Maurice Hawkins made history last night at Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach, Florida by becoming the first player in the WSOP Circuit’s thirteen seasons to have won three Main Events within the same year. Winning the $1,675 tournament on Monday, the player also scooped his eighth career gold ring, thus becoming one of the few to have achieved this feat.
Hawkins’ Main Event winning spree began in April when the player outlasted the field of the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event for a first-place prize of $113,152. He won his second Main Event for 2016 on the very next Circuit stop at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina, adding $279,722 to his poker bankroll. Emerging victorious in back-to-back Circuit Main Events, Hawkins recorded his name in the series’ history as the only player to have ever done that.
Main Event victory number three came last night, as already mentioned. Hawkins scooped $95,921 for his latest poker triumph. With that said, his WSOP Circuit winnings passed the $1-million mark.
It is also important to note that the player has won one more gold ring this year. He topped the field of a $365 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em tournament at Horseshoe Council Bluffs a day before he entered the Main Event at the casino to eventually win it.
Commenting on his phenomenal performance in the Circuit over the past several months, Hawkins said last night that he had a goal and was glad to have accomplished it.
The WSOP Circuit $1,675 Main Event at Palm Beach Kennel Club drew 261 entries to generate a prize pool of $391,500 and to distribute it to the top 27 performers. The tournament was played over four days, with the final day set for November 21.
Hawkins entered the unofficial ten-handed final table as the short stack. As it could be seen, he left the table as the victor. The final heads-up match was played between Hawkins and Khoan Ho and started with the eventual winner holding almost three times more chips than his last opponent.
Ho failed to give Hawkins hard time. In fact, two-handed play lasted no more than half an hour. On the final hand for the evening, Ho went all-in for his last 250,000 and Hawkins snap-called, flipping over [As][10h]. Ho then showed his [Ah][9d] in anticipation for the board. The [Kd][Qh][2s][Ad][5s] appeared to help Hawkins make history and collect his eighth gold ring. Ho received a consolation prize of $59,265 for his runner-up finish.
