Maurice Hawkins is the king of the World Series of Poker Circuit once again. On Monday, he won his 15th career WSOP Circuit gold ring at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina, breaking a tie with Joshua Reichard at the top of the all-time list.
Reichard earned his 14th ring, tying Hawkins, at the WSOP Circuit Grand Victoria Casino Main Event in Chicago last month.
“To be honest, I really don’t care too much about records but this one is kind of cool,” Reichard said at time.
Hawkins, the ultra-competitor he is, saw Reichard’s comment as a challenge, as Reichard was clearly aware of the record.
“Put some respect on my name!” Hawkins said after his win. “I am Maurice Hawkins, that’s who I am. If you are going to call me out go ahead and say it. I am not a fan of the passive aggressive fake humble act, acting like you don’t care about the numbers when you clearly do.”
He also said he didn’t appreciate all the mentions in the poker media when Reichard won his 14th to Hawkins not having one won since January 2020. The funny thing is, I thought about noting the gap between then and now, as well, just as a reference point, but then it occurred to me that there was nothing Hawkins could do about the pandemic, so I figured there was no point in bringing it up.
The funny thing about that is that Hawkins cited the COVID-19 pandemic for the “drought” and reiterated, “Once again, put some respect on my name!”
After Hawkins and Reichard, seven other players have double-digit ring wins. Of those players, Hawkins has the most earnings in all WSOP events, Circuit or otherwise, with $2,919,261, about half a million ahead of Ari Engel. Hawkins has 177 WSOP cashes, second only to Engel (259) out of the players with at least ten WSOP Circuit rings.
Hawkins’ win concluded the Harrah’s Cherokee Circuit stop. Currently in progress is the last stop on the 2022-2023 WSOP Circuit schedule, Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, which began May 11 and runs through May 22.
Hawkins has also qualified for the $1 million freeroll WSOP Tournament of Champions by virtue of his ring victory, which will be held at the end of this summer’s World Series of Poker.
