Kristen Foxen Claims Top Spot On Women’s All-Time Money List With PokerGO Cup Poker Tournament Win

Kristen Foxen is now the highest-earning female tournament poker player in history.

The 38-year-old Canadian professional surpassed longtime women’s money list leader Vanessa Selbst thanks to her win in the penultimate event of the 2025 PokerGO Cup, which came with $348,300 in prize money.

With $11,077,811 in career earnings, Foxen now has a $178,784 lead over Selbst, who has not cashed in a poker tournament in nearly five years. The former poker pro announced her retirement from full-time play in 2018, and has since transitioned into a career in the financial sector.

Foxen and Selbst are the only two female players to have accrued eight figures in poker tournament earnings. The next-highest earner is Kathy Liebert with $7,129,540.

Foxen already held a key poker record, with her five World Series of Poker gold bracelets being the most of any female player. Last year Foxen also nearly became the first woman to make the main event final table since Barbara Enright placed fifth in 1995, but ultimately was eliminated in 13th place for a career-best payday of $600,000.

This title came with plenty of rankings points. The 576 Card Player Player of the Year points Foxen secured moved her into seventh place in the 2025 POY standings presented by Global Poker. This was her second title and third final-table of the year, having also won the final event of the PokerGO Tour Kickoff series. Her two PGT wins and six qualifying cashes make her the outright leader on the tour’s season-long leaderboard with 857 points.

A total of 86 entries were made in this $15,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, making for a $1,290,000 prize pool. The top 13 finishers cashed, with just seven contenders moving on to the second and final day of action inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. Ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel held the chip lead to start, while Foxen came in as the shortest stack.

Eric Wasserson was the first to be eliminated. He was ground down to just a few big blinds during the early action and eventually called all-in with 4-2 suited from the big blind facing a small-blind shove from Farid Jattin. The bracelet winner earned $51,600 as the seventh-place finisher.

Six-handed play lasted for about an hour, with plenty of players getting short only to bounce back. Foxen began her surge up the chip counts with pocket kings holding against the pocket jacks of Jattin. Not long after doubling in that pot, she moved into first place in the chip counts.

Eventually, the stalemate was broken four-time bracelet winner David Peters took a stand against Foxen, who had been applying plenty of pressure after moving into the lead. Foxen opened for 1,700,000 from under the gun with A4, essentially an all-in move. Peters had the bet covered by 225,000 and moved all-in with AQ from the cutoff. Foxen called the remainder and was in rough shape preflop, but quickly turned the tables when the flop came down 854. The 2 turn left Peters in need of a queen to win or a three to chop. Instead another four came on the end, the 4, to improve Foxen to trips. Peters headed home with $64,500 for his efforts. This score grew his lifetime haul to nearly $51.1 million.

It’s off to the $25,000 finale for dpeterspoker17</a> after he busts in sixth place to <a href="https://twitter.com/krissyb24poker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">krissyb24poker.

Stream the PokerGO Cup on PokerGO. https://t.co/GjIC39481Z pic.twitter.com/F7kDBWPGjG

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 19, 2025

Sergio Aido was not as fortunate when his A4 squared off against the AQ of Foxen. Aido shoved his last nine big blinds from under the gun and Foxen called from the small blind. Aido picked up the nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw by the turn, with 10658 on board. None of his 14 outs appeared on the river, though, as the 9 instead locked up another knockout for Foxen.

Aido, who won event no. 5 at this series just days earlier, cashed for $90,300 as the fifth-place finisher. The bracelet winner from Spain now has nearly $22 million in total cashes under his belt.

Seidel’s run in this event came to an end when his pocket queens were cracked by the A-J of Jattin. Seidel shoved from the cutoff for 7 big blinds and Jattin called from the button, having Seidel covered by a single big blind. An ace in the window left Seidel in need of a queen or running clubs. He found no further help on the turn or river, though, and was eliminated in fourth place ($116,100).

The Poker Hall of Famer is approaching $48.7 million in lifetime earnings, with 428 recorded in-the-money finishes spanning as far back as 1988.

Despite scoring that knockout, Jattin was ultimately the next to be eliminated. He three-bet shoved for around 11 big blinds from the big blind with KQ facing a button min-raise from Foxen, who called with AQ. The board came down AJ95K to send Jattin packing in third place ($161,250). The Colombian all-time money leader now has $9,992,730 in career earnings under his belt.

Heads-up play began with Foxen holding a 4:1 chip lead over bracelet winner and CoinPoker ambassador Patrick Leonard. The lead had grown slightly larger by the time the final hand was dealt. Foxen shoved from the button for 12 big blinds effective with KJ and Leonard quickly called with A9. The 1044QJ runout gave her a winning pair of jacks on the river to lock up the pot, the title, and the top spot on the women’s money list.

Leonard took home $225,750 as the runner-up, growing his recorded earnings to more than $4.7 million. This near win came just shy of a month after he earned his first PGT title by taking down event no. 2 of the PGT Kickoff series. The British poker pro has already cashed five times this year, all in PGT tournaments. With 1,307 POY points, he is now ranked 20th in the overall standings. Leonard has also climbed to fourth on the PGT season-long leaderboard.

SHE IS HER! krissyb24poker</a> wins PokerGO Cup Event #7 for $348,300, moving back to the top of the <a href="https://twitter.com/PokerGOTour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">PokerGOTour season-long leaderboard.

Relive the final table on PokerGO.https://t.co/GjIC393Acr pic.twitter.com/dUGP7SH1Mi

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 20, 2025

Final Table Results

Photo: PokerGO – Alicia Skillman