Poker Player Who Beat Up Maurice Hawkins Tells His Side of the Story
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The player who attacked Maurice Hawkins last month during a private game in Florida told PokerNews the incident stemmed from a debate over the poker pro's nationality, and admitted to retrieving a weapon in self-defense after the fight.
Eugene Castaneda, a veteran poker player, landed a slew of punches on the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring record-holder on Nov. 26. Hawkins gave his side of the story in a brief interview with a poker dealer, and it differed from that of Castaneda. He claims the attack was unprovoked.
"Basically, a guy got mad because I said that I was African-American, that was my nationality, and he came over to sneak one through," Hawkins said in the interview with Pedro Green on YouTube. "He wanted to beat my a**."
But there's a discrepency in the accounts, and it doesn't appear many within the poker community are siding with Hawkins given the past scammer accusations and a court order issued for $115,000 to a former backer he never repaid.
PokerNews reached out to Hawkins via text and email for comment on this story but haven't yet received a response.
The Backstory
Castaneda first met Hawkins early in his poker career, long before the scammer accusations were made public. He said the polarizing pro was rude to him from the beginning and he "didn't understand why."
"I always remembered that," Castaneda said of his first interactions with Hawkins at the poker table, some 17 years ago.
The two poker players had faced each other a number of times on the felt over the years. No physical altercations had occurred and Castaneda said he did his best to limit interactions with the Circuit crusher. But earlier this year, Castaneda said an elderly gentleman named "Rusty" began playing in their Wednesday private game in Stuart, Florida.
Rusty, he said, "was the nicest person ever," but he wasn't very good at poker. Hawkins, Castaneda claims, "shows up and became friendly with Rusty after discovering Rusty was winning at sports betting."
Hawkins, per Castaneda's account, borrowed $20,000 from Rusty "and never paid it back." Rusty eventually stopped showing up to the poker game.
Castaneda, prior to the infamous $5/$5/$25 pot-limit Omaha game last month, had taken a break from the private game, but he was "shocked" to find out Hawkins, who has been accused multiple times of failing to pay his backers, had been invited to play. Hawkins, Castaneda said, is the only player in the game who isn't permitted to play on credit "due to his history."
"Maurice isn't very good in cash games like he is tournaments," Castaneda said.
The game runner told Castaneda he should want Hawkins in the game, considering he apparently isn't a great cash game player. But he still wasn't thrilled to have him in the game, but decided that wouldn't deter him from playing some cards.
Poker Player Explains How Fight Broke Out
Castaneda sat in Seat 2, Tray Rock, who recorded the fight video, was in Seat 3, and Hawkins was in Seat 7. A conversation, Castaneda said, started between Seat 9 and Hawkins over Hawkins' nationality.
"I'm black-American," Hawkins said.
"You're black-American?" the player in Seat 6 sarcastically asked.
"That's right, white boy," Hawkins responded.
Castaneda, a U.S. citizen who is of Cuban descent, intervened: "Just so you know, black-American is not a nationality."
"Yes it is, white boy," Hawkins fired back.
"No it's not, and you know I'm not white," Castaneda told the tournament star.
Castaneda then explained to Hawkins of his ethnicity, and told him that Cuban-American is not a nationality. The argument continued and an annoyed Castaneda used Google to prove his rival was incorrect.
"Why you so angry, buddy, buddy, buddy?" Castaneda recollects Hawkins asking.
“First of all, you need to stop calling me buddy,” Castaneda informed Hawkins. “And second, as a matter of fact, I’m far from being your buddy.”
“So, what? Why are you so angry? You want to box about it?” Maurice responded
“F**k yes."
Castaneda then stood up from his seat, walked around the table and began punching the seated Hawkins. He landed multiple punches before both players were separated.
"He f****d with the wrong dude," Castaneda said.
Hawkins, surveillance footage obtained by PokerNews shows, then walked outside the house to his car about 100 feet away. At this point, the players showed concern that the situation was going to further escalate, Castaneda said, and then stated he also went to his truck to get protection.
About 10 seconds lapsed from the time Hawkins entered the car until he exited the vehicle and returned to the house front door where he was greeted by a player in the game who urged him to "go for a walk" instead of going back inside the house.
That request was denied, as Hawkins went back into the home to confront the player who had attacked him, seeking an apology. Castaneda, in the full video released by Rock, walked back into the poker area and stood face-to-face with the Circuit champion.
"You said you wanted to box, so we boxed," Castaneda, who refused to apologize, said upon re-entering the room.
"Try me now," Hawkins fired back before making a movement with his right hand in his pocket, a gesture that Castaneda said concerned him that Hawkins may have had a gun. No weapons are visible in the surveillance footage, however.
Castaneda said he only reached for his gun to let him know that he was not the only one holding a gun at this point, and "I was not going to be scared into an apology."
"You think you're the only one with guns here?" Castaneda told Hawkins as he took one step back and reached for his glock.
Multiple people in the room urged the poker players to calm down.
"I ran to my car to protect myself because players became fearful that he went to his car to get something," Castaneda said.
Rock, in the video she recorded, is heard telling another player, "bro, they all got guns."
The argument ended with Hawkins repeating multiple times, "bro, I'm just playing."
Castaneda said Hawkins is lucky the fight was broken up because "if he would have stayed up, you probably have an idea what would have happened." He said he didn't continue punching the mid-stakes tournament grinder as he'd already gotten his point across. He also said, out of principle, he won't hit someone who is being held back.
Hawkins, when asked by Green in the brief YouTube video about Castaneda "wanting to pull a gun on you," he responded: "It's just crazy that when I can see him face-to-face now he don't want to swing on me and try to whoop my a**."
Castaneda didn't initially want to speak publicly about the incident and only came out to share his story after seeing Hawkins on social media "falsify the story. I felt the need to clarify what happened."
The game continued a short while after the fight, and it lasted for hours. Hawkins ended up winning $7,000, while Castaneda turned a $2,300 profit after having been down $3,000 before the fisticuffs.
But Castaneda, who continued playing with his gun in his pocket, said the table mostly remained silent for the duration of the game and no one brought up the incident "out of fear that it might spark back up."
