Sure, it’s only the end of Day 2a, but it’s hard not to be impressed by what Brian Schaedlich accomplished today. Starting the day in second place the 22-year-old elementary school teacher rolled over his table for the entire day finishing with 765,000 – 365,000 ahead of Jeremiah Smith, who sits in second.
“I wasn’t afraid to go for some of the draws and I wasn’t afraid to re-raise people,” said Schaedlich, who teach Kindergarten through Grade 4 Special Education in Cleveland, Ohio. “I was playing pretty tight, but there were spots of aggression.”
The aggression paid off in spades for Schaedlich and even gave him the opportunity to bust a 2008 bracelet winner, Martin Klaser. “I had ace-4 of diamonds, he had ace-jack. It was a cheap flop. Flop came A-Q-4 and he played (his hand) all the way, I put him all in on the turn and he called.”
“I had people offer to sit in my seat for five dollars just to have their picture taken with all my chips. I almost wanted to take them up on the offer. Being in the chip lead going into Day 3 is unbelievable and hopefully I can be chip leader after Day 3, maybe, hopefully, never give it up.”
Even if he never does relinquish the lead and takes home the $9.1 million first place prize, Schaedlich has no designs on giving up his day job and turning pro.
“I love what I do, I love kids. Poker is just something I do for fun. Even if I did win the money, I’d still be there the next day teaching,” said Schaedlich. “I don’t think my kids would really understand Mr. Schaedlich winning $9.1 million and not showing up the next day. I couldn’t do that to them. If I was a little kid and my teacher left me after (saying) he loves what he does and he loves us – I couldn’t walk out on them like that.”
But Schaedlich isn’t thinking that far ahead of the game. He’s just looking forward to getting back into action when the Day 2a and 2b fields combine.
“November 9th is a long ways away. I’m just going to play Day 3 for Day 3. We still might not be in the money by then. So I might not be here on Day 4. I’m just going to keep playing my game and hope that I’m still here.”
For complete chip counts for all 465 Day 2a survivors check out WorldSeriesofPoker.com.