by Mad Harper

Rick Mombourquette, a 48-year-old construction consultant, from Alberta Canada, came to watch the World Series last year and had a great time. This year, thanks to a $16 rebuy on PokerStars which took him into the a $650 satellite, he's here to play. And it's not going badly.

His progress through the tournament so far has been steady rather than remarkable. He went into Day 2 with $20,000 in chips, Day 3 with around $120,000, and he sat down this morning with just under half a million. But in the last few hours he's managed to turn that half mill into over nearly $800,000 putting him well up amongst the big guns here. He said: "Well, you're right. Nothing spectacular really happened until late yesterday. And yesterday wasn't even that great as I lost a couple of major pots."

The most that Rick has ever won at poker before now - in eight years' of playing - is $20,000 in a $500 tourney at Yellowhead Casino in his home city of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. Four hours into Day 4, he's already guaranteed at least double that.

I asked him if he had considered giving up work yet. He laughed. "It's a decision I'd like to have to think about making. Really, I hadn't thought about winning this event. I've been playing it one day at a time. I'm a recreational player really. I'm too busy with work and my life to play much poker - online a bit and the occasional weekend tournament. That's about it."

Rick is being supported in Vegas by his son Grant, 28, also in construction and keen poker player, as well as his wife Holly.