Maurice Hawkins had a feeling it was going to be his day at WSOPC New Orleans when he jumped into Event #7: $600 Pot Limit Omaha after bagging a top-five stack in Flight A of Event #6: $400 Monster Stack. After just over nine hours of play, his called shot came to fruition as he took down the event for his record breaking 20th WSOP Circuit ring, the $14,548 first place prize and a $5,000 package into the Bahamas in December.
"I am in a good place in my life and GOAT's gonna goat," Hawkins said immediately following the win. "The first five people I was picking my spots, but after that it was a sun-run."
With a little gamble in him early on, Hawkins quickly ran his starting stack of 25,000 up over 150,000 during the first few levels of play. The sun run was just beginning for the now 20-time ring winner, as when the event drew near the money bubble, he would have nearly 400,000 chips, more than three times the average chips at the time.
"I have been running good ever since I got here. Whether running good in gambling, in poker, I have been running good since I sat down." Hawkins told PokerOrg. "You know how you just start feeling great? You get that feeling, and I have had that feeling. We go through so much turmoil as poker players, the downswings and wondering why things are happening, and it just feels good to run above EV."
Despite a slight hiccup after his early rush, Hawkins still managed to come into the final table third in chips. However, standing in his way were a plethora of former WSOP hardware winners, including 18-time ring winner Daniel Lowery, two-time ring winner David Cook, one-time ring winner Dave Weiner, and five-time ring winner Daniel Pearlman, who had the chip lead as the final table began.
Ring rival Lowery out early
Luckily for Hawkins, Weiner (10th, $1,335), Cook (9th, $1,445), and Lowery (8th, $1,647) all came into the final table short and quickly found themselves at the payout window, leaving just six players standing in his way.
Will Oertling was the next player to hit the rail when he fell in seventh place for $1,971 before the deck started to slam Hawkins in the face with big pocket pair after big pocket pair, including picking up pocket aces to send Hariharan Rangarajan home in sixth place for $2,474.
However, it wasn't just the hole cards that began to run in Hawkins' favor as he flopped quad sixes to send James Calloway and his overpair of jacks out the door in fifth place for $3,246. Hawkins continued the run good and moved to over 50% of the chips in play when he sent Gregory Headriek to the payout window in fourth place for $4,448.
Pearlman, who was whittled down to just a few big blinds by Thai Cao, eventually got the last of his short stack into the middle with an overpair of kings on the flop in a blind vs blind battle, but Hawkins had flopped two pair and held to send him home in third place for $6,350.
Momentum shifts
This gave Hawkins a slight chip lead going into heads-up play, and Cao proved more than a match as he eventually took the chip lead and had Hawkins on the ropes as the last of Hawkins' roughly 850,000 chips headed to the middle for the first all-in of the heads-up match.
Hawkins held 
with nut hearts but was in rough shape as Cao tabled 
. However, when the flop fell 
, Hawkins flopped the wheel to double right back into the chip lead.
With all the momentum back in his favor, Hawkins closed out the tournament when he picked up pocket kings, leaving Cao and his pocket queens needing help to survive. No help came on the run out, and Cao bowed out in second place for $9,431.
Hawkins now has his sights set on ring number 21 as he looks to parlay his top 10 stack in Event #6 into another piece of WSOP hardware.
"I don't need fans. If you love me, I love you. If you don't, you can kiss my ass," Hawkins said to close out the event.
'This is what I love doing'
“I play PLO cash games at night all the time in the biggest stakes down in Florida,” Hawkins told PokerOrg following his record-setting win. “This is what I love doing. I am not as good at it as I am at hold’em, but I am still better at it than most. Don’t think I am the GOAT, but I am pretty damn good at it.”
Hawkins' win now places him out in front of his nearest rivals Ari Engel and Daniel Lowery, as the trio continue to push the record further.
“I mean no disrespect to anybody else that is in the race with me, but my name is supposed to be at the top. Point blank, this is my Circuit,” Hawkins said immediately after closing out his record-breaking win. “I respect Ari, as a matter of fact, I have been respecting him his whole career. I used to look up to him a little, and Dan is a great player, but I am supposed to be at the top.”
Hawkins, who has had a mountain of success on the Circuit not only in his career, but just this year, has picked up three rings, now four, with another handful of near misses, including a runner-up finish at Cherokee just a few weeks ago, and the grind never stops for the man they call 'Hawk'.
“I don’t even keep up,” Hawkins said when asked to touch on his success this year. “When I got the second in Cherokee [earlier this month]. I went home for a week and had a bad taste in my mouth. I just know I can feed my family for another month, and I will be alright.”
'I can’t not go to the Bahamas now'
Hawkins now has his sights set on ring number 21 as he hopes to parlay his top-three chip stack in Event #6 to another ring to extend his record and stay at the top of the all-time leaderboard for years to come.
“I get to do what I love when I am here for the next seven days. Then I get to go back home and party for six days [before the cycle repeats itself]” Hawkins said of his plans for the rest of the week in New Orleans. “This is my dream, I have always loved this dream. I live for this dream. I eat, sleep, and breathe this dream. I am who I want to be and I am where I want to be in this life.”
That dream now includes a trip to the Bahamas in December for the 2025 WSOP Paradise as his fourth ring of the year also qualifies him into Event #1 the $2,500 Mystery Bounty.
“I am definitely going to the Bahamas over the Wynn this year because equity-wise I technically can’t not go to the Bahamas now,” Hawkins said of the added benefit of winning a buy-in to Event #1 plus some days at the hotel thanks to the ring. “I am now saving up because I want to buy into the two $25,000 and the $50,000. I will be playing those events, so I guess that means I am just going to be a little bit more broke cause I got to save up.”
With the business end of the interview complete, Hawkins became emotional as he went on to express his gratitude to his friends (Kayla, Shane, and Cody, who are on the road with him) before moving on to his family, especially his children back home.
“I am about to go teary-eyed because I do this for my family and my friends. I am just happy that I can do this for a living,” Hawkins said to close the show. “I can go on the road any day of the week and make $30,000 in two days. I mean, not many people can say that, and I am thankful and blessed to be able to do that.”
Watch the tournament's final hand, below.
WSOPC New Orleans $600 Pot Limit Omaha - final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maurice Hawkins | $14,548 |
| 2 | Thai Cao | $9,431 |
| 3 | Daniel Pearlman | $6,350 |
| 4 | Gregory Headriek | $4,448 |
| 5 | James Calloway | $3,246 |
| 6 | Hariharan Rangarajan | $2,474 |
| 7 | Will Oertling | $1,971 |
| 8 | Daniel Lowery | $1,647 |
| 9 | David Cook | $1,445 |
| 10 | Dave Weiner | $1,335 |
Featured image courtesy of WSOP.
