Denise Pratt preaches ‘de-escalation’ in dispute with Maurice Hawkins
Denise Pratt has dropped her arbitration case against the record WSOP Circuit ring winner Maurice Hawkins.
If 2025 was the year of combustible relationships between poker players, the early days of 2026 might be hinting at less conflict between adversaries at the felt... and off it. After the alleged assault on Maurice Hawkins in a cash game in December, Denise Pratt has dropped the arbitration case dating back to April against the record WSOP Circuit ring winner.
Back in April of last year, Pratt and Hawkins had a much-publicised confrontation in Tunica where Pratt alleged that Hawkins had failed to pay back debts from a backing deal he was in courtesy of her investment. This in turn led to an arbitration to recover funds but in an unexpected move, Pratt this week rescinded her desire for repayment after Hawkins’ involvement in a cash game altercation in December changed her viewpoint on moving forward.
Pratt called the current situation for Hawkins ‘toxic and volatile’ and her decision to step back, even at her financial cost, was made in order to protect him from further violence.
Speaking via Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, the high stakes player and self-appointed arbitrator of poker debts in recent months on X who lost the biggest televised poker pot in history in 2025, Pratt said:
“I made the decision to step back when it became clear that continuing forward carried the risk of someone being harmed, whether through physical confrontation or potential gun-related danger. No dispute and no amount of money is worth placing people in harm’s way. I intentionally de-escalated and brought the proceedings to an end because protecting lives truly matters to me. The situation surrounding Maurice Hawkins had become too toxic, too volatile, and too unsafe to justify continued involvement. My choice was simple: I chose people’s safety over being right, and I chose integrity over conflict.”
Feedback online sees Hawkins respond
In the official mediation summary shared online, no conclusive fault is determined and while this was a confidential agreement wrongly made public, there is a line effectively drawn under the whole matter without any financial recompense for Pratt. Despite this, several people have commented about Hawkins’ reputation as a result of the allegations. Hawkins himself was bullish about what comes next.
“All I have to say is ‘Happy New Year’,” he said on X. “This will be my biggest year. [There’s] nothing your words, posts and ill intent against me can do about it. #2026YearOfTheHawk.”
Pratt herself was asked in the aftermath about whether this meant she had lost the arbitration. She refuted this and reiterated her stance on the matter at its conclusion.
I didn’t lose the arbitration nor did he win the arbitration.. he is now full blown in breach of a confidentiality agreement which is a better position to be in anyway because it further substantiates his nefarious tendencies and that he is not to be trusted
— SneakieNesie (@SneakieNesie) January 5, 2026
As both Maurice Hawkins and those he has had dealings with in the past move on from the matter, talk should now return to poker, about which there is no dispute around Hawkins’ talent. He’ll likely see 2026 as a year in which to defend his infamous WSOP Circuit record, albeit under the brightest of poker spotlights.
