LITTLE CHUTE - Very few people will ever be among the best in the world at something.

There are more than 7 billion people on Earth. Being in the top one, two or three in anything — whether it's shooting a basketball or baking pies or playing Tic Tac Toe — is quite remarkable.

Caleb Gedemer is one of those very few, and very remarkable, people.

As of mid-June, Gedemer, a 21-year-old Fond du Lac native who now lives in Little Chute, is the No. 3 ranked Pokémon card game player in the world and No. 2 in North America.

If things go right for him at the North America International Championships comings up June 21-23 in Columbus, Ohio, he could climb to the top of both leaderboards. He could become the No. 1 Pokémon player in the world.

"Winning something like an International Championship is very hard," he said. "There are over 1,000 players."

While that's true, it's also worth pointing out that on the worldwide leaderboard, there are more than 8,000 players ranked. So while the odds of besting the 1,000 or so in Columbus aren't great, he's already managed to outplay all but two people on the planet this year.

"I feel like any of us have a very strong chance to win," Gedemer said of his group of friends, many of which are also highly successful Pokémon peers. "And by that, it's probably like 1%."

What even is this?

Being elite at the Pokémon Trading Card Game means, in some niche circles, you're a celebrity. It also means in day-to-day life in Wisconsin you're anonymous, no matter how many people went to see "Detective Pikachu" in theaters.

The Pokémon brand — and phenomenon — began in the late 1990s with a Nintendo Game Boy video game. From there a sprawling franchise was born, with a television series, comics, card games, books, music, movies and plenty more video games to follow. Remember a few years ago when the game "Pokémon Go" had players wandering around America entranced by their phones? That's just one of several spikes in popularity for Pokémon in the past 20-plus years.

The card game has been around for most of this time. In the most basic terms, it's a strategy game where players collect specific cards — which can be purchased in stores or online — and assemble their own personal decks. A player heads into a one-on-one game in the role of what's called a "trainer." They battle their opponent using Pokémon, which are essentially fictional species of monster-like creatures (the most famous of which is Pikachu), using specific cards to attack. They count up damage, eventually somebody's Pokémon are knocked out. There are "prize cards" involved, too, but any further explanation might risk this turning into a 20,000 word fantasy-world manual.

So, in the simplest terms, two players do battle. There's a lot of strategy involved. Also a little luck. Best two out of three wins.

While some of Gedemer's big wins — which can come in countries around the world — might not make headlines or the evening news, those in the know show respect. At Fox Cities Stadium last week the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers hosted a Pokémania Night and let Gedemer throw out a first pitch. He even signed an autograph for a child in a Pokémon hat.

The professional baseball players might have been the night's main attraction, but there probably was only one guy in the stadium that could claim to be one of the best in the world at what he does.

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Catching 'em all

Gedemer's Pokémon journey began when he was about 6 years old. His brother brought a book home from the library and in it was a single Pokémon card for a bookmark. It intrigued him — the artwork was cool and it was clearly a small part of something much, much larger — so soon after he bought his first deck from Shopko.

He went to his first event at 8. "I did not do well," he said. "That was that."

Years went by and he continued to play. He joined a league that met weekly in Fond du Lac. He'd go to small competitions around northeast Wisconsin and sometimes find success. He finished fourth in one event when he was 10.

At about 13, his family got internet access and again Gedemer was discovering new worlds. He started reading and writing about Pokémon. At 15, in his last year before aging into the division with adults, he convinced his dad to take him to a major tournament in Vancouver. (This came after a period in middle school when he swore off the hobby, which, at times, led to embarrassment. But what about middle school isn't embarrassing?)

"My dad, being stingy as he was, we drove all the way from little Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, to Vancouver. It was like 35 hours," he said. "It was miserable. We got there, I didn't do very well."

His dad tried to get him to stop playing — or at least stop wanting to travel. It didn't work.

Since just after turning 19, Gedemer has supported himself as a professional Pokémon player. The tournaments he takes part in, and sometimes wins, come with prize money and travel stipends for high finishes. He also sometimes buys and sells cards in the online marketplace, which can be quite lucrative for the most hardcore participants.

He's going to ride this hobby-turned-moneymaker for the time being, but also just finished up an associate's degree at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and plans to continue his education, in case a move to Plan B is necessary.

Competing on a worldwide level means traveling long distances. His ability to know what cards are where, when to make the right gamble and how to survive poor draws has taken him to Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Columbia.

He's been on a hot streak this past year, winning three regional competitions. The one coming up in Columbus is the last for the season, and after comes the world championship event in Washington, D.C., in August.

He hasn't fared well at the worlds in the past. He's changing his approach this time around — he's not going to be so relentless in his preparation to avoid burnout — and is feeling good about his chances.

"This year is going to be my year," he said.

Coming from the No. 3 player in the world, the case could be made it already is.

Contact Shane Nyman at 920-996-7223 or snyman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @shanenyman.