Maurice Hawkins Wins Latest WSOP Circuit Ring to Extend Record

Winning a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring is no mean achievement. Winning 25 of them and extending your own record in the format should be celebrated among your many peers. That won’t likely be the case in the example of the current WSOPC all-time leader, Maurice Hawkins, however, after the controversial character’s latest win came at Harrah’s in Cherokee.

Harrah’s Proves Homely for Players

With 631 total entries, Harrah’s once again proved a very popular stop in Cherokee. Just 91 players got paid, and they included some prominent North American names. The 2025 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Wasnock min-cashed for $2,221 in 87^th place, while Ty Watson won $2,236 in 73^rd place. Further cashes for Vineet Pahuja (19^th for $3,808), Nick Pupillo (14^th for 4,479) and Donovan Dean (11^th for $6,643) came before the final table of nine was formed.

Brazilian David Castranova’s defeat in 10^th place meant he bubbled the all-American final table, whereupon Jason Gladden busted for $8,367 in ninth place. James Minghini (8^th for $10,770), Derrick Perry (7^th for $14,160) and Dave Alfa (6^th for $21,247) all fell ahead of Toby Boas, whose exit in fifth for $26,050 brought about the final four.

Cory Biddle (4^th for $36,148) and Brandon Newsome (3^rd for $51,290) bowed out before the final heads-up pitched two very experienced players against each other. James Calderaro is not only a WSOP bracelet winner, something Maurice Hawkins has never achieved, but has won over $6.5 million in live tournaments alone. The final battle would be a classic shootout between two players who knew each other well.

Heads-Up Silence is Golden

“I know he wanted to get comfortable, and I knew being quiet was going to be uncomfortable.”

The final duel was between two men who shared 29 WSOP Circuit rings between them, although it was hardly an equal split. Hawkins had a record 24 rings before the heads-up began, with James Calderaro holding five, albeit with a WSOP bracelet to his name as well. The heads-up battle went the way of Hawkins after he revealed what gave him the edge.

“I was in the top three in the chips, and they put all the chip leaders at the same table,” he told Poker.Org. “I just wanted to just stay within myself and not really get out of line too much.”

That was helped by him winning a key pot against Calderaro with set over set, which Hawkins used to press home his advantage, cutting out all familiarities between the pair.

“I know he wanted to get comfortable, and I knew being quiet was going to be uncomfortable.”

After he used that cooler to get ahead there was no stopping Hawkins, who bagged his 25^th and record-extending bracelet, though even he hinted that his achievement was tempered by the frequency with which he plays the WSOP-C events above all others.

“I play probably more than all of them, and I win more than all of them in the Circuit.

Hawkins Lacks Humility in Victory

With the Harrah’s Cherokee WSOP Circuit series features 18 ring events, Hawkins scooping another one shouldn’t really be any surprise. Now past $7 million in recorded tournament earnings at the live felt, what will anger some is that Hawkins declared himself bankrupt last week, an action some see as a method of escaping his outstanding debts.

Having had his winnings garnished at another event, Hawkins, a father of six who is in considerable make-up to a former backer and has not levelled this amount, won $113,223 after toppling Calderaro. After claiming his first WSOP Circuit ring in 2008, he has won 24 more over the past 18 years yet filed for bankruptcy. His words in the aftermath of this latest win sounded as hollow as ever.

“It’s not really a competition, he said. “I’m at the top of the hill until I retire. I’m gonna play another 20 years. The goalpost is probably 200, 250 rings.”

Now five clear of Ari Engel and Daniel Lowery, both of whom have moved on to bigger and better things, Maurice Hawkins seems determined to play out his own personal melodrama of winning WSOP Circuit events while simultaneously escaping prosecution for non-payment of debts, the list of which in his bankruptcy file was almost as long as his WSOP-C roll of honor.

But then, perhaps honor is the wrong word to use in every sense of it.