The battle for the most World Series of Poker Circuit rings amped up a bit this week after Dan Lowery scored his 16th ring, bringing him into a tie with Maurice Hawkins at 16. Both are just one ring behind Ari Engel, who stands at 17.
Lowery took the title in the $250 seniors event at the Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma, topping a field of 500 to claim the championship ring and $18,682. He came into the final table as chip leader and then vanquished Brian Green in heads-up play. Adding that additional piece of hardware built on a running battle with Engel.
“The ring race heated up about a year and a half ago,” Lowery told Poker.org reporters after the win. “Me and Ari were talking a little playful, and it kind of got out of control because he just started winning everything. But we’re gonna try and catch him.”
A Look At The Ring Race
While he may be one ring behind, Hawkins retains the lead in WSOPC earnings at almost $3.8 million. Lowery has earned $2 million and Engel has almost $3 million. Despite his success, Hawkins recently expressed his disinterest in the competition.
“I think that they’ve watered it down to a point where they’re worthless,” he said in a video online. “You have people winning rings where first place is like $4,000, $5,000, $6,000. With this whole online thing, you could play a $200 tournament with 60-70 people in it and win a ring – it’s just diluted, and it’s making it worse, it doesn’t even mean anything anymore. It used to mean something, now it means nothing.”
As a part-time poker player, Lowery’s success may stand out even more. As the owner and operator of a sawmill in Booneville, Arkansas, since 1996, much of his time is devoted to running his business.
“Logging and sawmilling is in my blood,” he told Skillset magazine in 2021. “I enjoy it, or I definitely wouldn’t do it. It’s not for the faint of heart or a lazy individual.”
That work ethic apparently carries over to the poker table as well. But Lowery wasn’t the only player in the ring race to score a win recently. While playing in a live event at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour event at Resorts World Las Vegas on Thursday, Engel was simultaneously playing online and grabbed his fourth WSOP bracelet in a $400 turbo event.
Congrats @AriEngelPoker!!! https://t.co/OCy7q7D01k
— Daniel Lowery (@danmflowery) November 8, 2024
He’s gone and done it AGAIN!
It’s
WSOP</a> ring number 16‼️ for Dan <a href="https://twitter.com/danmflowery?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">danmflowery Lowery at ChoctawHow it went down: https://t.co/oY8FGDsSxa pic.twitter.com/Q43OrsXbEb
— Poker Org (@pokerorg) November 5, 2024