Alex Foxen On The ‘Psychological Battle’ Of WSOP Main Event

There’s no arguing against Alex Foxen being one of the best tournament players in poker. He’s proven it year after year, consistently posting results far “above the rim.”

The former Boston College football player has racked up $33 million in career cashes, which puts him just inside the top 20 on the all-time money list. His notable finishes include both a runner-up and win in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event.

Although the 33-year-old can’t compete with his wife Kristen’s four World Series of Poker bracelets, Alex did manage to take down one of the biggest WSOP events of all time, banking $4.5 million in the 2022 $250,000 high roller event.

The New York native has managed to place inside the top 10 of the Card Player Player of the Year race for the last six consecutive years, and so far in 2024, he is off to a good start to make it seven in a row. Foxen has already made 11 final tables, including a win in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open high roller, while pocketing his second WSOP Circuit ring.

Card Player caught up with Foxen during some rare downtime while he prepared for this summer’s WSOP and daily high roller schedule.

Craig Tapscott: For most of the year, you are competing in smaller-field high roller tournaments. How do you best navigate your way through the large fields you find at the WSOP?

Alex Foxen: The small field events are fun because more dynamics are involved, player to player, and you get to go through the different stages of the tournament a little bit faster than in a larger field event. So, there’s a lot of upsides to that.

But honestly, one of my primary goals this year is to win a large field event. I feel like I’ve underperformed slightly in the larger field events in the last year or so. Recently, I’ve been putting a lot of meditative thought into accomplishing that goal.

I take a lot of pride in being someone who can win at some of the highest rates in the lower buy-in and the bigger field events against a wide range of player types.

Sometimes, when playing all the larger buy-in events, you don’t show up fully for some smaller ones. This year, I’m eager to prove I can show up for not only every event, but every single hand.

The smaller buy-ins are some of the most fun events, in my opinion. You get to play against a wide range of players. It is a bit more of a complex puzzle. In contrast, a high-stakes event is more of a theoretical battle. The smaller stakes require a specific skill set to navigate against all different types of players at the highest level.

Sure, you can get lucky. But I feel like in those types of events, if you’re playing above the rim, your win rates can be absolutely insane.

CT: What advice would you give to those sitting down to play the WSOP main event for the first time?

AF: This is a complex question. There are so many pieces to this answer that it’s hard to tackle, but here’s my advice.

I’ll start by saying that putting your tournament life at risk should be done very, very carefully. I have made a few deep runs in the main event. (Foxen finished 457th in 2023, 40th in 2019, and 109th in 2016.)

The first time I was all in during the 2019 event was when I busted. It was the same thing in 2016. The first time I was all in was when I busted.

This is part of why I’ve been able to go deep. I’ve made it to day four about half the times I’ve played the main event. A big part of that is my focus on reducing variance as much as possible, even with the willingness to lose some chips along the way.

For someone with a theoretical background like me, to some extent, it can be tough to wrap your head around losing chips in some spots, because we’re generally so focused on maximizing EV in every spot. But if you zoom out on the main event, you recognize that your EV is derived from being in the tournament for a long time.

Why is that? Because the win rates are so high against the average player in these fields. It’s best to sacrifice some EV and take a pass on the highest variance of lines most times. Losing EV in a specific hand will likely increase your overall EV for the tournament.

It’s a concept that’s difficult to keep present in front of your mind because you do revert back to your natural instincts.

CT: Can you be more specific about how to approach each hand?

AF: Most players’ thoughts during the main event usually go like this… “This is a good check-raise spot. This is a good bet here. You know, check-raise bluff here, or this is a good check-raise shove on the river.” Poker players are always looking for an edge.

You need to temper that type of thought process with the understanding that you’re winning chips every hand simply by just raising and continuation betting. You should have the awareness and knowledge to play simple, boring pots patiently. You don’t need to take any risks for your tournament life.

That’s the frame of mind you need to have. It’s best to structure all of your lines around that concept during the main event. Those ideas are crucial for success in the main event, specifically. It’s a psychological battle more than anything.

CT: Do you do anything special to maintain your focus and energy over the long hours at the tables?

