Winning streaks don’t come much more exciting than that currently being enjoyed by Maurice Hawkins. The West Palm Beach native has won the 2017 Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event in Iowa—taking home $97,561, and his record-breaking 10th career WSOP Circuit gold ring—one for every digit!
The winning streak picked up speed last April when Hawkins went back-to-back at the Council Bluffs, winning both the Monster Stack event and the Main Event—securing himself rings number five and six of his already prestigious career. Not content with his Council Bluffs victory, just two weeks later Hawkins arrived at Harrah’s Cherokee determined to secure victory in the Main Event, and that he did—obliterating a 1008 strong player field to win $279,722—incidentally the largest WSOP cash of Hawkins career. Clearly on a roll, Hawkins found himself only two gold rings shy of Alex Masek (the all-time gold ring leader) by the end of the 2015/2016 season.
When the 2016/2017 proceedings kicked off, Hawkins didn’t need any time to get back in the swing of things; instead he picked up right where he left off by winning two more gold rings on his home turf in West Palm Beach. In winning the Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event in November 2016, Hawkins secured his eighth ring before tying the all-time gold ring record and securing his 9th in the Palm Beach Kennel Club $365 no-limit Texas hold’em gold ring event.
When Hawkins secured his tenth ring in Iowa, it wasn’t only the all-time ring record that he was smashing—he can now call himself the first player in history to win four Main Circuit events, putting him ahead of Chris Ferguson and Blair Hinkle, both of whom had won three. Hawkins crushed another record of Hinkle’s—that of being the only player in history to ever win the same circuit stop for two years in a row.
Hawkins now possesses the most gold rings of all time, the most circuit event victories, and over $1.1 million in Circuit tournament earnings. When asked whether he is the greatest player of all time, Hawkins responded:
“Women and men lie; numbers don’t.”
Known as a hard-working player, “I don’t play for accolades. I play for money, to eat.” Hawkins doesn’t look set to rest on his laurels just yet. We can expect to see him at Harrah’s Cherokee and Harrah’s New Orleans Circuit before the end of the season, no doubt grinding for gold ring number 11.
