In recent days, the WSOPC series has been underway at Harrah's Cherokee (North Carolina), which also featured a $1,700 buy-in Main Event. With 981 entries, the prizepool reached nearly $1.5 million. A gold ring awaited the winner here, plus $259,160.
Maurice Hawkins, who once had the most WSOPC rings, also made the final table. But then Ari Engel came along and stole that top spot from him. Ari currently has 17 gold rings and is sure to add some more to his collection.
Maurice was until recently tied for second place with Josh Reichard and Daniel Lowery, who have 15 rings. Hawkins, however, won the aforementioned Main Event, making it his 16th ring. He confirmed the second place in this ranking for himself and sent Josh and Daniel to a split third place.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Maurice Hawkins | 259.160$ |
| 2. | Matt Higgins | 160.176$ |
| 3. | James Caldarero | 117.850$ |
| 4. | Chris George | 87.721$ |
| 5. | Kris Duren | 66.066$ |
| 6. | Derek Nold | 50.352$ |
| 7. | Michael Lawrence | 38.840$ |
| 8. | Mark Merritt | 30.327$ |
| 9. | Tace Henderson | 23.973$ |
Hawkins has had the opportunity to win rings before
However, Maurice has struggled for the rings in recent months and really narrowly missed out. So it is possible that he will be the one to take the top spot in the ring count again. In February, Hawkins finished third in the WSOPC Cherokee Main Event for $178,870 and in late April, he finished second in the WSOPC Tunica, taking home $11,446 from the $600 NLH event.
Ari Engel almost won his 18th ring
In February, we informed you that Ari Engel had won his 17th ring. A month later, however, he was already fighting for his 18th one, and that was in an online NLH PKO tournament. Here he finished second, which didn't earn him a ring, but at least it earned him a $3,546 bounty.
What do you think, will Maurice Hawkins overtake Ari Engel in the number of WSOPC gold rings? Let us know in the comments on our social networks.
Source - WSOP, Poker.org, Pokernews, 8131media, Hendonmob
