ACR Poker Signs Foxen, Kornuth, and Big Huni — A Calculated Power Move Before WSOP

ACR Poker just signed Alex Foxen, Chance Kornuth, and Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen right before WSOP 2026. Combined: $94 million+ in live earnings, 9 WSOP bracelets, 12 WPT titles. This is ACR’s biggest brand play ever, and the timing is not a coincidence.

Who exactly did ACR sign, and why does it matter?

Let me break down what ACR just brought to the table, because these aren’t your typical “poker pro who peaked in 2008” type of signings:

• Alex Foxen — Former back-to-back GPI #1 ranked player. One of the most consistent high-stakes tournament performers of the last decade. And here’s the kicker: this is his first-ever sponsorship deal with any poker site. The guy has been turning down PokerStars and GGPoker for years.
• Chance Kornuth — Two-time WSOP bracelet winner and founder of Chip Leader Coaching. He’s not just a player; he’s a poker educator with a massive following in the training community.
• Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen — An absolute monster in online MTTs. His SharkScope results are the kind that make other regs quietly close the tab and pretend they didn’t see them.

What makes this trio interesting isn’t just their individual resumes — it’s that all three are currently at or near the peak of their competitive powers. These aren’t legacy signings. According to SharkScope, the three of them have combined profits of over $1.18 million on ACR alone. They’re not just putting their name on the platform; they’ve been grinding on it.

Announcement details from ACR Poker’s official announcement.

Why would Foxen sign with ACR when he’s rejected everyone else?

This is the question everyone in the poker world is asking, and I think the answer tells us something important about where the industry is headed.

Here’s my read on it: Foxen has built his brand on being independent. He’s the anti-corporate poker player — no patches, no obligations, no scripted social media posts. Signing with PokerStars or GGPoker would’ve meant joining a machine. These are massive companies with marketing departments, content calendars, and brand guidelines. For someone like Foxen, that probably felt like wearing someone else’s clothes.

ACR is different. It’s the scrappy underdog of online poker — operating in the gray market, no Fortune 500 parent company, no billion-dollar marketing budget. That “outsider” identity probably resonated with Foxen in a way that the big platforms never could. It’s a brand fit, not just a business deal.

And let’s be real about the money. ACR is making an aggressive play to grab market share, and when you’re in growth mode, you pay above market rate for talent. Foxen probably got a deal that was financially compelling enough to offset his usual reluctance to be associated with any platform. Smart business on both sides.

How does this fit into the bigger picture of online poker right now?

To understand why this signing matters, you need to zoom out and look at what’s happening across the competitive landscape:

GGPoker owns the WSOP relationship, which gives them unmatched brand recognition among casual players. PokerStars, once the undisputed king, is in the middle of an identity crisis — the Ontario shutdown and FanDuel rebrand suggest a company pivoting away from the poker-first mentality that built the brand.

ACR saw an opening and drove straight through it. While GGPoker focuses on mass appeal and PokerStars figures out what it wants to be, ACR is positioning itself as the platform for serious, dedicated players. Signing Foxen, Kornuth, and Big Huni — all active competitors with real results on the platform — reinforces that positioning perfectly.

The WSOP timing is also genius from a media perspective. Every poker journalist, streamer, and content creator is paying attention to poker right now. You announce a major signing during WSOP, and your news rides the wave of attention that WSOP generates. Plus, all three pros will be playing at WSOP in person, wearing ACR branding, appearing on live streams. It’s guerrilla marketing using WSOP’s own stage.

What does this actually mean for regular players on ACR?

This is what really matters, so let me cut through the marketing noise and talk about practical impact:

Expect bigger guarantees and more overlay in the short term. ACR is going to want to make a splash to capitalize on this signing. That means pumped-up tournament series, increased guarantees, and deposit bonuses. For tournament grinders, this creates a window where the value per dollar invested is higher than usual. If you’ve got the bankroll and the time, the next few months on ACR could be juicy.

Training content is coming. All three signings will be creating content — streams, strategy breakdowns, maybe full courses. Kornuth already runs Chip Leader Coaching, so the infrastructure for high-quality educational content exists. If you’re working on improving your game, particularly in areas like reading and adjusting to different player types, this kind of content from active high-stakes pros is incredibly valuable.

Platform competition benefits everyone. When three major platforms are fighting for your attention and deposit dollars, rake deals improve, promotions get more generous, and software gets better. This is basic economics — more competition means better outcomes for consumers. Apply your EV thinking to platform selection: where is your money working hardest for you?

But don’t ignore the elephant in the room. ACR operates in a regulatory gray area. It accepts US players without state-by-state licensing, operating under a Costa Rica license. This has always been the trade-off with ACR: good tournaments and competition, but less regulatory protection than licensed platforms. Signing big-name pros doesn’t change the underlying compliance picture. If you play on ACR, understand the risks and manage your bankroll accordingly — don’t keep more on the site than you’d be comfortable losing access to.

How does this compare to sponsorship deals in poker history?

Poker sponsorships have gone through distinct eras, and this signing feels like the start of a new one.

In the mid-2000s poker boom, it was all about celebrity: PokerStars had Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, and even athletes like Neymar. The goal was mainstream visibility. In the post-Black Friday era, sponsorships dried up almost entirely. Then GGPoker revived the concept with a focus on brand ambassadors who could drive online traffic.

What ACR is doing feels different. They’re not signing celebrities or mainstream-friendly personalities. They’re signing three players who are respected by other players — the kind of pros that grinders follow, not casual fans. It’s a sponsorship strategy aimed at the poker community itself, not the general public.

This makes sense for ACR’s position. They don’t need to explain poker to new audiences (that’s GGPoker’s job with WSOP). They need to convince existing poker players that ACR is a legitimate, competitive platform worth taking seriously. Foxen, Kornuth, and Big Huni are the perfect credibility play for that goal.

I’d compare it to when a mid-tier sneaker brand signs three respected underground athletes instead of one mainstream superstar. You don’t get the SportsCenter highlights, but you get authentic credibility with the core audience that actually buys shoes. That’s the trade-off ACR is making, and I think it’s the right one for their position.

Where do I stand on all of this?

I think this is the most strategically interesting poker sponsorship deal in years. Not the biggest, not the flashiest — the most interesting.

ACR identified a gap in the market (serious players who feel underserved by GGPoker’s casual-friendly approach and abandoned by PokerStars’ retreat), found three players who authentically represent that audience, and timed the announcement for maximum visibility. From a pure strategy standpoint, it’s a really well-executed play.

The Foxen signing is the headline, and rightfully so. When a player of his caliber makes his first-ever sponsorship deal, people notice. It immediately elevates ACR’s perceived status in a way that signing ten lesser-known pros wouldn’t achieve. And the fact that he actually plays on the platform (with documented profits) gives the whole thing an authenticity that a lot of poker sponsorships lack.

My one concern is execution. The signing is the easy part. What matters now is what comes after: Are the tournaments going to be properly structured? Will the content be genuinely useful or just promotional fluff? Will ACR address the longstanding criticisms about software quality and customer support? A great roster means nothing if the product doesn’t improve.

For players, my advice is simple: enjoy the increased competition and better promotions, pay attention to the training content these three will produce, but keep making platform decisions based on fundamentals (rake, game quality, cashout speed) rather than who’s wearing whose patch. Use range thinking — evaluate the full range of factors, not just the one that looks shiniest.

Will this signing change the online poker landscape? Probably not overnight. But it’s a clear signal that ACR is serious about competing at a higher level, and in a market that’s been dominated by two players for too long, a hungry third competitor is exactly what we need.

Sources: ACR Poker,
SharkScope