ROBERT HANKINS WINS SOUTHERN INDIANA MAIN

Robert "Skinny" Hankins is the newest Main Event champion on the WSOP Circuit, outlasting a stacked final table to claim the title at Horseshoe Southern Indiana. Hankins’ performance earned him his second gold ring of the series — the sixth of his career — and the top prize of $142,520. This ring, unlike the other five he owns, is encrusted with diamonds to set it apart from those awarded to winners of preliminary events. He’s just the ninth player to win at least six rings in the Circuit’s 13-year history. The victory also guarantees him a seat in the 2017 WSOP Global Casino Championship, marking the fourth consecutive season in which he’s qualified for the season-ending bracelet event.

“This feels [expletive] awesome,” Hankins said succinctly in the moments after his victory. “It’s gratifying, because I get probably 25 percent of the volume that most players get. So, to have a good week up here, you know — for myself, it just feels good.” Hankins even called his shot, in a way. Prior to the final table, the nine remaining players filled out information sheets, and Hankins scrawled a message of foreshadowing across the top of his page: “1st Place (6 rings) *CHAMPION*”

The champ is a 28-year-old professional poker player from Nashville, Tennessee. He also has a part-time job as the father to two children — a son, Reece (7) and a daughter, Aubri (6). “I try to be a good dad,” he said in his previous interview. “Any other time, it’s poker time. I don’t really have a social life outside of poker.” Hankins has been playing the game as his profession since about 2010, when he lost a lucrative job at Bridgestone.

“Four days before Christmas, they laid us all off,” he said. “I waited around thinking I was going to get my job back, and I started playing poker. I was getting an unemployment check — $220 a week with two new kids. Poker saved me; it helped me be able to support my family.”

So far, the new career is going rather well for Hankins. He was only able to play six of the 12 ring events at Horseshoe Southern Indiana, making the final table in four of them and winning two outright. He conquered back-to-back events, in fact. Hankins was busy winning Event #8 while Day 1A of the Main Event was getting underway, and he late-registered after posing for winner’s photos with his fifth ring and what was his most recent at the time. Three days later, Hankins was celebrating again, this time as the Main Event champion with ring number six.

This victory puts quite an exclamation point on Hankins' series, ending a stretch of five consecutive days of tournament poker without being eliminated. His total career earnings on the WSOP Circuit now total nearly $500,000 in addition to those six rings. He’s going to run out of free space on his fingers soon at this pace.