Dennis Phillips was the chip leader for four months — possibly the longest time anyone in the history of poker has held onto the biggest stack. And though he got off to a shaky start and would ultimately finish 3rd (winning $4.5 million) he still skillfully survived a roller coaster session to be the Last American Standing. When it was all said and done (a day earlier than he had hoped for), he threw a party for his 200 or so traveling friends at McFadden’s (formerly the Tilted Kilt) — and without a heads-up match to worry about, it was some good wholesome relaxed American fun, compliments of a good wholesome All-American player who proved even a bald, middle-aged white guy could inspire a loyal and appreciative following to wear red hats and cheer.

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I’m curious what y’all thought about the big-hype show last night. I enjoyed the hands we did see — because really, this final table probably featured some of the best pure poker of any main event sit-n-go I’ve seen since I started following poker five years ago. Not sure how well that came across.

The Craig Marquis bustout hand really was incredible … that woulda been a good time for ESPN to show the audience, not just the players … because really, the whole audience was on pins-and-needles. Even we cynical media types temporarily forgot about our jobs and became true fanboys, just waiting for that devestating river card. (To some extent, poker fans are a little bit like NASCAR viewers, not wanting to see but kinda sorta waiting for an amazing crash.)

Overall, I thought ESPN did a better job covering the whole of the World Series better than any year prior. But the final table was a little disappointing … I give it a B-. But hey, I’m always very forgiving the first go-round … you learn so much from doing something once. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next year.

A few more random thoughts about the whole experience:

• Penn & Teller Theater was an awesome venue. Woulda been a better experience, however, had the whole set-up been rotated 90 degrees, so the MBL Lounge wasn’t blocking so much of the view.
• ESPN seemed to have difficult lighting the crowd for such shots. I will give them my secret for free: set your cameras to “Auto”.
• Two hours was not long enough for the show. Had they made it three or four hours — or fuck, the whole shebang on pay-per-view — it woulda been more interesting and more of an event. The promotion woulda been easier, too, because it woulda stood out as something different … but two hours? That’s just an NBA game. What’s special about that?

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Ylon Schwartz check-raises with nothing into the nuts of Peter Eastgate, and Pauly and I begin the countdown and begin speculating on what two Eurokids (and maybe even Dennis Phillips) will mean for poker/PokerStars … and where poker is in Europe these days. But are Russians dead money or just scary? Maybe a little bit of both? Plus advanced blogging strategy by Dr. Pauly.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.9: The Novembrists 5:31

Upon reaching the Final Four, Pauly coins Dennis Phillips as “Mr. F-in’ Rollercoaster”, and from there we look at the strategy in play, make assessments of the time (and playing styles) it will take to get to the final two, and officially declare victory for PokerStars.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.8: Livin’ on a Prayer 4:57

It seems like just about everyone here is wearing a distinctively red St. Louis Cardinals hat … pretty cool … as the night goes on, you’re starting to see them all over the casino. And the way tons of these people have been getting them autographed by the pros, a la Dennis Phillips, you gotta wonder if you’re gonna see these hats speckling the fields in future WSOPs — letting opponents know they are one of Dennis’ peeps:

At this moment, Dennis Phillips is drawing dead with one card to come. That will be 3rd place for him — his boisterous crowd and his Red Hat Brigade are honoring him the way friends of someone who has just won $4.5 million should. (That’s Greg Raymer money.) Lots of applause.

Heads-up will be Ivan Demidov vs. Peter Eastgate (who stands to be the youngest player ever to win the main event).

Year of the European Young Guns, it turns out to be.

Most of the under bets, by the way, regarding time, win … except for Jen, who took the under on 10 pm. (What was she thinking!)

Chip Counts

Peter Eastgate - 79,425,000
Ivan Demidov - 57,800,000

Clearly anybody’s game. Russians vs. Scandis. I’m going with Demidov, though. As we know, the Russians were the ones that really made a showing at the 2008 WSOP, regardless of how tomorrow turns out. Scandis were like so 2007.

