Sometime during the level of play before the dinner break, we received an e-mail to blog@pokerstars.com from Joanne Cordier, the girlfriend of PokerStars qualifier Brian Tatum who is going way deep into the money at the World Series today.

Joanne was anxiously following Tatum's progress from their home in Illinois, receiving phone calls from him during every break, and after every major pot. Joanne wanted us to touch base with Tatum, take a photo and tell him of all his supporters back home. And we were only too happy to oblige: Tatum started day five with 224,500 and Joanne's most recent conversation with him revealed that he'd just taken down another huge pot and was up to 1,220,000 in chips.

Brian Tatum, freerolling

Joanne also filled us in on all the biographical details on Brian, to make sure he got all the coverage he deserves on the blog. We can allow her to take up the story, and offer sincere thanks. She's better at this than any of us:

"Let's see, Brian is 48, and he's from Indiana. He is the General Manager of Buffalo Wild Wings in Bradley, Illinois. I'm not sure what satellite tournament he won*; all I know is that he yelled very loud when he finally did it.

"He had been trying for at least a month and got in only a few days before the tournament started. I know that he was so sure that he was going to get in, he told his work that he would need two weeks off to play in the World Series before he had even won. Talk about the power of positive thinking! He plays poker online about everyday. It's his morning cup of coffee and probably couldn't get through the day without it. He has played on a few small tournaments online where the prizes were about $200 but this is his first big tournament.

"He has never been to Vegas in his whole life, even though I'm from there! He has had such a great time the last two weeks. Unfortunately he's there by himself. I suck at poker and have no chance of ever winning a trip. Plus he says I would be a distraction. It must be strange male thinking because he's on the phone with me every break. But whatever we have going on so far it seems to be working: 100 more people to go and I'll know for sure it's working. His parents live in Indiana and helped him with getting to Vegas on such short notice.

"He also has two children, Carrie and Brian, who are grown and moved out but cheering dad on. Then there's my son Logan and I (that he has helped raise for the last 7 years). We have just been watching and cheering and waiting for him to come home.

"As far as what he would do with the money? Probably pay off the bills and hopefully take his woman on one hell of a vacation!"

You'd definitely deserve it, Joanne. Thanks for all your help and congratulations to Brian. Reserve a spot at Buffalo Wild Wings for us. We'll swing by for the celebratory dinner.

*Tatum earned his seat at the World Series via the PokerStars "steps" route.