Rick Bartels and Mitch Knuckles made their World Poker Tour debuts on Friday on Day 1A of the $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship after qualifying on ClubWPT. The pair both turned to online play in their golden years and each managed to involve their families.
“I’m very excited to be here,” Bartels said. “I’m not doing too good right now though – I can’t get any hands.”
Bartels is from Cedar Rapids, IA and wears years of life experience on his face. “I did a lot of stuff: construction work, I owned a couple bars and built some houses over my life – a little bit of everything,” he said.
“I’ve been playing poker all my life but on ClubWPT about three years now,” Bartles added. “I enjoyed playing poker and I had a stroke about 3.5 years ago, so I’m limited in what I can do. So, I really took up playing online then.”
Knuckles took up playing online to help his memory and stay mentally sharp. The 69-year-old hails from Canyonville, OR and spent over 40 years working as a master electrician.
He grew up playing poker at the dinner table with his siblings but as the youngest of five, when they left the house so did the games. He joked that his day has been rough so far.
“It’s probably the toughest group of people I’ve played poker with,” he said. “There’s a whole row of players nearby that have won these before. This is very much a learning experience for me.”
“I told someone today that I was living the dream,” Kuckles said. “I think the WPT is promoting this well and they’ve treated me like gold. They’re really going out of their way for people that may never afford to get into one of these.”
Bartels specifically focused on the satellite for this event because his daughter lives in the area. “I saw the tournament coming up and wanted to play it to get a free family trip out of it. We spent the day together yesterday and then came over here today.”
Knuckles’ sister lives in the area as an avid golfer. “We wanted to get together back in February, and I saw they had this month of tournaments. I wanted to bring her over here and introduce her to poker since it’s working for me.”
“We couldn’t quite schedule it,’ he continued. “I go back home and then two weeks later I win a trip to place I was trying to book before.”
When Bartels was asked what would make his trip complete, he snapped off, “to win this tournament. It’s about the only thing I do for kicks now.”
Images courtesy of WPT/Joe Giron.