Players are off on dinner break … and the chip counts are nicely on display for all to see:

Ivan Demidov: 30,725,000
Peter Eastgate: 27,175,000
Dennis Phillips: 26,950,000
Ylon Schwartz: 20,475,000
Scott Montgomery: 20,300,000
Darus Suharto: 10,600,000

Damn, that’s tight poker. And I don’t mean tight tight … I mean close-tight.

Before dinner break, btw, Phil Hellmuth introduced Johnny Chan, and Hellmuth got more boos than Tiffany Michelle. He said, that’s OK, boo all you want … and the crowd that is at this point tired-drinky (think post-football game tailgate in college) obliged.

They were announcing a multi-year deal between the WSOP and ALL IN energy drink. Oy, I guess all I can say for now is that after going through my bajillion cases … I didn’t rebuy.

As action gets underway, Pauly and I check out the crowds and the difference in expectation between Dennis Phillips’ and Kelly Kims’ fans before debating the name of the whole shebang — November Nine, bleh — while paying homage to Robin Leach and noting that the PBR Rodeo, which is also in town, is going nuts over the chance for a cowboy to win $1 million. Puhlease.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.2: Root, Root, Root for the Short Stack 3:17

Ivan Demidov, courtesy of the PokerStars blog

Within the first hour, despite having seen less than a handful of flops, one person has changed the poker-face of this table. The lone Russian, Ivan Demidov, took only one pot early in the action, but in the 18th hand of the day, he took a monster from now-former chipleader Dennis Phillips.

After Phillips attempted to limp into the pot, Demidov raised to 1.025 million. Phillips reraised to 3.525 million, and with some consideration, Demidov pushed it up to 8.225 million. Phillips called, and the flop came 8d-10c-Js. Phillips began post-flop betting with 4.5 million, but Demidov came over the top with an all-in move. Phillips would have been covered and at-risk for his tournament life, and he finally folded.

That left Phillips with only 8.88 million and Demidov with a significant chip lead over the pack with 35.875 million.

Considering that Ivan Demidov is the first WSOPeople person in the spotlight today, we can announce that he has won the opportunity to wear a Pokerati patch for the remainder of the final table…..for free! Yes, at no cost to him, he can come to us on the next break and grab that patch. Congrats, Ivan! We’ll wait for you in the lobby.

One of the patches on Dennis Phillips’ shirt (and the shirts of all his fans) — ThePokerLawyer.com.

TPL is actually The Schindler Firm, out of St. Louis … Josh Schindler being the main dude … he got that space via Dennis Phillips’ eBay auction, making a $19,350 donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in exchange for the space.

Schindler practices many areas of litigation, including some specialty in gaming law. We’ll have to add him to the list.

Meanwhile, a fourth spade just showed up on the turn … the crowd gasped (followed by shushes) … Ylon Schwartz pushed all-in, and Scott Montgomery folded.

So action is about to get underway. Players are unbagging their chips now. A few thoughts on what we are seeing/hearing:

• Dennis Phillips has close to 200 fans — all of them are wearing the same shirt he is, with the same patch logos.
• He and all his friends are die-hard Ford supporters (as per their patchwork), though it is uncertain whether or not Ford paid for such a placement.
• Many of his friends and fans began drinking at 9 am.
• Dennis has a great URL pimped on his shirt — thechipleader.com. (I’m sure Karridy is jealous.)
• Kelly Kim’s fans are chanting out the letters of his name.
• Favorite Dallas transplant dealer Linda Tran will be dealing this final table. She was working with the felt yesterday to get her pitch right — because, after all, she has never dealt multimillion-dollar pots before.
• The Penn & Teller Theater is a pretty cool venue — very vertical. Jen and I are in the orchestra pit … but there’s also a press box way up top that requires taking an elevator to get to.
• Personal opinion: the whole stage set-up should be flipped 180 degrees. The way they have it now, the Milwaukee’s Best Light No Limit Lounge completely blocks the table view for all the fans in lower seating. They still can watch on 20-foot plasmas, but regardless, having the lounge against the back wall instead of blocking the stage would also allow ESPN to show 100s of fans in the background.
• They do have a hot-chick DJ spinning tunes, however, in front of the No-Limit No-View Lounge.
• Ivan Demidov’s fans are all Russianed up — wearing funky hats (they’re called Babushkas, I think?) and hammer-and-sickle garb.
• Ylon Schwartz is super quiet and subdued. He also looks like my old pot dealer, Booger.
• Gamma-O “testosterone booster” passed out those inflatable phallic thingies that people can bang together to make noise.
• Kelly Kim’s crowd is the loudest, now screaming “Double Up!”

