Maurice Hawkins wins back-to-back Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Events.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (April 10, 2017) – Maurice Hawkins has won the 2017 Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event for $97,561 and his record-breaking 10th career WSOP Circuit gold ring. Hawkins, a pro poker player from West Palm Beach, Florida, has won six gold rings in the past two seasons on the Circuit to storm up the all-time gold rings leaderboard and take the sole lead for the most gold rings won all-time.
Hawkins's amazing run to the top started last year here at Council Bluffs when he went back-to-back, winning the monster stack event and then the Main Event for rings number five and six. He followed up his two rings in Council Bluffs with a Main Event victory at Harrah’s Cherokee just two weeks later for ring number seven. Hawkins defeated a 1,008-player field in Cherokee to earn $279,722, which is his largest WSOP cash of his career. The 2015/2016 Circuit season ended with Hawkins only two gold rings behind Alex Masek, who had been the all-time leader for a few years.
The 2016/2017 season began and Hawkins picked up right where he left off. He won two gold rings in his hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida. He won the Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event in November of 2016 for ring number eight and then tied the record this February by winning his 9th career gold ring in a Palm Beach Kennel Club $365 no-limit Texas hold'em gold ring event.
Now just seven weeks before the end of the 2016/2017 season, Hawkins owns sole possession of the record with 10 WSOP Circuit gold rings.
The all-time gold ring record is not the only record Hawkins broke Monday at the Horseshoe. He became the first player in the history of the Circuit to win four Circuit Main Events. Prior to this win, he was tied with Blair Hinkle and Chris Ferguson with three career WSOP Circuit Main Event wins. With this win, Hawkins also matched Hinkle as the only player to ever win the same Circuit stop two years in a row. Hinkle accomplished the feat in 2013 and 2014 here in Council Bluffs.
Hawkins’s Circuit resume consists of the most gold rings all-time, most Circuit Main Event victories, and over $1.1 million in Circuit tournament earnings.
“Women and men lie, numbers don’t,” said Hawkins when asked if he is the greatest WSOP Circuit player of all-time.
Hawkins plays poker to support himself and his family. Rings and accolades have always been second to earning money for his family.
“I don’t play for accolades. I play for money, to eat,” said Hawkins. “I love [accolades], but I really play to eat.”
Hawkins came one spot shy of breaking the ring record two weeks ago at the Hard Rock Tulsa stop. He finished runner-up in a $580 no-limit hold’em gold ring event to Sal DiCarlo.
“I didn’t realize the enormity of the situation, of the moment, until after I did not get the ring. Everybody was like, ‘Oh bro, that was number ten.’ Kevmath is Tweeting on the Internet, ‘Maurice Hawkins goes for number 10,’ everyone is talking about number 10,” said Hawkins.
After seeing the attention being paid to his chase for ring number 10, Hawkins felt he had missed a big opportunity at making Circuit history. He came straight from Tulsa to Iowa to play in the entire Horseshoe Council Bluffs series to give himself another crack at number 10. He grinded out the whole series and made two deep runs prior to the Main Event, but finished in 7th place both times.
“It’s mentally grueling” said Hawkins about grinding an entire series.
Hawkins grinded the series and played in nearly every event. He even played in satellites and won his seat to the Main Event through one of the mega satellites. The chase for 10 ended Monday when Hawkins was pushed the final pot of the Horseshoe Council Bluffs series.
The grind is still far from over for Hawkins. He is dedicated to putting in the time. He will be attending portions of the Harrah’s Cherokee and Harrah’s New Orleans Circuit series to close out the season and there is no doubt he will be looking for ring number 11.
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The Main Event was the 10th of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at Horseshoe Council Bluffs. The $1,675 No-Limit Hold'em tournament attracted 271 players generating a $406,500 prize pool. The top 30 players were paid.
The tournament featured two starting flights. Flight A was on Friday and drew 122 players. Flight B began Saturday and drew 149 entries. Both starting flights played 15 40-minute levels on Day 1. Day 2 started Sunday at noon with 50 players remaining. Day 2 lasted 10 one-hour levels. Day 3 started Monday at noon with five players remaining. The tournament ended Monday at 1:10 p.m. with 50 minutes left in Level 27.
Here are the final table results. Click here for full results from the event.
1st: Maurice Hawkins - $97,561
2nd: William Perpich - $60,292
3rd: Charles Moore - $43,748
4th: Ross Clare - $32,276
5th: Sam De Silva - $24,207
6th: Jack Do - $18,447
7th: Stanley Webb - $14,276
8th: Matt Hamilton - $11,219
9th: David Delaney - $8,951