Top Gun Scoops World Series Of Poker Glory Brandon Schaefer Flies High To Achieve His Dream

Everyone loves it when one of the good guys wins. You know, the kind of guy that greets everyone in the same way, treats everybody equal, and always has time for a smile and a chat. A player with good manners, a great sense of humour, a down-to-earth attitude, and an awareness of himself and those around him that is refreshing to say the least. Brandon Schaefer brought these qualities in bucketfulls to the industry and became one of the original European Poker Tour champions in 2005. He bulldozed the main event in Deauville and the following year finished runner-up at the Grand Final, cementing himself as a gutsy, talented, young professional to keep an eye on. Over the next few years people began to grow familiar with the American as he toured the circuit and continued his charge for glory. However, over time, that previously mentioned awareness made him realise he was missing something in his life, and he decided he had to go find it.

Out of the blue then, Schaefer rocks up to the Rio in Las Vegas (in town to go party at the Electric Daisy Carnival and see some old friends) with no plans on taking his seat among the throngs of players who have made their daily pilgrimage to the familiar surrounds of the Amazon or Pavilion rooms; but, after a fortunate sequence of events, soon emerges from the crowded halls into the sunshine with a new gold bracelet adorning his arm. “I glanced at the schedule, not really planning on playing anything, saw the $1,500 shootout, which is the only event I would have considered since you can cash or bust in five hours — the other tourneys require much more grinding and I had no interest in that,” says Schaefer joyfully. “It’s just crazy. The tourney started on Wednesday and I got in Tuesday, I was on the fence about playing, but a friend, a dealer at Caesar’s, convinced me to play, took me to a bank, and gave me $15 for one percent… giving him $3,100 was the best part of the whole experience.”

From The Felt To The Trenches

The last those friends with Schaefer heard, he had joined the U.S. army in a six-year contract and was training to become a helicopter pilot. To be more specific, his real end-game is to fly MedEvac Blackhawks and eventually join the 160th Aviation Regiment. It’s early days however, as at this point in his training, he had yet to begin actual flight school. After making the move to Alabama in November 2011, the 31-year-old had completed the Warrant Officer Candidate School, Warrant Officer Basic Course, and SERE Survival School. With a bit of downtime on his hands, a healthy-looking Schaeffer appeared in Vegas for some fun and ended up leaving with $311,174 after topping a field of 1,138 including pros such as Justin Schwartz, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Steven, and Layne Flack. It seems to be one of those things that when you stop trying and searching for something, it shows itself to you. “I think I’ve played 70-80 events at the WSOP and never sniffed a bracelet, but definitely always coveted one, who hasn’t? Life is crazy!” a smitten Schaeffer says.

At one time, the new bracelet holder and Warrant Officer was like any other young pro hitting up every kind of tournament going, both online and live, and letting the poker world absorb him completely. At the time he thought it would be a long-term profession and could not possibly imagine the path he was yet to take. He says, “I was obsessed for a while, it’s easy to be obsessed when you can’t lose, but I’d say it was about three years in when I really started looking for something else.” But what was it he was searching for, or lacking? “Some sort of purpose,” answers Schaefer. “I was obsessed with charity for a while, I wanted to find something I could make a lot of money at and then donate it. I considered opening a sports bar in Seattle, soccer-centric, and making most of the profits go to various World Health Organisations (there’s an awesome one called PATH that’s headquartered in Seattle) but it all seemed a bit overwhelming, and I’ve always really respected soldiers. It seemed more manageable than trying to change the world all by myself… That’s the thing that makes me cringe when people act like this is some heroic deed,” he continues. “I had grand schemes that would have been truly epic but I’m just doing what millions of others have also decided to do and I think they’re all amazing in their own right.”

Soul Searching

Schaefer found it difficult to find a purpose while playing poker fulltime, but does he, personally, think this is possible? “I don’t know,” he responds, “maybe the way Barry Greenstein did it, donating X percent of his winnings, but I was pretty miserable the way I was doing it, like I suspect more than 90 percent of poker players are. I’m kind of enjoying this part-time thing a lot more. It would be nice to just play one tourney every year and win it.” He then alludes to Card Player blogger Matt Mattros who, a few years ago, decided to focus more on his writing and now has three bracelets, which he won in three consecutive years. “There has to be something to it,” he says, but adds, “And running like God helped me a lot, but I felt focused like I hadn’t in a long long time and I wasn’t nervous or intimidated by the bracelet, I was just having fun.”

Towards the end of his poker days, Schaeffer was traveling and playing a little, but without any real sense of joie de vivre. He had been in the Army National Guard as a reserve from the age of 17 to 23 to pay for school so had a sense of army life, but it was his brother who inspired him to take the plunge and compete against many younger than him for a seat in a U.S. army chopper. “It’s not a decision I made lightly,” he explains. “If my brother wasn’t already a pilot I don’t know if I could have bitten the bullet but I trust him more than anyone and he knows me better than anyone. He assured me that I’d love it, so here I am. The military forced me to pull myself together, get in shape, get motivated, et cetera. I needed this; seven years of being your own boss, not answering to anyone, plus, it’s not like I was broke, so if I went to a normal 9-5, I probably would have told my boss to go to hell within a few days — the Army didn’t give me that option!”