AF: That’s a very difficult thing to do day after day. While playing, I’ll do my best to bring something relatively healthy and easy to digest. But it’s easier said than done, for sure.

Historically, I’ve experimented with fasting quite a bit during the series. There are pros and cons to small eating windows, in my opinion. I won’t be able to do that during this series because of my weight-training injury and recent surgery. I won’t be doing that anytime soon because restricting calories is not the best thing to do for a major tendon that needs to repair itself.

I will be doing my best to bring all kinds of nutritious snacks and have more consistent feeding throughout the day. I’ll probably bring a bag full of ice with maybe some cottage cheese. I’ll also get some milk and an assortment of high-protein snacks that will satiate me but won’t bog down my digestive system too much.

One of the biggest things I avoid is seed oils in my diet. I think they are public enemy number one. If there’s one thing that anyone could do to change their diet for longevity, that would be to remove them, in my opinion.

It’s tough. Because if you’re not used to this type of regimented diet or routine, it’s a lot harder to do. For people who are used to eating cheeseburgers and french fries, it can drag their energy down. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good cheeseburger. But when you’re playing poker, it’s not the ideal meal. It’s heavy with the bread and everything. It also weighs you down mentally.

CT: Looks like you’ve been taking it easy for a bit on the tournament circuit. What slowed you down?

AF: I had this shoulder injury, so I’m focusing on recovering and repairing that. I’m glad I didn’t travel to events because international flights are not good right after an operation. So, my prep this year has been very different because of the injury, but I will come into the WSOP fresher and probably less mentally tired than ever. I’m extra excited about it from that perspective.

CT: You’re the cofounder of the Chip Leader Coaching training site with your friend, fellow high-stakes pro Chance Kornuth. You mentioned when we first started talking that you’ve developed an exciting new series.

AF: We have and I’m very excited about it. It’s called Bracelet Hunter. We took my 2022 WSOP $250,000 win and reviewed the final table from start to finish. And we did it from everyone’s perspective, not just mine.

To be honest, my perspective was somewhat boring because I was a big chip leader for most of the final table. As the chip leader, you’re constantly applying pressure. That’s a great spot to be coming from. However, a lot of value comes from seeing this video course discussed from the perspective of every other player’s decisions at that table. We can apply a wide range of viewpoints to each hand.

The concepts we share in Bracelet Hunter can easily be applied to different buy-in strategy levels. We also discuss how to play against different player types during the training.

It’s the framework for thinking about what’s right in each spot, situations you might encounter as you move through a tournament. I’ve always emphasized the ‘why’ element of our strategy from a coaching and training perspective for anyone I’ve coached.

CT: What are your overall goals for your career at this point?

AF: That’s a good question. Poker is difficult with goal setting because goals are hard to control the outcome of. My goal is to play as well as I possibly can every hand and never take a hand off. I try not to ever take a tournament for granted. If I’m in the tournament, I will give my all 100% of the time.

I kind of see it more like a battlefield. Can I find a way to win here or there in every hand? But this formula is challenging from an emotional standpoint, because if you go into every day expecting to win, you’ll be disappointed.

You need to be very comfortable dealing with disappointment. Most people aren’t good at dealing with that, so they just go in with low expectations. They say, ‘I’m going to play my hands, and whatever happens, happens.’ That’s great for maximizing emotional comfort, but it’s suboptimal for maximizing performance.

I am willing to endure the emotional difficulties of waking up every day expecting to win the tournament because I think that will give me a slight edge on whether I’ll make this call or that fold during any given hand.

My ultimate goal is to make every single decision of the utmost importance. You never know when having five big blinds less is the difference between having to be all-in or being out of a tournament.

It’s a game of inches. That’s how I see it.

That’s not directly answering your question about the goals. But I’d say my goals are more qualitative because I firmly believe that with that type of approach, all of the results will follow.

I want to be regarded as someone who plays the highest and lowest stakes at the highest caliber. I want to show that I can win at every level and have done so consistently. That’s my goal from a poker legacy standpoint.

Find Alex on Twitter/X @WAFoxen and learn from him and other top pros at Chip Leader Coaching. ♠

*Photos by Card Player, PokerGO, and WPT.