For a lot of Penn students, earning their first million dollars is a dream that drives them through four years of college. But Brad Kondracki, a Penn Law student, found a slightly shorter path to becoming a millionaire that took him a little over a week.
Kondracki placed eighth late Friday night at the World Series of Poker's main event, the No-Limit Hold 'em World Championship, held at Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. For his efforts, Kondracki carried home a check for $1,150,000 in his pocket.
By simply making it to the final table of nine, Kondracki had beat out 5,610 other entrants and was guaranteed to rake in at least a million dollars.
At only 24 years of age, Kondracki was the youngest player at the final table and has only been playing poker for two years. This was his first ever entry into the World Series of Poker.
The process for reaching that famed final table began long before the World Series of Poker for Kondracki. Unlike most of the other entrants, he did not have to pay his own $10,000 entry fee into the tournament.
His ticket to play at poker's most prestigious event was paid for by pokerstars.com. Kondracki participated in an online satellite tournament with the website for a $160 buy-in. The tournament's prize was a winner-takes-all entry to the World Series of Poker.
The Kingston, Pennsylvania native began playing poker as a way to pay his bills during college. Kondracki read plenty of poker advice and started playing online poker to hone his skills.
"I read a lot of books and built my layout from there," he said.
While taking a year off before law school, Kondracki played poker online fifty hours a week. He continued the habit to a lesser extent at Penn, limiting his playing time to only 25 hours a week.
At the final table, Kondracki was competing for the $7.5 million grand prize. However, he entered the table with only 1.18 million, the fewest at the table. He was over nine million behind the leader.
Playing with the short stack was something Kondracki was already used to throughout the tournament.
"Since I was playing the short stack the entire time, no one had any expectations for me," Kondracki said.
Kondracki understood his chances of winning the champion's bracelet were slim.
Still, Kondracki entered the final round determined.
"Obviously I really really wanted to win," Kondracki said. Yet he also acknowledged, "some pros never get there in their whole life."
The final table was an eclectic group that represented four countries and professions as varied as a professional poker player, the owner Big Johnson's Beer Garden Bar, and a magician.
Working with a short stack from the get-go, Kondracki admitted that all along, "I was expected to go out next. However, he survived long enough to finish eighth.
Kondracki admits he was lucky to survive the mistakes he made in the earlier rounds but has no regrets from the final table. He was knocked out after going all-in with the ace and queen of clubs.
"I couldn't have played my cards any differently," Kondracki said.
While no one could help Kondracki at the table, he did have plenty of support from the gallery. His mother and father made the trip along with his two brothers, his girlfriend (also a Penn Law student), along with several friends.
His father, Anthony, believed that one of the most exciting parts of the competition was watching the community support Brad.
Mr. Kondracki compared watching the tournament to watching a little league baseball game, except that the competition took twelve hours instead of two.
"It was very nerve wracking," he said.
Kondracki said he is still a little overwhelmed by becoming an instant millionaire. He expects to use the money to finish paying off his tuition, upgrade to a new car, and potentially start a business in the future.
"I'll probably live in a little nicer apartment now," Kondracki said.
While the money might change Kondracki's life, finishing eighth in the World Series hasn't seemed to change Kondracki as a person. The first thing Brad did after realizing he would soon be a million dollars richer was to ask a friend to go validate his $10 parking permit for him.
