“May the 4th be with you” may be a greeting between fans of the Star Wars franchise, but to the winner of the $400 Mini Main Event at WSOPC Cherokee, Matt Higgins, it has a very different meaning.
The now eight-time WSOP Circuit ring winner says the day means a lot more to him than spaceships and lightsabers.
“Three years ago today, my mother passed away the week of Mother’s Day. I woke up this morning and I felt like something was, I don’t know, you just wake up with that feeling sometimes. I didn’t even think about it until I got about halfway through the day, and someone was like ‘May the 4th be with you’ and I was like, ‘Today is May 4th, wait a second’."
May the 8th (ring) be with you
Higgins topped the massive 3,403-entry field for his eighth WSOPC ring and $132,204. Incredibly, it was also his third time winning a huge multi-flight event at Cherokee. The crusher from Rossville, Georgia, beat a 2,061-entry field in the 2023 Monster Stack Event and 2,437 entries in a $400 event in 2021.
Also among his career best results is another meaningful finish just last year during this same series.
“Last year at this time, I got second in the Main here against Maurice (Hawkins) on Mother’s Day. It’s just blessings.”
Higgins was all business on a day that didn’t start how he had hoped.
“I came into the day seventh in chips and literally I lose the first five significant pots and I get down to like 25 bigs, so I never really got into panic mode, but it was like ‘Man, how do we start the day with almost 100 big blinds and here we are.’ But I just took my time and regrouped, and then when we went to 40-minute levels, when Day 2 really started, I just went to work.”
Once at the final table, Higgins had more work to do, starting in the middle of the pack, but once six-handed, the champion stepped on the gas, scoring four of the final five eliminations.
The magic continues
What would soon follow was another dream run in the PLO tournament, finishing just shy of his ninth WSOPC ring and what would have been three in two weeks.
Cherokee's $600 Pot-Limit Omaha was a star-laden affair with WSOP bracelet and ring winners spread throughout the 330-entry strong field. As it should have, it came down to two of the most decorated players on the WSOP Circuit, with Preston McEwen winning ring number eight, while denying red-hot Higgins his ninth. McEwen’s win for $35,420 is his second on the Circuit in 2025.
The heads-up battle counted 15 rings between them and the duel started with the final two players virtually even in chips. It was a battle McEwen relished.
“I knew it was going to be pretty challenging. We both started with like 100 bigs, we were dead even when we started heads-up, so it was really just who was going to get the luck of the draw, and it went back and forth forever.”
Not this time
Indeed, the match went nearly two hours, with the lead being exchanged several times before McEwen opted to play a tournament-deciding pot with pocket kings on a queen-high flop versus Higgins’ flush draw and gutshot. The duo exchanged raises until all the chips were in the middle. Higgins turned an open-ender, but couldn’t hit any of his outs, and McEwen was declared the winner.
The champion came over to hug his friend, who double and triple checked the board, amazed that he couldn’t hit any of what he joked were ‘32 outs’.
Resigned to his fate, Higgins embraced McEwen.
“Matt’s a great player," McEwen said after the win. "He just won the Mini Main to start off the trip. We both FT’d the PLO High Roller last stop in Tunica, and he just ran over the table and annihilated everybody, so this is nice to get a little revenge comeback there at the end. He had all the chips at this FT too, so, you know, great player, it’s always fun to play one of your buddies, and more power to him for playing his ass off all the time.”
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