The Global Poker Index (GPI) is starting to close in on who will be listed as this year’s Player of the Year (POY). The race has tightened up, with two players running almost neck-and-neck for the 
title. One player has had an incredible number of cashes in 2018, while the other has surpassed all expectations and has won more in a single season than the majority of the players would expect to see in five lifetimes.
Alex Foxen has had an incredible year and currently sits on top of the leaderboard. He started strong last year, being nominated for the GPI American Poker Awards Breakout Player of the Year. He returned in 2018 to show that it wasn’t a fluke, earning a little more than $4 million this season. Since entering the poker scene, his total is only $6.2 million, making his performance this year much more spectacular.
Foxen finished as the runner-up at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic last December, earning $1.13 million. That is still his best cash, but he followed it up this year with several huge wins. He took home $424,625 for winning the WPT LA Poker Classic $25,000 High Roller in February and followed that up with a first-place, $963,880 win at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau HK$400,000 Super High Roller in March. Not done yet, he added $532,139 for finishing third at the PokerStars EPT Barcelona €50,000 High Roller in August and then went on to earn $947,916 when he finished second at the £5,000 partypoker MILLIONS Dusk Till Dawn Main Event last month. In addition, he has also scored three other six-figure pots.
The race isn’t over yet, though, and closing the gap behind Foxen is Justin Bonomo, the winningest player in poker history. Bonomo is only behind by 100 points and certainly has the skills to jump out in front. Bonomo has raked in an impressive $25.42 million this season, giving him a lifetime total of $43.46 million. Unfortunately, not all of his winnings have come at contests that awarded points in the POY race, but this could soon change with one or two key games.
Bonomo earned $10 million after he won the $1 million WSOP Big One for One Drop in Las Vegas and tacked on an additional $5 million when he took down the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl. He wasn’t ready to call it quits yet and added $4.8 million for a first-place title at the HK$2 million Super High Roller Bowl China in Macau.
The $300 Super High Roller Bowl win gave Bonomo 300 points. There is another Super High Roller Bowl coming in December at the Aria from December 17-19 and, if it ends up being a point-awarding event, could see the elite poker player spring to the top. However, it’s still too early to call.
