Alex Foxen has booked a spot in the quarter-finals of the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship at the 2026 WSOP, putting an ACR Poker patch into the final eight of the most prestigious heads-up event on the live calendar.
Foxen joined the ACR Poker Pro Team in May 2026, slotting into a roster that already included Chris Moneymaker, Phil Hellmuth, Ebony Kenney and Jonathan Little. The Heads-Up Championship run is the first deep result he has put up since the ACR badge went on, and it lands squarely in the middle of the WSOP coverage push that Daniel Negreanu has been hyping all week.
The field opened with 96 entries spread across two starting days, with names like Negreanu, Biao Ding, Phil Galfond, Ben Heath and Stephen Chidwick all in the bracket. The 25K Heads-Up is single-elimination from registration close, so every win Foxen has logged so far has cost an opponent their entire tournament. He has now won three matches to reach the round of eight.
Why this matters
Two reasons. First, the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship is the gold standard of high-roller heads-up poker on US soil. It carries a WSOP bracelet, a top-heavy payout that pushes well past a million dollars for first, and the structure does not allow you to fade your way to the money. You either win matches or go home with nothing. A quarter-final spot is already the deepest a Foxen-tier American pro has gone in a 25K Heads-Up bracket in several years.
Second, this is the first time ACR Poker has had a sponsored ambassador in the late stages of a high-buy-in WSOP event since the room rebuilt its pro roster around Moneymaker. ACR's recent ambassador hires have been pitched on credibility - Moneymaker's history, Foxen's high-roller record, Kenney's bracelet form. A late heads-up run is exactly the type of story the room signed Foxen to produce on camera.
Whoever's left in this bracket, they have all earned it. It's the cleanest format in poker - you can't hide.
Alex Foxen (paraphrased from the WSOP stream desk)
The bracket from here
The quarter-finals reduce the field from eight to four, then the semi-finals and the final are scheduled to play on the ESPN Main Stage with PokerGO streaming. Negreanu has been vocal all week about the 2026 coverage upgrade and called the 25K Heads-Up "the perfect format for a streaming audience" in a follow-up YouTube vlog.
A Foxen run to the final would put ACR Poker patches on the ESPN Main Stage broadcast at the 2026 WSOP, which is the type of TV moment the room has not had since Moneymaker's 2003 Main Event was being replayed in re-runs. The match draw and payout schedule are tracked on the official WSOP Event #7 hub.
Background
Foxen is one of the most decorated high-roller tournament players of the past decade, with more than $32 million in recorded live earnings and twelve PokerGO Tour titles. He is married to fellow pro Kristen Foxen, the five-time bracelet winner, and the two of them are the closest thing American poker has to a household couple-pro brand.
We will keep tracking the bracket through to the final and update the 25K Heads-Up streaming feature as new rounds play. Always gamble responsibly. For help, visit BeGambleAware or the NCPG helpline.
