Can Dennis Phillips win the 2008 WSOP?

Can chip leader Dennis Phillips win the big one?

November 9 is the date as nine poker players converge once again at the Rio to play in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Out of the final nine, the chip leader will be Dennis Phillips from St Louis, Missouri. He is 53 years of age, working as an account manager for a trucking firm in St. Louis and has no plans on giving up the job even if he does win the big one.

Dennis Phillips battled some of the toughest poker players in the region when he joined the $200 buy-in to a Satellite tournament at Harrah’s, finally taking down the 2006 WSOP main event finalist Dan Nassif in heads-up action to win a seat in this year’s WSOP main event for a chance to win the 2008 WSOP bracelet.

In his previous WSOP tournaments, Dennis Phillips has only cashed in two events, both being WSOP Circuits held in the nearby city of Robinsonville. On September 7, 2007, Phillips bought into a WSOP Circuit NL Hold’em tournament at the Grand Casino Tunica for $550, finishing in 9th place for $2,386.

Two days later, Dennis reinvested his winnings for another $550 buy-in, this time taking 7th place for $2,192.

Phillips now finds himself having the largest chip stack in the 2008 WSOP tournament. He said that he will just continue what he’s doing right, being calm with his poker face while staring into the eyes of his strong-willed competitors.

According to Phillips, as he went ever deeper into the WSOP main event, he resisted numerous offers from online poker companies, making every effort to get him to don their logos. Full Tilt Poker offered a large sum to Phillips simply to wear a Full Tilt Poker cap backwards, but Phillips declined, preferring the bright red cap depicting his favorite St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.

Another offer came for him to wear a logo T-shirt, but again, Phillips rejected, choosing to keep his own shirt displaying his employment company logo, Broadway Truck Centers.

Finally, PokerStars was able to convince Dennis to wear a logo patch on his company shirt, as well as another on the side of his red baseball cap.

Dennis’ confident and modest approach to the game has earned him a place at one of most prestigious final tables of all time. Asked about what he’s going to do with his guaranteed $900,000 he joked, ‘’I’m going to get the $9m. I’m just here to have fun and play poker.’’

Dennis Phillips is 4/1 to favorite to win the 2008 World Series of Poker main event.

Who will win the 2008 WSOP Main Event Final Table at the Rio in Las Vegas on November 9? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Dennis Phillips 4.00

Craig Marquis 11.00

Ylon Schwartz 9.00

Scott Montgomery 5.00

Darus Suharto 9.50

Chino Rheem 8.50

Ivan Demidov 5.50

Kelly Kim 26.00

Peter Eastgate 6.50

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