Sorry to say that the Dennis Phillips World Series Of Poker dream is over.
I won't give away all the details in case you're planning to watch ESPN's delayed coverage on Tuesday night -- but I'll tell you a couple of things, including the fact that Dennis came in third. That means he beat 6,842 other players.
Although Dennis started the Final Table as the chip leader, he was card dead most of the day, and early on lost two big pots that knocked him from a high of 26 million chips to a low of 5 million -- and almost went out in ninth place, which would have been a shock to everyone's system.
Instead, he worked to increase his stack to where it was when he started the day, while watching 6 other players bust out. In the end, though, he was severely short-stacked against his two remaining opponents after more than 12 hours of concentrating on his game under those blaring TV lights you see in the picture above (taken from my front row seat, no more than 8 feet from the final table). At that point, Dennis got tangled up in a hand and shoved all his chips in, which turned out to be the wrong move at the wrong time.
For his effort, Dennis turned a $200 investment in a satellite tournament in St. Louis into $4.5 million paycheck in Las Vegas. Not a bad return and, as I told him afterwards, a great run by a great guy.
Dennis received a standing ovation from everyone present when he was eliminated; recognition of his remarkable feat, and thanks, I think, for bringing so much fun to the final table with his huge rooting section. You'll see lots of shots of us on ESPN tomorrow night -- even the fans of other players commented on the three hundred St. Louisans in matching shirts and Cardinals caps festooned with sponsor logos, plus a truck horn rigged up by his colleagues at Broadway Truck Center, which was blown every time he took down a pot.
And I know it was a thrill for Dennis to look up into the stands surrounding the final table and realize he was being scrutinized by such poker illuminati as Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Hoyt Corkins, Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Hevad Khan, Scott Cunningham, Johnny Chan, and Dewey Tomko (one of two new Poker Hall Of Fame inductees, along with Henry Ornstein, creator of the hole-card cam that revolutionized poker by making it so TV-friendly).
While I'm at it, major kudos to the group of friends Dennis has known since they all went to Blackburn College together -- Dave, Kay, Jerry, Carl, Ryan -- who made up the core of Team Dennis along with coach Joe McGowan, accountant Ryan Bricker, and consigliere Josh Schindler. They all worked their asses off to make this weekend such a success for all of us.Labels: poker/vegas