Monday, September 17, 2018 2:58 AM Local Time
Stephen Knapp Wins Event #11 ($10,493)
Part-time gold hunter wins first Circuit ring and $10,493 in Event #12 triumph.
“There's gold in that there valley” might be the new saying of choice for Stephen Knapp, who earned his first gold WSOP Circuit ring in Event #12: $400 No-Limit Hold'em, at Thunder Valley. The catch is that it's not the place Knapp normally hunts for gold; he spends much of his time walking and finding rocks rich with gold ore. “I've got the gold fever,” Turner says. “I'm really good at finding nuggets!” Knapp even keeps a couple of snapshots of his best finds on his phone. “I go for a walk and make money,” he added.
Knapp moved to California in 2004, and has since retired, but claims, “I'm busier than ever.” He spends some of that busy time playing poker, and he's made three previous Circuit final tables, all at Lake Tahoe, just a couple of hours away from this event. Yet he'd had a fourth place, fourth place and third place in those three events, and he admitted he really didn't want a second-place finish... so it had to be first once he'd come this far. Knapp plans on displaying his ring rather than wearing it, though there's a chance a photo of might end up on his phone, along with his other golden finds.