Maurice Hawkins has extended a WSOP Circuit record that already belonged entirely to him, winning the Mini Main Event at the WSOP Circuit stop at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma, for his 26th career ring. SuperPoker reported the result on July 27, 2026, and the win once again underlines just how far Hawkins has pulled away from the rest of the WSOP Circuit’s ring-winning elite.
Hawkins took down the Mini Main Event final table at Choctaw for US$76,380, topping a field that included Brian Green, Will Givens, and, notably, one of his closest challengers on the circuit’s all-time list, Ari Engel.
Maurice Hawkins WSOP Circuit Win Number 26
The Choctaw Mini Main Event win is the 26th WSOP Circuit ring of Hawkins’s career, a total no other player in the history of the tour has come close to matching. Choctaw Casino is one of the WSOP Circuit’s regular annual stops, drawing a steady mix of grinders and local recreational players to Durant, Oklahoma, and Hawkins has built a reputation over the years as a player who shows up to circuit stops like this one and simply keeps winning.
The final table paid out as follows. Hawkins took first for US$76,380. Brian Green finished runner-up for US$50,900. Will Givens placed third for US$35,450. Ari Engel, one of only two players tied for second on the all-time WSOP Circuit rings list, finished fourth for US$25,170.
The Heads-Up Comeback Against Brian Green
Hawkins did not win this ring comfortably. During heads-up play against Brian Green, Hawkins was pushed down to as few as six big blinds, a stack size that leaves almost no margin for error and would have ended the tournament for most players on the next unfavorable flop. Instead, Hawkins fought back from that deficit, chipping up through the short-stack stretch and eventually turning the match around to close out the win.
Short-stack comebacks like this one are part of why Hawkins has developed the reputation he has on the WSOP Circuit. Winning a tournament requires surviving dozens of small decisions across a full field, and coming back from six big blinds heads-up specifically requires both nerve and precision at the moments that matter most. It is the kind of detail that tends to stick in the memory of everyone who watched the final table, regardless of who ultimately walked away with the trophy.
A Record That Keeps Getting Harder to Catch
Twenty-six WSOP Circuit rings is a number that puts Hawkins in a category of his own. The nearest challengers on the all-time list, Ari Engel and Daniel Lowery, are tied for second place with 20 rings each, six behind Hawkins even before this latest win at Choctaw is added to the tally. That gap, already substantial, grew by one more ring in Durant.
The WSOP Circuit runs dozens of stops across the calendar every year, at casinos and card rooms around the country, and each stop can crown several ring winners across its schedule of events. Building a total of 26 rings means Hawkins has been doing this consistently for a long stretch of his career, across many different rooms, fields, and formats, rather than catching one hot run at a single venue. That consistency, more than any single win, is what has made him the player every other WSOP Circuit regular measures themselves against.
Ari Engel’s Front-Row Seat at Choctaw
One of the more pointed details from the Choctaw final table is that Ari Engel, tied for second on the all-time rings list, was sitting at the same table Hawkins beat on his way to ring number 26. Engel finished fourth for US$25,170, close enough to have felt the win but unable to convert his own deep run into a ring that would have narrowed the gap between the two players.
There is a natural storyline in one of the game’s most prolific ring winners watching from the same final table as the record extends further out of reach. Engel remains one of the players with a realistic shot at closing the distance on Hawkins over time, but nights like this one at Choctaw are a reminder of how difficult that chase actually is when Hawkins is at the table too.
What the WSOP Circuit Ring Record Means
The WSOP Circuit is the regional tour operated under the World Series of Poker banner, running events at casinos across the country throughout the year and awarding rings to event winners, distinct from the bracelets awarded at the flagship WSOP series in Las Vegas. Because the Circuit runs so many stops and so many events per stop, ring counts have become one of the sport’s clearer measures of long-term, cross-venue consistency. Readers who want more background on how WSOP events, structures, and rings differ from bracelet events can find a fuller breakdown in Poker Pro Academy’s WSOP guide.
Hawkins has been the WSOP Circuit’s most decorated ring winner for years, and every additional ring extends a record that was already unmatched in the tour’s history. Twenty-six rings, against a next-best total of 20 shared by two other players, is not a close race. It is a gap that keeps Hawkins in a category by himself among WSOP Circuit regulars, and Choctaw is simply the latest stop where that gap grew wider.
Hawkins in His Own Words
Speaking after the win, Hawkins credited both preparation and adaptation for his continued success on the circuit. “I have the recipe and I’m spreading it throughout America,” he said. “I’ve discovered some things about my game and other players’ games. Now I’m just applying it.”
It is a fitting summary of a career built stop by stop, ring by ring, across a WSOP Circuit schedule that keeps bringing Hawkins back to the same result: another win, another ring, and a record that only he seems capable of chasing down further.