Go Craig Marquis! (Even though I think you’re probably too young to pull off the victory. Prove me wrong!)

The day that the poker community has been waiting for has finally arrived, as the November Nine reunite to determine this year’s “World Champion”.

Has the 100+ day delay been a success? ESPN says ratings are the highest they’ve been in two years, but that was when Hellmuth and Matusow were heavily featured in the coverage. The hoped for mainstream coverage talked about when this all began never really came through, as Lou Krieger mentions.

Play is scheduled to start today at 10am PT at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas. For those that want to listen to the coverage, http://www.bluffmagazine.com/blufftvBluff Magazine and worldseriesofpoker.com will provide an audio stream along with constantly updated chip counts, using their Poker Tracker software. Nick Geber, Lacey Jones and a bunch of other guests will be in on the action. Jeffrey Pollack even writes a rare blog about tonight’s Hall of Fame ceremony, which will take place at about 7:15, just before play resumes from the dinner break. When heads-up play resumes Monday at 10pm PT, Erick Lindgren will receive his WSOP Player of the Year award (and whatever comes with that).

It was decided earlier last week that they will NOT redraw for seats, so here’s how they’ll be situated when cards go in the air (in case you forgot):
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The two auctions on Ebay for sponsorship concluded late Saturday, and the results could best be described as mixed. Ylon Schwartz’s second Ebay auction concluded again with zero bids. Dennis Phillips’ auction concluded with a winning bid of $19,350. The winner though, “schindlerlawfirm”, is also the person to contact for Dennis on his official website.

Update: Ylon’s people are trying a third time with the auction. Now it has a $100k Buy It Now price or “Best Offer”, and 50% of the proceeds are going to Habitat for Humanity. More details at http://tinyurl.com/ylon3rdtime

I attended the grand opening/premiere/LV poker mixer for The Real Deal at the Venetian on Tuesday. I’m still processing what I witnessed — but I am pretty sure it was the official jumping of the shark for poker, as some 500 poker fans (including Tim Conway, Robert Wagner, Bob Newhart, multiple poker agents, WSOP officials, and the owner of the Venetian and president of the Sands, who walked out after 25 minutes) witnessed painfully how getting lots of airtime on ESPN, GSN, and Fox Sports comes nowhere close to making you a Vegas entertainer worthy of a $100 ticket twice a night, let alone twice a lifetime.*

*Exceptions: Lacey Jones and Vinnie Favorito were great.

Wicked Chops and RawVegas were there, too. And they took advantage of the red carpet to poll a few well known poker players on who they’re backing in the presidential election:

The breakdown:

Daniel Negreanu — Obama
Scotty Nguyen — McCain
Doyle Brunson — Diplomatic: likes McCain but “Obama is better for poker” (?)
Todd Brunson — McCain
Lacey Jones — Undecided: Worked in previous McCain campaigns, but “on the fence”
Eli Elezra — Filibuster: Obama “right guy for poker … but I’m a businessman also”
Gavin Smith — Obama
Dennis Phillips — Diplomatic Filibuster: House and Senate elections matter more

Hot on the heels of the heels of the Ylon Schwartz auction (currently at 0 bids), the current chip leader at the final table, Dennis Phillips, had his own auction go live earlier this morning on Ebay. All of the proceeds will be going to one of Dennis’ favorite charities, The National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Gateway Area Chapter in St. Louis, Missouri. If you care to know every detail of his other activities, you can check him out on the Interwebs at his own website.

