The media here have been graciously allowed what I've termed "The Trough." It's a walkway between the rail and the railbirds and allows us to get a little closer to the players.

As I walked though The Trough, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla was just finishing up an interview with a young man who spelled out his last name "K-o-n-d-r-a-c-k-i." There was little doubt, he was the brother of our own Brad Kondracki, the man who finished Day 3 with nearly a million in chips. Sitting next to Steve, the brother, was mother Louise. They've been here to sweat Brad all week. Brad's dad is frantically trying to find a flight out of Philly to get here. So is Brad's other brother, the one taking summer classes.

Brad Kondracki is no dummy. The 24-year-old graduated from Cornell and is now a second-year law student at Penn. In this, the first big buy-in tournament in Kondracki's life, the young man who just picked up poker during his time back at Cornell has risen to the top of the pack and is refusing to give up ground.

We all know about the swings of tournament poker. We all know how a big stack can become a small stack--or a no-stack--in the blink of an eye. But here's to hoping the rest of the family can make it here in time to see Kondracki play.

Regardless of what happens, mother Kondracki is happy. "I'm always proud," she said.