Awkward situation this week at the $5k MSPT Main Event.

Red-hot Alex Foxen and his girlfriend, fellow pro Kristen Bicknell, were 3-handed against Aussie pro Kahle Burns.

They attempted to get Burns to agree to a 3-way chop, most likely to avoid the bad optics the situation.

Burns refused the chop, so it was played out.

Then this hand happened:




If you don't feel like watching the video, Foxen made it 115k on the button when the blinds were 25k/50k/25k, and it was 3-handed. Foxen had JJ. Bicknell had AA in the BB and three bet to 400k, which Foxen called.

Foxen then flopped a set on an otherwise safe J54 board.

Bicknell bet 200k on the flop, Foxen called. This was already a bit suspect in a pot which was almost a million.

Then the turn brough a K, and Bicknell checked, then called a 375,000 bet by Foxen.

The river was a 3 (no flush possible), and Bicknell check-folded to Foxen's 600k bet.

Say what?!

James Obst, who was watching, was not pleased.




Here were their explanations:

Quote Originally Posted by Alex Foxen
As soon as that hand was played I knew there would be an insane amount of criticism,” said Foxen. “I understand if it was someone I wasn’t entirely sure, I’m sure the same goes for Krissy, if she wasn’t entirely sure about the way I thought about this spot specifically you can’t fold the hand. But when she knows and I know exactly how the other one is thinking it’s a spot that’s weird. You put ICM on top of that and you have to fold everything but kings on that river.
Quote Originally Posted by Kristen Bicknell
Kahle was really short. Regardless of who it was, two chip leaders don’t want to get in a big battle when there’s a short stack. On the river I have aces, maybe he has ace-king but I block that hand. I don’t think he’s bluffing queens. Preflop I think he has nines, tens or better. I don’t think he bets the turn with those hands. I thought he probably had aces, ace-king, kings or jacks. I don’t really do well on the river against those hands. I thought he had zero bluffs.

I call bullshit.

While I don't think they necessarily planned to collude, I think both wanted to stay out of each other's way, and let the third guy bust, especially because he was short. Had they been strangers, perhaps they would have taken a more aggressive line. However, two people in a relationship (who may have swapped action) are much less likely to play hard against one another and possibly allow the 3rd guy to move up one pay spot.

While I partially believe their explanation (namely, that both recognized that they each had big hands), I think once they realized this, they also both realized they should keep each other in the tournament.

Here's a good Pokernews writeup of the situation: https://www.pokernews.com/news/2018/...h-ot-31174.htm

What do you guys think?