Maurice Hawkins has spent all of 2026 in the poker headlines — for two very different reasons. On one side, a record-extending 26th World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring and a summer that has produced more than $840,000 in cashes. On the other, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing that is still working its way through the courts. At the Borgata Summer Poker Open, he addressed both.
The Key Points
- Hawkins won the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Mini Main Event, his fifth ring of 2026 and 26th overall.
- He has banked $844,061 in live tournament cashes since May 1.
- Summer highlights: runner-up in a $600 NLH/PLO event for $135,864 and fourth in the $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship for $432,875.
- He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April and expects to be discharged in roughly 60 days.
- Randy Garcia, holder of a judgment in excess of $115,000, is challenging the filing.
Ring Number 26 at Choctaw
Hawkins beat a 400-entry field in the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Mini Main Event to collect his fifth Circuit ring of the year. He got there through Brian Green heads-up, with Will Givens finishing third, in a field that also featured the likes of Ari Engel and Biton Almog.
It was the latest chapter in a run that shows no sign of cooling off. Since May 1 alone, Hawkins has recorded $844,061 in live tournament cashes.
“I feel like I can't be stopped. Like I said in my last interview, I feel like I've got the recipe and I'm spreading it all over the world.”
— Maurice Hawkins
“I'm trying to maximize this, just keep going, keep going from stop to stop, and just see where we go with this,” he added.
A Summer That Built on Itself
At the World Series of Poker, Hawkins finished runner-up in a $600 No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha event for $135,864, then took fourth in the $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship for $432,875. In his telling, the two results were not independent events.
“If I hadn't got second, then I wouldn't have gotten fourth for $400,000,” he said. “Everything kind of builds on each other.”
He is also unwilling to treat the summer as the measure of a poker year — at least for himself.
“I think it's more important for other people because I base my game on just playing the best I can in every situation,” Hawkins said. “If it happens to be in the summer, then that's where I will win at. If it doesn't happen to be in the summer, then it's unfortunate.”
The Bankruptcy and the Garcia Judgment
Hawkins filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April, a move that folded in his long-running dispute with fellow player Randy Garcia, who holds a judgment against him worth more than $115,000.
“When you do a bankruptcy, all of your previous debt goes into it,” Hawkins explained, before summing up his view of the process in five words: “That's the American way.”
The filing is not fully behind him. Garcia's side has signalled it intends to contest parts of it, something Hawkins acknowledged he will have to deal with.
“I'm going to be discharged from my bankruptcy in maybe the next 60 days. There was a thing where the guy (Garcia) tried to sue me or he created a lawsuit for me, so I'll have to fight that. I'm most likely going to be through with that and I'll have a clean slate.”
— Maurice Hawkins
The timing of it all is not lost on him.
“The best thing is I went bankrupt and then I had the best summer of my life. So it kind of worked out in my favor,” Hawkins said. “Basically, I just didn't give up. I stayed focused and kept putting one foot in front of the other.”
Unfinished Business at the Borgata
Hawkins bagged a top-ten stack in Day 1b of the $2,700 Summer Open Championship, and he made no secret of enjoying the room — or of what he thinks of his last result there.
“The way that they run tournaments. I love that stream table. It's a good feel. It's professional,” he said. “I got 13th or whatever it was last time (I was here). I don't like getting 13th, so I want first.”