On to entities that are still functioning, as the EPT London Main Event concluded earlier today with American Michael Martin pulled off a miraculous comeback to take down the title along with £1,000,000. Down to 100,000 4-handed (and in the big blind for 80,000), Martin tripled up, then doubled up twice in 3 consecutive hands to move to a more manageable 1.45m in chips. Martin then continued his heater, eliminating the other 3 players to take down the title with his mother and girlfriend cheering him on from the rail. Here’s how the rest of the final table finished:

1 £ 1,000,000 Michael Martin
2 £ 525,314 Michael Tureniec
3 £ 303,439 Marcin Horecki
4 £ 234,920 Eric Liu
5 £ 195,766 Philippe D’Auteuil
6 £ 153,351 Alan Smurfit
7 £ 120,723 Johannes Strassmann
8 £ 81,569 Antony Lellouche

The £20,000 EPT High Rollers Million Pound Showdown is now underway as a field of 85 is playing down to a final table, which will be air live stream at www.pokerstars.tv Monday morning. 14 players remain, but only 9 players will be in the money (1st takes home £516,000) as play finishes for the evening. Among the remaining: David Benyamine, WSOP Europe ME winner John Juanda, and Scotty Nguyen. Of the November Nine who participated, only WSOP Vegas chip leader Dennis Phillips came close to the money, as he finished in 10th to be the bubble boy. Here’s the final table as play resumes at 11am ET:

Seat 1 - Peter Jetten - 347,000
Seat 2 - Michael Watson - 104,000
Seat 3 - Isaac Haxton - 293,000
Seat 4 - Isabelle Mercier - 86,000
Seat 5 - David Benyamine - 175,000
Seat 6 - Scotty Nguyen - 68,000
Seat 7 - Jason Mercier - 204,000
Seat 8 - Masaaki Kagawa - 142,000
Seat 9 - John Juanda - 302,000

Final update at the jump:
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It only took 22 hours, but the final table of the WSOP Europe at the Empire Casino in London finally has a result. After 484 hands, exactly half of which were headsup, saw John Juanda take down the title along with £ 868,800 ($1,543,395 US). Russians finished 2-3 at the final table as Stanislav Alekhin finished 2nd, and November Nine participant Ivan Demidov took down 3rd. Here’s how the entire final table came out:

1 £ 868,800 John Juanda
2 £ 533,950 Stanislav Alekhin
3 £ 334,850 Ivan Demidov
4 £ 271,500 Bengt Sonnert
5 £ 217,200 Daniel Negreanu
6 £ 171,950 Scott Fischman
7 £ 135,750 Robin Keston
8 £ 108,600 Toni Hiltunen
9 £ 81,450 Chris Elliott

Focus now turns toward the EPT London event, which drew an overflow field of 596 ponying up £5,200 with a guaranteed £1,000,000 to first. Over 100 remain as play continues on day 2, with the final table being held this Sunday. An interesting no-show turns out to be Dennis Phillips, chip leader at that other WSOP Main Event back in Las Vegas. He and his coach, Roy Winston(?), were planning on being in London, but it looks like Dennis showed up and then went back home.

More updates possible…

UPDATE: A commenter mentioned that Dennis’ mother passed away, explaining his leaving London. Apologies and condolences to Dennis and his family.

While the poker community focuses a great deal of attention on the Kentucky governor’s attempt at censorship and the potential for Rep. Barney Frank to do something with H.R. 6870 after it recently passed in the House Financial Services Committee, there are a few other poker news nuggets to pass on.

~Without so much as a press release to announce it, it seems that UltimateBet has signed Michael Binger as one of its newest team members. Oh, Michael, you too? Adam Levy has also joined the team, again with no official notice from the UB staff. The news came via Mean Gene’s UB Aruba blog and a picture posted from the welcome party.

~Short-Stacked Shamus gave his take on the recent issue of CardPlayer magazine in which Jeff Shulman said that CP was unaware of Scotty Nguyen’s unsportsmanlike behavior at the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE event because of restricted media access at the final table. Disingenuous was the word over at Hard-Boiled Poker.

