Poker Hand Matchup: Alex Foxen Correctly Folds Trips

Outcome

Preflop: The blinds were 10,000-20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante in the semi-finals of the $25,000 WSOP heads-up championship. Alex Foxen raised to 50,000 from the button with 9♦8♥. Nikita Kuznetsov called from the big blind with 4♠4♥.

Flop: 8♣5♦4♣

Kuznetsov checked, and Foxen bet 75,000. Kuznetsov raised to 245,000, and Foxen called.

Turn: 8♦

Kuznetsov bet 335,000, and Foxen called.

River: 10♥

Kuznetsov bet 260,000. Foxen raised to 1,520,000, and Kuznetsov three-bet to 4,050,000. Foxen folded.

Analysis

Foxen Stunned by This All-In@WAFoxen raises the river with trip eights, but Nikita Kuznetsov is sitting on a full house and responds with an all-in.

Can Foxen find the fold, or is he destined to pay it off? pic.twitter.com/c53RxgWHc9

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 2, 2026

The 128-entry WSOP $25,000 heads-up championship was down to its final four, with Alex Foxen and Nikita Kuznetsov battling it out for a spot in the finals. They were extremely deep-stacked, given it was still early in the match. Each player already had $300,000 locked up with $528,000 for advancing, and $800,000 to the eventual winner. 

Kuznetsov could have opted to three-bet with his small pair preflop, but calling was supposed to be the dominant play in that situation with anything below pocket sevens. The flop delivered him a set, but since position is so powerful with these deep stacks, checking-raising was the right play. 

Facing the check-raise, Foxen had a clear call. He was beating bluffs and some merging hands like 6♦4♦. 

Once the dynamic turn card arrived that put a pair and two flush draws on board, Kuznetsov made a relatively healthy bet, but the solver actually favors a much more aggressive overbet. These plays are not used very often by human players outside of the highest-stakes cash games, but they can make life quite difficult on the opponent when stacks are deep since there’s a lot of leverage behind them. Foxen called, which was optimal. 

The river was pretty much a brick that should have rarely helped either player. In spots where the out-of-position player has nut hands that heavily block the opponent from having a good hand, betting and hoping to three-bet over a raise can be a nice play. Kuznetsov widened his bet-three-bet range and went for it with a low full house. 

It was risky because Foxen might not call without a full house himself, which would almost certainly beat Kuznetsov’s fours full. In the actual hand, that’s exactly what happened, as Foxen correctly found the fold with a hand that was good enough to raise for value against the small size, but not good enough to put 230 big blinds in. 

Foxen couldn’t overcome the early deficit, and Kuznetsov advanced to the final, where he ceded the bracelet to Bulgarian high-stakes pro Dimitar Danchev.

• Photo by WSOP/Alicia Skillman