Maurice Hawkins, a 24-time World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring winner, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Thursday, April 23, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case 26-15116-EPK, through his attorney Michael A. Kaufman.
The filing follows a string of high-stakes results: The Hendon Mob lists Hawkins with nearly $7 million in lifetime tournament earnings, including $853,068 in 2024, $741,937 in 2025 and $217,254 already in 2026. Less than three weeks before the bankruptcy, he won the WSOP Circuit Elgin Event #3: $400 NLH for $17,419, the victory delivering his record 24th WSOP Circuit gold ring.
The legal action comes after a debt dispute that had produced a final judgment of $115,828 against Hawkins in the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, and a payment arrangement in which Hawkins agreed to pay Randy Garcia $2,500 by the 30th of every month until $30,000 was repaid. Attorney Rogen Chhabra filed a garnishment in conjunction with Garcia.
pokernews learned from a source on-site in Tunica that Hawkins cashed a tournament there last week but was allegedly surprised to learn he would be unable to collect the payout because of that garnishment; Hawkins filed for bankruptcy the following day.
The recent run of cashes was notable on its own. Hawkins chopped the Gulf Coast Poker Beau Rivage Heater Event #6: $500 Triple Stack NLH for $80,944 and, a week later, won the WSOPC Tunica Event #2: $400 Mini Main for $35,146. Those results sit against the backdrop of the Palm Beach County judgment and the repayment plan with Garcia.
The weight of the story is in the contrast: a player posting seven- and six-figure yearly tallies and adding another ring while a court judgment and a garnishment hung over his ability to collect immediate winnings. According to the IRS, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a legal process that erases most unsecured debts within three to six months — a timeline that could alter efforts to collect against future tournament payouts.
Tension in the narrative is sharpened by Hawkins’s own public tone. He wrote on social media, "I win every trip I go on, check my hendon. I have more disposable income, than your regular income. I live rent free in your mind," and, "All, I have to say is ‘Happy New Year.’ This will Be my Biggest year. It’s nothing your words, posts and ill intent against me. Can do about it.” He also posted, "Some people talk, and then some people do. Let’s eat 2026….. Plus 80k HIGH Hater. This is for those I told, I would make the salary in one week. This one is for you." Those messages came as his reported earnings mounted.
There is a legal and practical contradiction at the center of the story: heavy recent cashes and a long record of tournament success, yet a court judgment and an active garnishment that, at least once, intercepted a payout. The bankruptcy filing may affect attempts to garnish Hawkins’s poker winnings, and it removes or restructures some unsecured obligations within months, but it does not erase the fact of the judgment or the public repayment agreement he entered into with Garcia.
For now the immediate consequence is procedural: Hawkins has placed his finances into Chapter 7 and set in motion a court process that, under the timeline cited by the IRS, could clear most unsecured debts within three to six months. For the poker community, the case will be watched closely because it tests how state-court judgments and garnishments interact with tournament payouts — and because it involves one of the circuit’s most decorated regulars.
Hawkins’s filing reads like a coda to two seasons of big numbers and a row of recent wins — nearly $7 million in career earnings, a 24th ring, and more than $217,000 already in 2026 — colliding with a judgment for $115,828 and a garnishment that a source says blocked a Tunica payout. The question now is whether Chapter 7 will insulate future tournament proceeds from collectors or merely pause a dispute that may resume once the bankruptcy process concludes.