~It seems that the Eastern Europeans love them some internet gambling, and no recession will get in their way. A researcher with Global Betting and Gaming Consultants shows that a steady increase will continue because of favorable broadband and law changes, not to mention the Eastern Europeans’ “propensity to gamble.”

~Evidently, Senator John McCain likes him some gambling, specifically high-limit craps. How negative EV… The New York Times has looked into McCain’s ties to Indian gaming, and the gaming industry in general, and dug up some interesting info about lobbyists and McCain’s connections to them.

~The more I hear about WSOP “November Nine” chipleader Dennis Phillips, the more he seems like a great guy whose inner philanthropist has been able to shine with his $900K take-home money and potential for the $9.1 million first prize. In this episode of PokerRoad Radio released during the Borgata Poker Classic earlier this month, the guys sat down with Phillips and coach Roy Winston (huh?) where he explains that decision and his future plans.

Hmm, so whaddya know … I was apparently wrong in declaring the final tableists “too smart” to get outside assistance (from poker people, at least) in preparation for their big-time November sit-n-go. My only defense is that I musta been really drunk at the time when I was saying that stuff, so it probably doesn’t count.

From an announcement just in over the transom:

Dennis Phillips is pleased to announce that he will be partnering with Roy Winston and Joe McGowan of Oracle Poker Consulting in preparation for the 2008 World Series of Poker (W.S.O.P) Main Event. Dennis Phillips is currently the chip leader at the final table, where more than $32 million will be divided among the final 9 players. The final table will be played on November 9th.

Not sure of the financial details — maybe they took Oliver’s advice and partnered for free? — but regardless, one thing does have me reconsidering my position that it would be stupid to hire any poker coaches if you were one of the final nine:

Dennis Phillips is currently employed by Broadway Truck Center in Saint Louis, Mo. An amateur player, he won a $200 satellite into the Main Event of the W.S.O.P, where 6,844 players began.

Hmm, right, we should remember that. And we all know how sketchy the poker world can get at times, so why wouldn’t he want some folks intimately familiar with it on his side to help him navigate the pre-showtime waters?

Says Phillips on the matter:

“I’m confident in my game and don’t intend to change it, but I’m also smart enough to know that you can always learn more.”

A few weeks back, a bunch of us got a press release from PokerStars boasting that six of The November Nine were Team PokerStars players. Now don’t get me wrong — I’ve got lots of friends at PokerStars and generally like what they do. But c’mon, who ya tryin’ to fool? Those guys aren’t really PokerStars players — at least not in the way Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer were!

So while I’m happy to share the official word on the Stars-heavy WSOP main event final table (even though none only one of their 2,000 true online qualifiers made it), I couldn’t help but try to get a little more info first on what goes into buying a temporary online team in an effort to increase the odds that the buyers will indeed get to be the site that crowns the next American (or non-American) Poker Idol:

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This might be the most thought you’ve given the “November Nine” thus far, that is, if you really take a look at the numbers in this post. And I hope you do and analyze it for me. Thanks.

Bodog has put up the odds for the 2008 WSOP final table, and it’s looking pretty good for my STL player, Dennis Phillips. Never mind that he’s the chip leader, but he’s a 3-1 favorite. Kelly Kim from Southern Cali isn’t looking too good with 25-1 odds, but he’s the short stack. As for the rest of the pack, I’m not sure how the odds were calculated, which makes it a good thing I’m not a sports bettor.

Here are the odds and chip counts as of July 25th:

Dennis Phillips (3-1) - 26,295,000 chips
Scott Montgomery (4-1) - 19,690,000 chips
Ivan Demidov (9-2) - 24,400,000 chips
Peter Eastgate (11-2) - 18,375,000 chips
David “Chino” Rheem (15/2) - 10,230,000 chips
Ylon Schwartz (8-1) - 12,525,000 chips
Darus Suharto (17-2) - 12,520,000 chips
Craig Marquis (10-1) - 10,210,000 chips
Kelly Kim (25-1) - 2,620,000 chips

And just for kicks, here is a picture of them all. You are welcome to copy and use it as your screen saver, or you can Photoshop them all into pretty dresses - your call.

