul, instead earning $475,000 for eighth.
Mullur did not have much time for celebration, however, as he quickly found himself following Danchev out of the door. He found a great squeeze spot with 
after Holz had opened and Foxen had called in the hijack. But though Holz folded to Mullur’s 30 big blind jam, Foxen had pocket jacks and called.
This was a pot that would decide the tournament chip lead, and Foxen won it. He flopped a jack to leave Mullur drawing dead by the turn. Mullur won another $650,500 as this young player continues to build his reputation and bankroll.
After the long, tetchy period, the handbrake was now off. The average stack was now 30 big blinds and only two players, Foxen and Ketola, had more than that. When Foxen beat Ketola out of another one, he put some distance between him and the rest.
However Foxen too now found it tough at the top. He lost a flip to double up Aleksandr Zubov’s short stack (fours against 
), and everything bunched up once more.
Time for another bad beat. This time, Joao Vieira and David Coleman got their stacks in pre-flop, with Coleman raise/four-bet jamming over Vieira’s three-bet. Coleman had the dominant hand with against Vieira’s 
. With nothing to help him on flop or turn, Vieira seemed destined for the sidelines.
However, the 
appeared on the river to score a mighty double for Triton’s leading Portuguese talent. Coleman found himself with fewer than five big blinds and in grave danger. He played every pot after that, losing a small amount, chopping one with a straight, but then losing back-to-back against Foxen and then Holz to bust.
Coleman won $890,000 for sixth, cursing that ten on the river for denying him the seven-figure score the remaining five now locked up.
After some more small-ball jousting, the tournament went on a break and the blinds went up. Average stack was now down to 23 blinds and Vieira was Foxen’s closest challenger. Ketola was in fifth place with 10 big blinds, but only six blinds separated the next three. ICM pressure was getting extreme.
Foxen alleviated some of it by busting Ketola. Ever since he arrived on the scene in Monte Carlo, the Patrik Antonius protege has shown all the skills required of a high-stakes tournament player, most notably an utterly fearless approach and a keen instinct for applying maximum pressure. That strategy won’t always pay dividends, but it only started to go wrong in this tournament once he was already deep in the money.
With 10 big blinds, he jammed over a Foxen open holding 
. Foxen had the dominating 
and there was no dramas. Ketola, wearing a fur hat and coat in the Caribbean, was now duly frozen out. He won $1,172,000 for fifth.
Not long before that, Aleksander Zubov had been odds-on to occupy that place. But the Russian won that flip against Foxen and kept himself ticking along nicely enough for him to outlast Ketola. But then another flip ended things. This time, Zubov opened , saw Vieira three-bet, and decided he had plenty good to rip it in.
Vieira had pocket fives and the pair held through flop, turn and river. That was the end of the final Russian challenge. Zubov took $1,482,000 for fourth. Vieira, meanwhile, now became the fourth person at this final table to hold the chip lead, sitting with 52 blinds to Foxen’s 36 and Holz’s 26.
This was far from done, though. Holz now took centre stage. He lost one to Foxen, but then took six on the spin as Level 27 yielded to 28. It pushed him back to the top, with Vieira suddenly back in third and Foxen into second place. Holz did not take his foot off the gas. Looking down at 
, he called Foxen’s button raise from the big blind and happily flopped an ace. The three cards to appear were 
.
Holz check-called Foxen’s continuation bet, taking them to the on the turn. Holz check-called once more. When the 
came on the river, the pattern went through one more iteration. Holz checked for a third time and Foxen bet once again. This time it was all in, with the two players’ stacks all-but even.
Holz was up against it. He still had top pair, but Foxen’s bet, according to Randy Lew in the commentary booth, was polarizing. Holz had only a bluff catcher. However Holz decided to go with it and flicked in the call. But he had now run into it: Foxen’s 
was a flopped pair and a turned two pair. It was best, and Holz was now on the rail. His incredible late cameo had taken him from the bottom of the counts to the top, but now he was out of there. Third place paid him $1,830,000.
The remaining duo took a breather as the stage was reset for heads up. Foxen had 33.05m (66 big blinds) to Vieira’s 12.45m (25 BBs). There was enough play to last another hour or so, but equally it might get done within minutes. It was far closer to the latter.
A handful of heads-up pots sent chips this way and that. But then a monster developed. Foxen completed the small blind with 
and Vieira opted to raise with . Foxen called to see a flop of 
. Foxen had moved ahead, but Vieira continued with the betting lead. Foxen called the quarter-pot continuation bet.
The turn was the 
and Vieira sized up significantly. He now bet two-thirds pot, but Foxen was undeterred. He called again.
The river was the and Vieira went for it again. He had nothing, but stabbed for all but half a blind. Foxen only had bottom pair, but somehow figured it out. He stuck in the call and took down a huge one, leaving Vieira hanging by the most perilous thread.
“Soul-owned,” was how Randy Lew, in the commentary booth, described it. He added later, “I’ve got to say that might be the best call I’ve ever seen.”
Foxen snipped him loose from that thread just two hands later to end this clinic.
Vieira won $2.59 million for second, but Foxen’s breathtaking display put him top of the charts once more. He now has two Triton titles, and one suspects number three won’t be too long coming either.
“It was never easy to skip many of those stops, but I’m really happy to be playing them now,” Foxen said. Good to have you back, Alex.
Triton Paradise $100K Main Event
Dates: December 10-12, 2024
Entries: 182 (inc. 60 re-entries)
Prize pool: $18,200,000
1 – Alex Foxen, USA – $3,850,000
2 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $2,590,000
3 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $1,830,000
4 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $1,482,000
5 – Ossi Ketola, Finland – $1,172,000
6 – David Coleman, USA – $890,000
7 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $650,500
8 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $475,000
9 – Seth Davies, USA – $393,000
10 – Thomas Muhlocker, Austria – $333,000
11 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $333,000
12 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $296,500
13 – Tom Fuchs, Germany – $296,500
14 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $269,000
15 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $269,000
16 – Jason Koon, USA – $242,000
17 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $242,000
18 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $215,000
19 – Vladimir Minko, UK – $215,000
20 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $215,000
21 – Chris Brewer, USA – $196,500
22 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $196,500
23 – Orpen Kiscacikoglu, Turkey – $196,500
24 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $178,000
25 – Philip Sternheimer, UK – $178,000
26 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $178,000
27 – Sorel Mizzi, Canada – $178,000
28 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $160,000
29 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $160,000
30 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $160,000
31 – Stephen Song, USA – $160,000