PGT Kick Off Round-Up: Kristen Foxen Crushes Again, Stephen Song Goes Close

The final events of this year’s PokerGO Tour saw Kristen Foxen star as the American poker legend and former GPI Female Player of the Year captured the final event’s title and a top prize of $197,625. The conclusion of the event came after a heads-up deal between Kristen Foxen and Joao Simao, prompting a huge hero call for the trophy and the valuable double PGT points on offer.

Cowboys Save and Slay Soverel

With 93 entries in total, the final event of the 2025 PGT Kick Off series cost $10,000 to play instead of the regulation $5,000 buy-in that was attached to Events #1-#4. . While the first four events all cost $5,000 to play, the fifth and final event was a $10,000 buy-in, meaning there was $930,000 in the prizepool to share out among the final 14 players who made the money.

Near the money places, Chino Rheem busted before the bubble boy of the event was revealed as Michael Jozoff. All-in with , he was slain by the of Sam Soverel, whose record in PokerGO Events dwarves virtually everyone on the planet. A flop of was followed on the turn, however, by a , putting Jozoff in line for a sensational double-up. No sooner had he been offered a lifeline, though, was it snatched away, as a fell on the river to eliminate Jozoff at Soverel’s expense.

Once inside the money places, Michael Berk (14^th) and Eric Blair (13^th) both min-cashed for $23,250, as did Soverel himself, whose race was ended by having cowboys. This time, his couldn’t double-up against , as Kristen Foxen’s pocket sevens caught not one but two more sevens on the flop that gave her quads. Soverel was out of his chair after missing the turn and Foxen had a big scalp to go with a big pot.

Ausmus Out Before Podium Places

After Sean Winter (11^th), Carson Richards (10^th) and Bin Duan (9^th) all busted for $27,900, John Andress missed out on the final table when his shove with king-deuce ran into Jeremy Ausmus’ ace-queen, and a queen on the flop eventually ended all hope for the at-risk Andress. The pot vaulted Ausmus off the bottom of the seven-player leaderboard heading into the final table, with his stack of 975,000 some way behind the chip leading pile of 4.9 million chips belonging to Foxen at the summit.

An exit for Neil Warren in seventh place for $37,200 kicked off the final day on PokerGO, before Stephen Song got his ranges right to double-up through Joao Simao with a dominating ace-king over king-nine. Song, who has become the latest player to bank a six-figure score in a PokerStake backed event this year already, rose through the ranks, and watched on a Foxen’s took out Nick Seward with . Seward’s departure in sixth for $46,500 was followed by that of Andrew Moreno in fifth for $65,100. Joao Simao doubled up in the same hand, his getting there to make a pair of nines on the river when Moreno’s bricked out, and Foxen couldn’t hit with pocket threes.

Jeremy Ausmus cashed for $83,700 in fourth when he lost a big hand to Foxen and then lost the rest of it to her in the next hand. That left Foxen in the lead with 9 million chips, with Simao on 3,375,000 in second place and Song bringing up the rear with just 1,575,000 chips.

Song Hits Wrong Note as Foxen Repeats Trick

With three players left, Stephen Song made his exit, losing a coinflip to bust for a score of $111,600. All-in with , Song lost to Simao’s pocket fives when a flop of set up Song for either Broadway or top pair, but no cards came to help him. Simao won that hand after chipping up a little and went into the final duel ahead of Foxen with 7 million playing 6.8 million.

With the two stacks so close, Simao and Foxen were amenable to a discussion about doing a deal. They agreed to an even chop and battled on for just the trophy… and the crucial PGT points. With double point on offer all week, whoever won would be able to take their place at the top of the PGT 2025 leaderboard. Only the top 40 players – and 10 Dream Seat winners – will make the $1m Freeroll Championship in early 2026. The 2025 version was won by Jeremy Ausmus just last week for $500,000.

The heads-up battle came down to a superb hero call by Kristen Foxen to end it. On a board of , Simao bet flop and turn before shoving the river with the bluff of . Foxen only had but figured it out and made a superb call for almost all of her chips to seal the victory and celebrated with a polite, professional handshake for her adversary.

Kristen Foxen lifted another trophy as she began 2025 in fine style. Can the WSOP bracelet crusher go even bigger than in the last 12 months? You’d better believe it.