My hometown favorite is getting lots of publicity in St. Louis. Though he is originally from a small Illinois town across the river from the Lou, Dennis Phillips reps the STL with pride. With Midwest USA newspapers and magazines suddenly interested in poker, Dennis has gotten a lot of media attention, and while he seems to be getting more comfortable with the journalists and TV cameras, humble remains the word of the day.

One of the articles is from the Telegraph and gives a good insight into the WSOP final table chip leader, and the following video from the local NBC sports program shows that Dennis is a good representative for the game of poker. Note that in the video, he discusses the Bad Beat on Cancer patch that he wears on his shirt. Evidently, he is the only one of the nine finalists in the main event who signed up early on to donate 1% of his winnings to the Phil-Gordon-promoted charity. Who says he wouldn’t make for a great 2008 champion?

Click below to see the video interview (sorry, we can’t stop the autoplay).

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Was just watching a little early Fox News, and the weekend hosts got visibly excited about the World Series of Poker. Their hedline: “Average Joes Taking Over.” Wha? Apparently the Fox reporters/interns aren’t reading Wicked Chops. Idiots But regardless, dead money is dead money, right?

“That’s why we like it so much, because the underdog can win!” cooed Ainsley Earhardt. Coming up is one of those Average Joes, Dennis Phillips. From there the Fox-branded morning sunshine went on to a story about cadaver dogs being called in to search for a two-year-old girl, and then the weather. My personal chills subsided.

Go delayed final table!

UPDATES/LIVE-BLOG

Interview starts with “This is wonderful stuff, the World Series of Poker”

Dennis appears, wearing STL ballcap and Pokerstars.net logo on his shirt. (Boo, St. Louis!)

He refused sponsor money for his cap.

“I’m a 53-year-old truck salesman, I’m not going to go around wearing a hat backwards. It’s just not going to happen.”

Headline under random, low-quality footage from the WSOP (as if the lighting situation in the Amazon room were new to them or something) — Poker-Palooza: Average Poker Guy Takes Vegas

The key to his success at the WSOP was having fun the whole way.

Dennis is not married and has no kids.

The Fox News staff is rooting for him.

After a break, the extended crew comes back and has a discussion about how amazing his poker face is. They all give impressions, then asks who plays — I’m shocked that the two dudes who are so excited about poker say they don’t — and then they turn to Courtney Friel. She says that while he was hostess of the World Poker Tour, she herself wasn’t very good because she gave away her excitement over big hands.

They end the show with: “Go All-in with Fox & Friends!”

What’s happening as the countdown is underway for the November Nine:

Now that we know who the November Nine are, who do people root for?

Is it the chip leader from St. Louis?
Is it the quiet Russian?
Will it be the grinder from Los Angeles?
Can it be the player with 10 BB’s, has two female first names, and is on a virtual freeroll from this point forward?
Will the Canadians have their first Main Event winner?
Will the FIDE Master from New York follow through on his threat to be invisible until November?
Can the only player from Texas bring the holdem title back to the Lone Star State?
Will the Danish player do what Gus Hansen was unable to do in the Series?

Only 117 days until we start finding out…

It might not be obvious by the name California Jen, but I’m actually a native St. Louisan - born and raised. Having lived there most of my life, I still have family in the Gateway to the West and visit several times a year. (Hi, Mom!)

Who am I going to root for at the final table when no pros are left and I couldn’t tell one player from the next? The guy wearing the STL hat! How could a die-hard Cardinals fan not root for the guy with the red STL logo?

As Johnny mentioned, St. Louis is ready to saunter rally behind their hometown hero, at least they will when they find out about this little thing called the World Series of Poker and the $9 million at stake. Even though the final table has not been set, as 11 player still remain, Dennis is the massive chipleader with over 24 million chips (second place has under 15 million). The 53-year old trucking company worker is making a solid run at going to the November final table as the top dog, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon.

GO STL!