Tight race for the ring title
Maurice Hawkins is one of the most successful low-to-mid-stakes tournament poker players of all time. And this week, he continued to add to his legacy on the felt, winning the $400 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event at WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica. It was his 19th WSOP Circuit ring victory, pulling him into a tie with Ari Engel for the most all-time.
embroiled in controversy
This should be celebrated. It’s a wonderful accomplishment. But just as Hawkins is having a great week at the poker tables, he is embroiled in controversy away from them.
Hawkins has a reputation as a brash trash talker, someone who isn’t afraid to speak his mind, no matter who he angers. He is also someone whose reputation in the poker community when it comes to borrowing money or being backed is not good.
Backer successfully sues for $115k
And that is where the controversy arises. In 2017, Hawkins met a man named Randy Garcia, who began backing him for 50% of his action. It went well at first, but before the 2017 WSOP, Hawkins told Garcia that he lost his poker bankroll playing blackjack.
Garcia eventually took Hawkins to court
Garcia was forgiving about it and actually staked him further for the WSOP, since he wasn’t going to get his money back if Hawkins didn’t play poker. Hawkins did well, but there were further disagreements and/or miscommunications about what was and wasn’t owed. Garcia eventually took Hawkins to court to get the money he believed he was due.
In 2019, the court ordered Hawkins to pay Garcia $115,828.34. Hawkins was upset that Garcia went public with the details of their financial arrangements and said everything was being handled amicably.
Backer still trying to get his money
Fast forward to this past Monday, when Garcia tweeted that he was still trying to get his money from Hawkins. Calling Hawkins a “pathological liar and a deadbeat,” Garcia claimed that a year ago, Hawkins agreed, in a recorded interview, to pay him $30,000 before the 2024 WSOP, but the interviewer, Hesham “Kiero Loves You” Elkhouly, “refused to release the interview.”
“So,” wrote Garcia, “I am working with a new lawyer to go after every penny he owes me.”
Garcia attached a screenshot of the last message he received from Hawkins, dated March 7 (presumably 2025).
“Give me 30 days, if I don’t pay you, then you know I truly don’t care,” Hawkins said. “You will be paid in time. You [sic] been patient. And I notice.”
Garcia said he has not heard from Hawkins since.
Randy Garcia is far from the only person in the poker community who has made their negative experiences with Maurice Hawkins known. PokerNews’ Chad Holloway shared a video recorded by Denise Pratt when she tried to confront Hawkins about money he owed her:
“He’s the worst thing for poker ever,” Pratt replied in the video thread. “I apologize to the poker community for my part in taking up for him and trying to believe that there is good in everyone.”
“When you see him do yourself a huge favor and walk away.”
