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Maurice Hawkins Wins Record-Extending 14th World Series of Poker Circuit Ring

The 39-Year-Old Poker Pro Defeated A Field of 218 Entries In A $400 Event At The WSOPC Choctaw Series

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Maurice Hawkins has gotten his 2020 off to a strong start. The 39-year-old poker pro was already the World Series of Poker Circuit’s all-time money leader and all-time titleholder, with more than $1.9 million in earnings on the tour and 13 gold rings to his name. Less than a week into the new year, Hawkins has managed to add to both of those leads by taking down the 2019 WSOP Circuit Choctaw $400 no-limit hold’em event. Hawkins overcame a field of 218 entries in the single-day tournament to secure his record-furthering 14th gold ring and the top prize of $16,898.

“Feels good. Feel like I got my mojo back,” Hawkins told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. “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 now sits two titles ahead of his nearest competitors in the race for the rings, with Valentin Vornicu (12 rings) and Josh Reichard (12 rings) being the only other players to surpass 10 victories in WSOPC events.

This event was designed to run its course in the span of one day, and as a result, the action was rather fast-paced. It took around nine hours for the field of 218 to be narrowed down to a final table of nine. At that point, Hawkins sat with 1,160,000 for 58 big blinds. The next largest stack, belonging to Andy Robinson, represented only 22 big blinds.

Nine-time WSOPC ring winner Daniel Lowery was the first to hit the rail in ninth place ($1,457). It took less than two hours to narrow the field all the way down to a champion, with Hawkins ultimately overcoming a seven-time ring winner in Andy Robinson to secure the title. Robinson earned $10,442 as the runner-up finisher.

In addition to the title and the money, Hawkins was also awarded 144 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Place Player Payout POY Points
1 Maurice Hawkins $16,898 144
2 Andrew Robinson $10,442 120
3 Kurt Haiss $7,406 96
4 Billy Sasin $5,359 72
5 Michail Kotsifis $3,958 60
6 Phillip Jones $2,985 48
7 Samuel Murphy $2,299 36
9 Jesus Gonzalez $1,810 24
9 Daniel Lowery $1,457 12