Kristen Bicknell continues to show her poker prowess. The Canadian player dug in deep during this year’s WSOP series of tournaments and hasn’t stopped bouncing around from tournament to tournament all year. Her efforts are paying off, however, as she is currently at the top of the list on the 2018 Global Poker Index (GPI) Canadian Player of the Year (CPOY) chart. Additionally, she is among the top three Canadian players according to the GPI ranking and the only female in the top ten.
Bicknell shares space on the lists with Daniel Negreanu and Sam Greenwood. While she may not have the bankroll that the other players do—she has won just over $2 million in live action during her career—she has made a name for herself as a strong player and one of the more solid live tournament players to come out of Canada.
The 31-year-old currently has 2,725.14 points in the CPOY race. Hot on her heels is Greenwood with 2,717.55, followed by Mike Leah with 2,531.97. Negreanu is trying to catch up and currently has 2,524.54 points.
During this year’s WSOP series, the partypoker ambassador was seen at seven different events. Bicknell cashed in all seven, with her best performance being an 11th-place finish at the $3,000 NLHE tournament where she picked up 29,284. That came just days after pulling off a second-place victory at the $5,000 NLHE event, part of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) DeepStack Championship Series. For that win, she added $200,000 to her bank.
Her MSPT win didn’t happen without a little controversy. The winner of the event was Alex Foxen, who just happened to be her boyfriend. There was talk following the event that the two had colluded to send third-place finisher Kahle Burns to the rail, an accusation that both have vehemently denied.
Bicknell has two WSOP bracelets, which she won for her skills at the 2013 $1,000 Ladies NLHE Championship event and the 2016 $1,500 Bounty NLHE tournament. This year, she has been seen in Australia, Uruguay, Macau, Spain and, of course, the United States. She took down the HK$100,000 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) NLHE High Roller tournament for $279,000 on March 15 and followed that up with a fourth-place finish for $194,081 at the HK$100,000 APPT NLHE High Roller event.
Since the beginning of the year, she has cashed in a total of 21 tournaments during her international poker jaunt.
