When I Was A Donk – Alex Foxen

In this series, Card Player asks top pros to rewind back to their humble beginnings and provide insights regarding the mistakes, leaks, and deficiencies that they had to overcome in order to improve their games.

Even while seated, 6’4’’ former Boston College football player Alex Foxen is an imposing figure at the poker table. The Cold Springs Harbor, New York native made a name for himself online with more than $1.5 million in earnings before turning his attention to the live arena in 2015.

Since then, he’s pocketed $500,000 in live earnings, including a deep run in the 2016 World Series of Poker main event and a final table appearance at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. He also owns a WSOP Circuit ring from an event in New Orleans back in 2012.

Here, Foxen talks about his struggles with folding.

The first thing that comes to mind is my inability to fold. It still affects me to this day to some extent, but I definitely struggled with folding early on in my career.
I guess you could say that it was curiosity, but I think it was more of my competitive nature and that I had a real problem giving up on a hand. My mindset was all about trying to win the pot in front of me, instead of picking and choosing my spots so I had a better chance of winning.

I was looking at every hand as if it was a competition between myself and the other player, and if there was a way to win the pot without having the best hand, it was extra appealing for me. There’s also the dopamine rush you get when a hero call goes your way or a bluff gets through. It was very hard to turn that off and just let the game come to me.

It’s all about how you look at it. I’ve gotten much better over the years, as I developed as a player, at looking at small losses as wins. It was a major leak in my game and I think I’ve done a good job of addressing it. Now I can take pride in folding, because I know that it can often be just as valuable as winning a pot. ♠