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Updated: July 13, 2009, 4:21 PM ET

Tom Schneider not one to overlook

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By Gary Wise
ESPN.com
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Editor's note: This story was posted before the start of Day 6. For complete updates on the field that remains, head to the blog.

The online poker rooms are starting to make their presence known in the later stages of the main event. The crown jewel of the tournament year, the main event, never disappoints in this regard. One by one, the biggest online sites have started signing endorsement deals with many of the players left in the room in the hopes that the signees' bustouts -- or even better, lack thereof -- will find an international audience on the WSOP broadcasts. When those players are eliminated, you'll see two things: a look of agony and a set of well-branded clothing.

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Ethan Miller/Getty Images2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider (left) is in fourth place heading into Day 6.

There aren't a lot of faces left that adorn both the chip leaderboard and the walls of the Rio … which is why it's so interesting that one of the few to decorate both is still waiting for a deal. Tom Schneider sat fourth in chips with $3.17 million when Day 5 drew to a close.

"It's nice to see old, fat, bald guys coming through once in a while at WSOP," said Schneider, who will turn 50 later this year, oversells his obesity and yes, is quite bald. "Those young, good-looking guys with the mousse, it's fun to beat those guys. Every time I go to the table, there are like eight guys with logos. I don't have one."

"I'm always giving him a hard time about that," said friend and business associate Dan Michalski of Pokerati. "The guys who get the deals, those people make things happen. He doesn't go to the parties. He's not a scenester. He's just a higher-stakes white-collar grinder. He's just here to play poker."

"I started playing poker when I was a kid," recalled Schneider, the father of three, two daughters and one stepdaughter. "I played with my mom and my friends. She always lost because she wanted to help me and my friends out. Then, when I had jobs, I started playing more seriously and I always did well. I had one job as a CFO in a company that was struggling. Every morning, I'd go in and find three to four messages saying 'You owe us, where's our money?' It's not my style. I don't like owing people money. My girlfriend at the time -- who is now my wife -- basically said, 'You can get a crappy job any time, but you're the best poker player I've ever seen. Why wouldn't you just play poker for a living?'"

"Tom has the ability to be one of the greatest players in the world, I think" said Schneider's wife, Julie, a former dealer who leads all women in player of the year points in 2009. "The only problem he has is he gets in his own way sometimes. He has amazing instincts, but sometimes he doesn't follow them. He should because they're usually right on. He's a dynamite player. He's aggressive, usually has good starting hands, has a good idea of where he stands. Just once in a while, he likes to pretend he has a hand he doesn't have and that gets him into trouble."

"All I hear is bad beat stories," Tom said of the role of poker in their marriage. "We don't talk about strategy. I will try to inject strategy and she will tell me to stop talking. If I won the main event, she still wouldn't listen to me when it comes to poker."

For the past seven years, Schneider's been taking his wife's advice, playing poker of all shapes and sizes for a living. The highlight of his career until now came in 2007, when he won two WSOP bracelets and edged out Jeffrey Lisandro for WSOP Player of the Year honors. Despite the monumental feat, he didn't find himself enjoying much more in the way of public attention.

"I think a big reason people don't know who I am is because the bracelets I won were in mixed events and weren't televised," Schneider mused. "I didn't get a lot of TV coverage when I won player of the year like some of the other guys do. A lot of the other player of the years were famous before they won and that got them coverage too."

Schneider understands what it takes to be noticed in the poker world, but also is confident that he's well on the path with a deep run in the main event.

"I think in order to get your due, you have to earn it," he said. "I've thought to myself 'How do you get more TV coverage?' and the simple answer is 'You play better.' You get deep all of the time and it will come. Some of the young guys are faster, more aggressive and get noticed for playing crazy. I'm just trying to play better poker."

After a rough 2009 WSOP, it seems to be working.

"Tom had such a bad series," said Michalski. "This is redemption for him here in the main event. I think he's really thought about being in this position for many, many, many years. As the tournament goes on, you find yourself thinking 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually getting there'. He has the experience to know he can't get too excited. I think he'll go far."

Schneider's Day 5 took off when he doubled his million chip stack through Kevin Saul.

"People kept coming after me today and I always had a hand," Schneider said upon the conclusion of the day's play. "Us old guys, they keep coming after us and thinking we don't have anything. I had fun bagging all of my chips. I actually had to double bag because I had so many chips. It's one of the best feelings in poker: the double bag."

There are a lot of good feelings directed back at Schneider, due in equal parts to his friendly, funny countenance and his contributions to the culture. Schneider authored a poker book, "Oops! I Won Too Much Money: Winning Wisdom from the Boardroom to the Poker Table," and has been a regular contributor on Michalski's Pokerati Web site and podcasts.

"If those moves were financially motivated, I did a poor job because I haven't made a dime off of any of them," Schneider admitted sheepishly. "I've sold some books, I get compliments. I just really wrote that for myself. You don't have to be a poker player to appreciate it. It's more a life lessons book. I wrote it as something for my kids. The mistakes I've made along the way and the lessons I've learned from them."

Now, he's applying those lessons toward his outlook on the main event and his place in the poker world.

"I think everything has to change," he said, refusing to lament his being overlooked as he's been. "I think it's great we have a lot of young guys. I think the young guys have revitalized poker a bit. Old guys with cigars don't bring much to the table. The WSOP has changed for the best. The move to the Rio … the structures … I'm happy as a clam."

As for his immediate future, Schneider is philosophical about his approach to Day 6 and beyond. "I think it's all table draw dependent," Schneider said. "I think some people are going to snug up a little bit and you have to take advantage of that. I think some people will take advantage of that and then you have to take advantage of those people who are trying to take advantage. You just have to figure out who's doing what, that's the most important part. There's always a player at your table who's ready to give away all of his chips and you just have to hope you're lucky enough to get to them first."

"There are days when he thinks he's a terrible hold 'em player and days where he thinks he's one of the best," said Michalski. "I guess we're going to find out here which is true."

If Schneider really is as prepared as Michalski presumes, one has to think it will be the latter and that a logoed hat will cover that old, fat, bald head soon enough.

Gary Wise is covering the WSOP for ESPN.com.