Ready To Play The Game

To go from doing what you like when you like and sitting down most of the time, to, well, what many would consider hell must have been a monumental change for Schaefer, however, he seemed to take everything in his stride. He says, “It wasn’t all that bad. I worked out for about seven months before I submitted my application because you have to take a physical fitness test to apply, so I was in pretty good shape when I enrolled and I was competing with a bunch of 18- and 19 year-olds — I was as physically fit as they were and mentally way stronger, so basic training was kind of easy. It’s all a big game, they try to stress you out as much as possible and if you realise it’s a game and don’t get stressed out, you’re golden!” Did then poker give the Illinois native some skills to help in that situation? “Absolutely! I totally leveled those Drill Sergeants,” he smiles, “And also the fact that I joined of my own free will, like I felt as though I could have done anything but I carefully considered this exact path. It gave me a lot of peace when it sucked because I knew it was just a stepping stone to something better.”

Back In The Zone

Having said that, upon entering a battlezone of an entirely different kind at the WSOP, Schaefer could not have been happier. “I loved it!” he exclaims. “I mean there’s definitely something that attracted me to poker in the first place; the competition, the gamble… and I loved seeing my old friends. As miserable as I make poker seem, I made some really great friends in the poker world, but yeah, there are some that I wish would explore other options, maybe this will motivate them, I don’t know. Most of my good friends have been withdrawing as well — Ryan Daut, Chris Lee, some other guys from that crew… probably due to similar reasons to mine — lack of fulfillment, boredom, having enough money to try other things…” Being reminded of his previous life made Schaefer remember what drew him to the game in the beginning, but now he is ready to take on a little of everything and experience life to the fullest. He says candidly, “I definitely missed the travel and the freedom to do as I pleased but I loved having a purpose, waking up every morning and working toward a goal — I hadn’t felt that in a long time, so I’ve never had second thoughts about this.”

In a state of calm, Schaefer whipped his way through the field at the World Series, making it look easy. Perhaps if it was all he was living for, he would be more riled up, but he clearly admits how in control he felt, even texting his friends about how soft his table was on day 2. It wasn’t all he was living for, the American was simply there for a good time and the love of the game. “When you know there’s more to life than poker, you loosen up a bit and just try to play your best and not worry about bad things happening because if something bad happened, I’d get to go party in Vegas! The detached emotions definitely played a role I think,” says the freshly crowned champ.

“I really didn’t feel nervous at any point. I took forever with every decision, but I felt entitled since it was my first tourney in a while, he jokes, “the patience really seemed to unnerve people — I think it’s intimidating when a guy riffles his chips for two minutes and then checks behind on the flop.” Turning serious then he adds, “Part of it is that I was running pretty hot as well; you can be more patient when you know you’re gonna get a big hand in a few orbits. It just really felt like the perfect storm.”

A Hero’s Welcome

Schaefer beat 24-year-old poker pro Jon Cohen heads-up to ensure his victory, and what followed was a celebration uniting poker players, fans, and media alike. He recalls, “I was flattered at how hard they were pulling for me, and the bracelet ceremony was pretty awesome — The WSOP media played up the military angle so everyone was on their feet for the national anthem, and the director had me give a speech. It was pretty surreal! People have been so generous with their praise, it’s hard to feel worthy of it all.” It is clear the trainee pilot is uncomfortable with the term “hero” and is humbled by the response he has been given since his win.

It has, however, whet his appetite once more and his hopes to eventually fly in Germany for three years nicely collide with his wish to play a couple of EPTs and WPTs along the way. With no online poker currently and the closest real poker room in Biloxi, a four-hour drive away, Schaeffer has no choice but to study for the moment, but has many a plan to head out there at weekends when all his flight school work is taken care of. That’s a priority, yet the bug survives. For the time being, all he has to do is focus on achieving his wish of getting stationed in Germany, and then find “a nice Euro girl”, and he’s sorted. To get there he must compete against the other 59 crazily-driven wannabes in his class until later this year when test scores, flight grades, and physical fitness will all go towards what job he is given. “If you’re at the top of the class in November, you get to choose from the 60 jobs that the Army releases,” he explains. “Then second in class gets to pick from the 59 remaining jobs et cetera.” The plan for now is, of course, to be first in his class, and many wouldn’t be shy about putting money on that. Once he’s done with training, he intends on spending a week or so each summer in Vegas and also has his eye on a World Poker Tour title in order to achieve that illustrious triple crown. The fun-loving, ambitious, player-turned-pilot can’t help but add, “I’m definitely the least likely person to ever win the triple crown, so it’d be fun for that reason alone.”

It is clear that Schaefer has found a balance in life that works for him and makes him happy, but it took him a while to escape the many things he loved about being a full-time, jet-setting, Euro-tripping, poker player. Money and ease of life mixed with fear of the unknown prevented him from finding total self-fullfillment, but eventually he took the leap and has somehow managed to achieve both past and present wishes in the process. ♠