Man Disqualified From WSOP After Saying Racial Slur

A poker player by the name of Adrian Sorin Lovin was disqualified from a World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in event late last week after calling poker pro Maurice Hawins a racial slur, according to multiple reports and social media posts.

According to Hawkins, a winner of 11 WSOP Circuit gold rings, Lovin said to him: “Shut up n*****.” Hawkins is well-known for his table chatter, but he obviously believes the words directed at him were wrong. According to Hawkins and media reports, Lovin, who hails from Italy, was originally given a penalty from WSOP tournament staff. However, he was eventually disqualified before resuming play the following day.

Hawkins’ account was corroborated by other poker players at the Rio casino, including bracelet winner Dutch Boyd, who tweeted a photo of Lovin. According to Boyd, Lovin became very quiet after the incident as players in the surrounding area became aware of what happened.

The player's name is Adrian Sorin Lovin. Thanks for coming to Vegas… and enjoy the long flight home. #poker #wsop pic.twitter.com/UHAatSdGaf

— Dutch Boyd (@DutchBoyd) July 6, 2018

Lovin admitted to openly using the racial slur in an interview with AssoPoker.com. He claimed his comment was justified because Hawkins had jokingly asked how to say “kiss my ass” in Italian. He also claimed he didn’t understand the significance of the racial slur.

The two had played a relatively large pot together early Friday morning. Lovin got the better of Hawkins with a full house versus Hawkins’ nut flush. The racial slur was used a short time later.

Hawkins praised the WSOP for its decision.

Update on on the Racist guy from the WSOP.Jack Effel just showed America how to deal with Racism, and that’s Zero tolerance. I am proud to play in @Wsop and be apart of their brand. (Thankyou) He Perped walked the racist guy out of the Tournament Area and DQ”ed him.#HawksView

— Maurice Hawkins (@mauricehawkins) July 6, 2018

The incident isn’t the only reported instance of the n-word being directed at a black player at the WSOP. Last summer, ESPN caught the aftermath of an exchange during the early stages of the 2017 main event in which Lazaro Hernandez used the slur toward poker player Tony Bracy, according to a Deadspin report. Hernandez received a three-round penalty.

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