The World Cup crowned a champion. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) handed out its bracelets. Summer’s basically over. Nobody told Alex Foxen, and thank god, because he just handed us the best plot twist of the year.
A few weeks ago, we told you about a summer where an ACR Poker Pro, a Norwegian goal-scoring machine, and a 50-year-old cannabis magazine were all somehow running the same play: risk it, flaunt it, make it look easy. The World Cup crowned its champion. The Vegas bags are unpacked. The confetti’s swept up.
ACR Pro Alex Foxen didn’t get the memo that the story was over. Good. Because he was just getting started.
The Recap Nobody Needed, But Everybody’s Going to Enjoy Anyway
Let’s do the numbers real quick for Foxen in Las Vegas: fourth career WSOP bracelet, locked. Outright lead in the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race, locked. For 99% of poker players alive, that’s a career-defining summer, a highlight reel, and an excuse to disappear to a beach for a month.
Foxen took one look at that résumé and basically shrugged.
So… What Actually Beats a Bracelet and Player of the Year Run?
Genuine question. A WSOP bracelet is the closest thing poker has to a championship belt. Player of the Year is an entire season, distilled into bragging rights. Stack them together and you’ve got about as good a year as this sport allows.
Foxen didn’t post a highlight reel of either one. Instead, he dropped a photo on X with a caption that instantly out-charmed both trophies combined:
“Finally received the coolest trophy I have ever won. Getting in some post-WSOP recovery and ready to get back in the online streets for Venom in a couple of weeks. @ACR_POKER”
Read it again. A four-time bracelet winner, leading this year’s Player of the Year race, just told the entire poker world that neither one is his favorite piece of hardware. The photo backs it up: a gleaming gold bong-shaped trophy stamped “THE HIGHFIVE,” a fan of poker cards fused to the base, and a plaque that reads “Nosebleed Stakes, First Place.” Not a bracelet. Not a plaque with his name and a leaderboard rank. A trophy shaped like a bong — and by his own account, the single coolest trophy he has ever won.
That’s not a humblebrag. That’s a mic drop.
Where the Bong Came From (Because You’re Wondering)
This isn’t a novelty item somebody 3D-printed for the vibes. It’s real, official ACR Poker hardware, awarded for first place in the Highest Five nosebleed lineup — the top tier of The High Five Tournament Series, ACR’s gloriously 420-friendly signature series and one of its three marquee events every year alongside the OSS (Online Super Series) and The Venom.
The High Five runs 50 events across five days, split between high- and low-stakes fields, and this year’s edition rolled out “The Highest Five” — a run of nosebleed buy-ins stretching up to $25,500. ACR Pro and former world champ Chris Moneymaker committed to playing every single Highest Five event, which means Foxen didn’t stroll through a soft field to grab this thing. He outran the guy who was poker’s original underdog legend to win poker’s most delightfully ridiculous trophy. That’s not luck. That’s a statement.
A couple of details about the High Five that we’re contractually obligated to mention are definitely, probably, a total coincidence: it runs every April, and every single tournament in the series pauses for a scheduled break at exactly 4:20pm sharp. We won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by pretending we don’t see it. Neither, clearly, does ACR.
High Times readers, of all people, should appreciate a poker series that hands its champion a bong instead of a handshake.
And no, you don’t need a $25,500 buy-in to get in on the fun right now at ACR Poker. The Run Up Series is running a $66 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament for $1,000,000 GTD, with a $100,000 top bounty hiding inside every single knockout.
It’s the exact same math that turned Chris Moneymaker’s $86 satellite into a $2.5 million WSOP Main Event title back in 2003 — small ante, massive ceiling, zero requirement that you show up already famous. Moneymaker himself is livestreaming the $66 this Saturday if you want a front-row seat to the chaos, or just some inspiration before you fire your own bullet.
Next Up: Back to the Online Streets for the Venom
Foxen’s “couple of weeks” countdown points straight at ACR’s biggest event of the year. The Venom returns this August as a Dual Mystery Bounty monster, guaranteeing a combined $15 million across NLH and PLO events — the largest Venom series ever run. The online streets don’t care whose trophy shelf is fuller. Foxen’s headed back in anyway, presumably still riding the high of his new favorite bong.
Poker’s still a game of variance and skill, and no trophy, bracelet, or tweet changes the fact that players should understand the risks and always play responsibly. But that’s never really been the point of stories like this one.
The point is that after a summer that included a fourth career bracelet and a Player of the Year run, the thing Alex Foxen actually wanted to talk about was a gold bong. Somewhere, that’s poetry. Everywhere else, it’s just really, really good marketing.
Sponsored Content Disclosure: This article was published as part of a paid commercial arrangement with ACR Poker and is not independent editorial content. Claims about tournaments, promotions, prizes, services, or player experiences reflect sponsor-provided or publicly available information and have not been independently verified by High Times. Online poker laws, eligibility, and availability vary by jurisdiction. Poker involves financial risk. Play responsibly and never wager more than you can afford to lose.
