In recent years, the rise of several female poker players in the professional game has more than substantiated the widely held belief that poker is no longer one dominated by the male sex. Anyone can play poker and there is no barrier to anyone attempting to go from aspiring player to seasoned professional. Stars of the female game such as Ebony Kenney, Jessica Teusl and Cherish Andrews have all won big.
In the past few weeks, however, Kristen Foxen’s fifth WSOP bracelet victory has further raised her already sky-high profile. We ask whether the PokerStake seller and proud Canadian is the best female poker player the world has ever seen.
The Rise of Kristen Bicknell
Back in 2006, aged just 20, long before she married Alex Foxen, Kristen Bicknell started playing online poker in her freshman year at college. Soon realizing that her interest in the game was more than a hobby, the Ontario-born Canadian watched poker on TV, idolising the Full Tilt Poker pro Jennifer Harman among other. Bicknell played as ‘krissyb24’ on PokerStars and ‘krissy24’ on Full Tilt Poker as she build up a bankroll.
Playing live in Verona, the young Bicknell cashed several times, but after 2010, there was a three-year gap to her next cash as she focused online. And we mean focused. Over the period between 2011 and 2013, Foxen made Supernova Elite on PokerStars in each consecutive year, playing over 7.5 million hands in that time.
In 2013, Bicknell travelled to Las Vegas and played in the $1,000-entry Ladies Championship WSOP event. With a massive 954 entries, Foxen reigned supreme, beating Leanne Haas heads-up for a top prize of $173,922 – by far the biggest prize she’d ever won playing poker.
Three years later, Bicknell had her second bracelet and her first in an open bracelet event, with victory in the 2016 $1,500 No Limit hold’em Bounty event for a massive $290,768. After the groundbreaking victory, Bicknell spoke to PokerNews about what victory meant for her.
The Sponsored Pro Meets Her Husband
Kristen might have had professional success, but her personal life was never fully fulfilled until she met her husband Alex Foxen. The pair have become poker’s poker couple and tied the knot in 2022 in a private ceremony with family and friends. In the years before Kristen Foxen’s rise to power, she was developing as a poker ambassador as well as a professional, signing as a partypoker sponsored pro. Her promotion of the brand, passion for the game and success at the felt was exemplary, and over her years at partypoker, she became a flag-bearer for the brand.
In 2020, the year of the WSOP Online series in the summer due to COVID-19, Foxen won her third WSOP bracelet. Taking down the $2,500-entry NLHE 6-Max event for $356,411, Foxen put herself level with the best female players ever to look down at hole cards, becoming not just a superb professional but a poker legend.
In the 2024 WSOP Main Event, the action was intense and right at the heart of was Kristen Foxen, eventually busting in 13th place for a record score of $600,000, Foxen was at her absolute best, unlucky not to become the first female poker player to reach the Main Event final table since Barbara Enright in 1995.
Along the way, she showed how to play pocket kings deep in the Main, getting maximum value for her premium holding.
The Record Holder
Until 2023, Kristen Foxen was tied on three WSOP bracelet victories with poker legends Vanessa Selbst, Barbara Enright and Nani Dollison. In 2023, however, she moved out on her own with a fourth WSOP victory – her second online – when she won the 2023 $888 NLHE Crazy Eights event for $92,142.
Going clear of those three other female players was such an incredible achievement and such was the reputation of Foxen at the time of her winning it, few mentioned it simply because the assumption was always there that she would achieve that landmark. One year later, she has made it five, winning the $56,703 top prize in the $1,000 buy-in 6-max NLHE event.
Over the past few years, Kristen Foxen has become one of poker’s finest players – no matter what their gender – and her results have far from been limited to WSOP Events, with almost $8.5 million in live tournament earnings highlighted by her success in high rollers. In 2019, her victory in the $25,000-entry Poker Masters Event #6 brought her a top prize of $408,000, her greatest top prize win to date.
Over the past five or six years, Kristen Foxen has confirmed her place at poker’s top table and with more WSOP bracelets and winnings combined than any other female player, is surely now regarded as the greatest woman ever to play the game. With online profit too, Foxen is only a small amount behind Vanessa Selbst for total winnings, something that is sure to be corrected soon with Selbst now semi-retired.
You can head directly to Kristen Foxen’s PokerStake page right here to invest in her upcoming tournaments on the Triton Poker Series, WSOP and more.
