Bloggers On The Rail - Guest Post: Tuscaloosa Johnny

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

"Tuscaloosa" Johnny is a blogger who has written for many publication and brings a solid background to whatever he decides to do. He spent a large part of his summer reporting on the WSOP for various sites, including his trip reports on Poker from the Rail. He won his way into several smaller WSOP events via the Battle of the Bloggers and represented us well. The Main Event played down to the "November Nine" and he was able to get some time to speak with Dennis Phillips and brings us his profile.

As always, comments or questions can be sent to Battleofthebloggers@fulltiltpoker.com.

Dennis Phillips: WSOP Champion and Media Darling?

By “Tuscaloosa” Johnny Kampis

As the field of the main event dwindled down to the final couple of tables on the path to the “November Nine” last month, I recalled wondering who the media darling would end up being. The last woman standing, Tiffany Michelle, a very slim and attractive 23-year-old and aspiring actress, would have been the obvious choice but busted in 17th place. Before her, Brandon Cantu, another young and attractive player who has already won World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour titles, had gone out in 20th place.

By the time the final nine was set we were looking at a table of mostly unknowns. Scott Montgomery, who made a WPT final earlier this year, is the most recognizable face, but he’s really not that well known.

So who among the “November Nine” could be the star of the show? Dare I say it could be a 53-year-old bearded man with a gut who works for a trucking company? It may very well be.

They key thing about Dennis Phillips, who leads those coming back on Nov. 9 with 26 million chips, is that he looks like Joe Everybody, much the way Chris Moneymaker or Greg Raymer did. Those photos Harrah’s uses in promotions that show a former champion (often the Moneymaker photo) holding stacks of cash outstretched in each hand, but with the face darkened out and a big question mark over it? I can absolutely see Dennis Phillips’ face there.

Now maybe it was just that Phillips had a loud rooting section of friends and family during the final day of the main event, but he certainly seemed to be the favorite of the crowd. I spoke to him briefly in the hallways of the Rio during a break with him surrounded by his “entourage” of pasty middle-aged mid-American stock. He gave me his business card for a future interview. That card says he is a commercial account manager for Broadway Truck Centers in St. Louis (a job he does not plan to leave, no matter the result of the final table) and Phillips is never without his St. Louis Cardinals hat. This is a man who loves his hometown. And his hometown loves him. While researching the final dozen or so players while laboring in the WSOP media room for the popular blogging site pokerati, I found a St. Louis forum where people who knew Phillips or had played with him were rooting him on.

When I finally got around to calling Phillips for that interview last week, he was at the Lumiere Casino in St. Louis playing in his first poker tournament since the main event break. Unsurprisingly, he was a big hit with the crowd, giving autographs and receiving slaps on the back.

Nothing in Phillips’ poker background prepared him for this. He has only been playing tournaments for the last couple of years and his only cashes of record are in a couple of $500 events at the WSOP Circuit in Tunica, although he has fared very well in the unreported results of the local casinos’ daily and weekly tournaments in St. Louis.

“I guess I was kind of flying under the radar before and now everybody knows me. People who claim to know me I don’t know, but they say they know me,” Phillips told me with a laugh.

Celebrity will do that to a person.

If given the choice, Phillips would have preferred there be no “November Nine.” As the chip leader he was rolling well in the tournament.

“Oh no, I was doing well and had a good chip count. I did not want to quit, but I understand the logic behind it and I support it. But no, I would have rather played it out.”

Phillips plans to play in some tournaments in Europe (I’m guessing the World Series of Poker Europe) and here in the States before November comes. He also plans to train for the final table by playing a series of Sit & Gos with friends to prepare for short-handed play.

Then it’s back to Las Vegas for the ultimate test under the lights. Dennis Phillips versus the young guns. Dean Hamrick, the “bubble boy”, also known as the 10th place finisher, said he likes Montgomery or Ylon Schwartz as his final two players. He didn’t even mention the chip leader. Don’t be surprised, however, if Phillips pulls it off because if the WSOP of recent years has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.

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