Bryan Tiffin sits in the Green Zone, the corner of the Amazon Room reserved for the few tables that surround the ESPN featured table.

In front of him sits 27,500 in chips, only 7,500 more than his starting stack, and only 3,000 less than he had at the beginning of the day. Beside those chips sit a wallet-sized picture of his family, a beautiful wife and three daughters. He is, in a word, tenacious. He is looking for a big score, and certainly more than his $10,000 entry fee.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Tiffin won a satellite on PokerStars. The $12,000 package was no small change the world-traveling 39-year-old construction manager. It wasn’t enough, however, to make things easy around the house.

“The $10,000 entry fee would have helped our financial conditions a little bit, but we really needed a large amount of cash to save our house and be able to stay in our current city,” he said.

And so begins the search for the big score.

Tiffin has been playing for several years on PokerStars, but this is his first World Series. Despite his low stack, he has a long-range plan for the World Series and it ends with him winning the $9 million first prize.

“My first call would be to my real estate agent to find me a house on a local golf course,” he said. “I would pay off all of my debt, set a schedule that lets me spend time at home with my wife and kids, and golf a lot.”

On his trip over on the PokerStars Bus this morning, Tiffin talked to our video blog team.

Watch WSOP 08: Brian Tiffin Qualifier on PokerStars.tv

Update: Just after this post went up, Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem left the building, getting his short-stack in with a big draw but coming up short.