Poker Star Maurice Hawkins Ordered to Repay $103,000

Missouri’s Maurice Hawkins is a familiar face on the live poker circuit in the United States and is one of the World Series of Poker Circuit’s (WSOP-C) most successful players of all-time, but a court has ordered him to repay more than $103,000 in a backing deal that appears to have gone wrong.

Hawkins has amassed $3,789,831 in live poker tournament winnings despite his largest cash weighing in at $279,722. The vocal professional poker player won a record 13th WSOP-C gold ring in May 2019 when he topped a field of 432-entries in a $400 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event at the WCOP-C stop at Horseshoe Tunica stop, a result that also locked up $31,372 in cash.

Hawkins Crushes the WSOP-C

More than $2.3 million of Hawkins’ total earnings stem from his play in WSOP events and he has racked up an impressive 89 circuit cashes. Shortly after his record-breaking victory, Hawkins said he was looking to win a bracelet at the 2019 WSOP, but had other plans and goals that were more important to him than poker’s most sought after piece of jewelry.

“My goal for this 2019 WSOP is to have My Home Paid off. My whip shining new. (Got to have a payment on it, because I Likes to Ball, LOL) 18 Karats around my neck, Rolex on my wrist and have no debt of any kind. These are my visions before the bracelet.”

The comment about having no debt of any kind is quite ironic because earlier this week, Randy Garcia outed Hawkins on social media claiming Hawkins owed him $103,000 from a backing deal they pair had agreed to a couple of years ago.

Hawkins Called Our on Social Media

Garcia, a restaurateur from North Carolina who often backs poker players, took to Twitter to vent his frustrations about Hawkins allegedly welching on the deal.

The tweets read: “PSA no one ever stake @mauricehawkins. He has owed me $103k for 2 years now. Have proof of him confirming this. Keeps saying to me “be patient” after he has cashed for over $1m yet still refuses to pay. Have filed a lawsuit against him. Please retweet this to help spread the word”

“Let me be clear. For 2 years I have kept this private out of respect for him and hoping he would have some integrity & be a man of his word. However, he clearly has no respect for me so I feel obligated to let others know so they don’t make the same mistake I did but trusting him.”

Garcia reached out to PokerNews to add more meat to the bones of the story. He revealed Hawkins and Garcia agreed to a staking deal in March 2017 that would see Garcia provide Hawkins with a bankroll in exchange for 50 percent of his action. The deal was going well for both parties before Hawkins allegedly lost his entire bankroll playing blackjack after busting from a WSOP-C event in third-place after being the chip leader with only a handful of players remaining.

Since the deal ended, Hawkins has won more than $1 million but Garcia claims he has never seen a cent of the $103,000 owed to him.

The Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach, Florida ruled in favor of Garcia and awarded him $103,000. The sum does not include interest of $12,377.34 or court costs of $451.00 for a total of $115,828.34.

Hawkins Responds

Hawkins responded to PokerNews and put across his side of the story.

“We have handled this amicably and there’s really nothing to write about. While he did back me, we had many conversations and money transactions that had nothing to do with backing. Dude had what he presumed I owed him. I was making payments. He wanted a lump sum. He said if he didn’t get 30K he was going to go on Twitter, contact the world and defame my name. By getting people to post about loans as if it is poker news and it’s really not. Had nothing to do with backing. Basically, say shit that Twitter trolls love [like] scum and I am a scammer. Then people run with it.

“He made money off me like everyone else had in the past. What I borrow from someone isn’t news but when you are a poker player I guess people find a way to make it news. I am all these things when I didn’t want to give him the lump sum. But yet I bet the story won’t be spun like that. Like I said earlier, it’s been handled and he will validate that.”

Garcia request that PokerNews did not run its article as he and Hawkins were in the process of reaching an amicable agreement. Garcia went on record to say, “my lawsuit against Maurice Hawkins is currently in the process of being amicably resolved.”

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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