Maurice Hawkins Wins Choctaw Mini Main for Record 26th WSOP Circuit Ring
The $1,100 event drew 400 entries, and Hawkins battled back from 6 big blinds to beat Brian Green heads-up.
Maurice Hawkins won the WSOP Circuit Choctaw $1,100 Mini Main Event for $76,380, and the victory pushed his all-time WSOP Circuit gold-ring total to 26, a new record.
The event drew 400 entries and generated a $390,000 prize pool. Brian Green finished second for $50,900, Will Givens was third for $35,450, and Ari Engel took fourth for $25,170.
The final table did not come easily. SpadePoker said Hawkins was down to his last 6 big blinds in the final showdown before he regrouped and finished the comeback. After the win, Hawkins told Poker.org, “I’ve got the recipe, and I’m spreading it all over America,” and said he had figured out things about his own game and other players’ games before applying them.
The new title also stretched his lead in the Circuit ring race. Hawkins now has a six-ring cushion over the nearest competition, with CardPlayer noting that Ari Engel and Daniel Lowery are tied for second on 20 rings apiece.
The Choctaw win added 720 Card Player Player of the Year points, lifting Hawkins to 4,512 overall and 12th place in the CoinPoker standings. CardPlayer also said he now has 15 POY-qualified final-table finishes and career earnings of about $7.7 million.
The Choctaw result came after Hawkins had already taken his 25th ring earlier in the year. CardPlayer reported that he filed for bankruptcy in April and then picked up his 25th WSOP Circuit victory shortly afterward at Harrah’s Cherokee, where he beat James Calderaro heads-up in a 631-entry $1,100 no-limit hold’em event for $113,233.
