Maurice Hawkins Extends All-Time Ring Record to 14 After Winning Event #5: $400 NLH Turbo
While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the Main Event, we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the full schedule of side events that have been playing out over the past week at the World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant.
In Event #5: $400 NLH Turbo, 218 runners created a $71,940 prize pool that was paid out to the top 34 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were Shawn Rice (10th- $1,200), Michael Scarlett (13th - $1,011), Ronald Jackson (16th - $873), Charles Barker (20th - $772), and Andrew Telfer (23rd - $700).
In the end, it was all-time ring leader Maurice Hawkins who once again collected every chip in play to extend his record by capturing his 14th gold ring along with a $16,898 payday.
“Feels good. Feel like I got my mojo back,” Hawkins divulged. “Feels good to know that the beginning of the year is going to end like it should, which means, that when you start the year off winning, it only can get better. It’s time to go up.”
Hawkins has recorded Circuit titles at more than a few casino locations. However, this was his first-ever gold ring obtained at Choctaw Durant. The Florida resident only began attending the Oklahoma-based this season (2019/20).
Being a turbo-style, one-day tournament, Event #6 hastily ran its course and around the time two tables were remaining, Hawkins took off.
“I was just kind of sitting there, got around 25 bigs, and then it was like poker time; ‘Let’s do this; Let’s make some things happen,’” Hawkins recounted.
The 39-year-old had hauled in over one million in chips by the time a redraw to one table was conducted. Majority of his opponents sat with stacks of less than 300,000.
Hawkins’ dominant chip lead going into the final table provided smooth sailing into the heads-up finale. There, he was met by another great, seven-time gold ring winner Andy Robinson who Hawkins has encountered before.
“We’ve been playing some pots the last two days. I would probably say he is one of the best players here,” said Hawkins. “It’s no shock that every time I get to a final table, Andy Robinson is at the final table.”
Robinson is a local pro out of Texas and has amassed plenty of WSOP prowess himself over the years. The two players had encountered each other before at a final table during the previous Choctaw Circuit in November where Hawkins finished 4th and Robinson 3rd.
This time around, they were heads-up with WSOP gold on the line. Robinson did render himself a fighting stack before facing Hawkins’ massive lead. However, Hawkins buckled down against his tough opponent and scooped the final pot with ace-king, which presented a cooler to Robinson's ace-queen.
The achievement granted Hawkins with an unprecedented 14th WSOP gold ring, putting him two rings ahead of Valentin Vornicu (12) and Josh Reichard (12).
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maurice Hawkins | West Palm Beach, FL | $16,898 |
| 2 | Andrew Robinson | Georgetown, TX | $10,442 |
| 3 | Kurt Haiss | Bartlesville, OK | $7,406 |
| 4 | Billy Sasin | Lewisville, TX | $5,359 |
| 5 | Michail Kotsifis | Houston, TX | $3,958 |
| 6 | Phillip Jones | Denison, TX | $2,985 |
| 7 | Sam Murphy | Cedar Hill, TX | $2,299 |
| 8 | Jesus Gonzalez | Eagle Prass, TX | $1,810 |
| 9 | Daniel Lowery | Peter Pender, AR | $1,457 |