Maurice Hawkins Is One WSOPC Ring Away From the Record After 17th Win

The World Series of Poker Circuit went big for the WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach, paying out $3,692,700 in prizes at the festival over the last two weeks.

Thousands of players escaped the Florida sun by piling into the poker room of Harrah’s Pompano Beach Casino between the festival’s start on January 30 and the last hand dealt this Monday.

The festival also saw a polarizing player, Maurice Hawkins, earn his 17th ring. This puts him within one ring of the current record holder for most rings, Ari Engel.

Maurice Hawkins Closes In On Record

Maurice Hawkins won his 17th WSOP Circuit ring for taking down Event #15: $400 Grand Master 40/40/40 at the WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach for $16,137.

When late registration closed for this tournament, Hawkins — who was sued in 2019 by a backer for non-payment of debts — was one of 208 entries to the event. He was also one of only two people to have exactly 16 WSOP rings at the time. Daniel Lowery was the other player to share this honor.

With his victory in the 40/40/40 event, Hawkins closed the gap on Engel’s 18 rings and pulled away from Lowery’s 16. Now, Hawkins stands alone in second place between the two.

Hawkins has been chasing the record for a while, coming close in August 2024. At that time, Hawkins still had 16 rings, but Engel was still on 17. As a result, when Hawkins found himself heads up against Susan Faber in WSOP Circuit Cherokee Event #15: $600 No Limit Holdem, he was just a playing card’s width away from joining Engel in the top spot.

Unfortunately, Faber won that event. And in the following months, Engel won himself another, extending Hawkins’s chase.

WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach Event #15: Grand Master 40/40/40 Final Table Results

Peacock Earns Another Feather In His Cap

The biggest event of the festival was fittingly the Main Event. With a prize pool of $1,384,710 and a turnout of 914 entries across three Day 1s, the event was one of the biggest in terms of both player count and dollars won and lost.

Of the 914 entries, Arthur Peacock came out on top, earning $230,794 for beating an insane final table.

Of the eight other players at the final table of the Main Event, four of them had seven-figure Hendon Mob pages. Michael Chiappetta, Ricardo Eyzaguirre, Life Outside Poker guest Raminder Singh, and Peacock’s heads up opponent, Daryll Fish.

Peacock himself also had more than a million dollars in live tournament cashes before he bought his ticket to the Pompano Beach Main Event. His new total stands at $1,676,018.

Fish won $153,860 for second place.

WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach Main Event Final Table Results

Other Highlights From Pompano Beach

Three of the festival’s 18 rings went to women — Cindy Spier won the Seniors Event for $21,470, Janet Fitzgerald won the Ladies Event for $6,190, and Jacquelyn Scott took down the final event of the festival for $17,492.

One major theme of the series was scale.

The Mini Main with its $400,000 guarantee which hit 1,098 entries to put $565,470 in the prize pool and a first place prize of $88,130 (which ultimately went to Sebastian Stefanski). These are big numbers for a tourney that cost just $400 to enter.

The numbers are also impressive when stacked up against the Main Event which surpassed its guarantee to hit a prize pool of $1,384,710.

What’s Up Next For The Circuit?

As we bid farewell to the WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach, we are also looking forward to the next two stops on the Circuit.

On February 13, both the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee, with almost $6 million in guarantees, and the WSOP Circuit Graton kick off on the same day.

You can check out the full results for the WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach below.

WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach Full Series Results