DENNIS PHILLIPS INTERVIEW — OCT. 29, 2008

(Done by phone 11 days before he competed at the most-anticipated World Series main event final table ever. He finished third for more than $4.5 million.)

Dennis Phillips

RUSS SCOTT — I appreciate you taking the time for this, Dennis. I know you’ve been in high demand!

DENNIS PHILLIPS — You’re somewhere around my 168th interview! I’ve lost track!

RS — Tell me about your fundraising efforts related to the WSOP.

DP — I’m involved in a number of charities, have been for years. Signed up right away for Phil Gordon’s “Put a Bad Beat on Cancer”, donating 1 percent of my winnings to the organization. I think it’s a no-brainer. You’re getting found money, it’s 1 percent. Who wouldn’t give 1 percent. I found out I’m the only one of the final nine that is doing it. When I approached PokerStars with it, they almost immediately said we’ll match whatever you give. So if I win this thing, it’ll be about $182,000 that will be given to the cancer prevention foundation. I would love nothing more than to be able to give that to them. That would be fabulous.

And a number of other charities, the Multiple Sclerosis one, the Albert Pujols one… I went out to Walter Reed and visited the troops out there. Man, that was awesome. Unbelievable, actually. It’s not an easy trip, but it’s well worth it. I’d never experienced anything like that before. I talked to a couple of gentlemen there that just dropped my jaw to the ground. There was one who came back from Afghanistan and left both his legs over there. He was talking and laughing and joking about how bright his future was. His 8-year-old son had come in there and he got his son laughing because he told him he was gonna be 3 inches taller now when they get done building his robot legs. He’s gonna have them make them 3 inches taller so his Dad will now be taller.

Another gentleman there was severely injured and he said when he woke up the first thing he did was ask how everybody else in the truck was. He said, “I turned to the right”. I had no idea what he was talking about. The sergeant explained that when the driver pulls to the right, he’s basically putting his body between the bomb and his passengers. He didn’t even know the people.

The shoulder patch on e-Bay is at $19,300 now and there’s a chance we can raise even more. My brother’s name is Don (who suffers from MS). He will be with me out in Vegas.

RS — You’ll have 300 family and friends there?

DP — That’s true. It’s gonna be hilarious. There’s good and bad to this. I’ve also been warned by a few of my old college buddies not to look up in the stands because they’re gonna embarrass me. I don’t know what’s going on up there. They’re gonna have some fun. Anything they do I take no credit for and no blame. (laugh)

RS — How many are co-workers? Are they gonna have to shut down the trucking company?

DP — Dang near! (counting) Omigosh, let’s see…1, 2, 3 ….About nine or 10 of the people who work around me are gonna be out there, plus their wives and that. Not gonna be much work done that day at all.

RS — What was your first visit back to your St. Louis poker room like?

DP — Actually it was pretty awesome. They had a welcome back party there at Harrah’s. Had some nice hors d’oeuvres for the guys. They started asking me questions, different things about it. We were having fun, joking back and forth. Then I got ready to leave, waved to everybody, and I got a standing ovation from those guys! They said they were proud of me. I’m just not used to that kind of stuff.

RS — Did you watch ESPN last night (telecast showing main event action from 27 players down to the final 9)?

DP — I actually got hijacked by some guys again and went over to a friend’s house and there were about 20 of us who watched it last night, so they really got to razz me pretty good on that one. But other than comments about my weight, it went OK. I’m about 220 pounds and I could lose about 20 and it wouldn’t hurt anything, that’s for sure.

RS — (re crazy aggression on TV last night)… Do you expect more of the same at the final table?

DP — No, I do not.Youve gotta realize that that was Day 6 or 7 of playing 14-16 hours a day, 100s of hands. The guys at the table were tired. They want it to end. I wanted it to end. I wanted to get going with it. That 10-5 move by Brandon Cantu is not one he would he would have made two days earlier than that, I don’t think. He’s a very good player and I want to cut him a little slack. I thought that was a ridiculous call myself, but I don’t like second-guessing him.

RS — How would you rate your aggression, 1-9, compared to the other finalists?

DP — I’m not either 1st or 9th. I’m probably somewhere around 3 or 4. I like to pick my spots. I get very aggressive when I pick my spots, but I’m more cautious in picking them.

RS — Tell me about these quotes and hands on the ESPN telecast last night:

* “I’m gonna make the final table.” Was that confidence or were you just psyching yourself up? – No, I just didn’t want anybody to call me. The heck with confidence and everything else. If I put some money in there, I want to take the danged pot down. I wanted to have the image that I’m only playing the nuts.

* “I knew it. I knew you had a set.”) Are your reading skills that good? — They were on this one. Let me tell you, I played with him for hours and he had never smooth-called me back to back. He did it pre-flop, which he had done a couple of other times, then I make the raise on the flop and he smooth called me a second time with Tiffany behind. My alarm bells went off like you wouldn’t even believe. Then Tiffany goes all in and I knew she was in trouble, and I was trying to get a read on him so I could make sure for future reference, so I hesitated a little while trying to see what he’d do and he really didn’t give a whole lot up on that, but I was just positive he had a monster hand. I threw mine away and he turned over those aces and, after 6 or 7 days of stress and everything, I kinda just released it there. I probably shouldn’t have done that. I just flat out knew he had a monster hand. I hope (those skills) are there Nov. 9 and 10.

* Hollywooding…rubbing your forehead, acting concerned. Do you typically use that hollywood style? — I do not. What they didn’t show on there, about 40 minutes earlier than that, he made the same type play and went all in on the river. I folded and he showed me a total bluff. So that was a little bit of payback. They didn’t show him over there gloating about pushing me off a pot. I have a long memory.

* 3-way hand, double call on your value bet w/K-K. – I had a pretty good read on them. The ace came (on the turn), the reactions they gave were negative. I didn’t have any problem with the ace. I thought I could get one or the other to call me with that 1.2 million. I put it out there and both of them called, and I thought “Oh Lord, did I just make a major mistake here?” I did have the read right. I expected one call, not both.

RS — What are your thoughts about a planned seat redraw for the final 9?

DP — Oh God, I don’t want it. I have a good read on the players. I know how to play them. I could plan my strategy a whole lot better if they weren’t redrawing. And I definitely have people that I want on my left and ones that I want on my right. (I told him about me suggesting the redraw to tournament director Jack Effel to “throw some stuff into the game.” ) Wait a minute! So I can blame you for this? (The WSOP ultimately decided not to redraw seats).

RS — You decided to get coaching from Roy Winston. Did your work with him lead to any possible changes in your game at the final table?

DP — I actually hired him and Joe McGowan. I hired them for different purposes. Both of them have helped me out. Working very tight with Joe now on certain aspects of the game. I think it was a good move. (RS — Do you recommend tutoring?) Yes, I actually do. And I don’t care if they’re amateur or a pro. Look at Michael Jordan or Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods, they all have coaches. Somebody that can have two more eyes watching your play and your moves and how you hold yourself or suggesting, or just being able to talk on a higher level about poker and the moves and the intricacies of it. It’s great. (RS — My column, too?) Absolutely, I think they should read it. I think they should probably be looking to you for some answers on some things.

RS — 3 of last 5 chip leaders in WSOP main events went on to win. Does this create extra expectations for you or is it just more pressure?

DP — If these guys want to concede to me, I would take it. (laugh) I don’t think so. I’m a pretty laid back guy. I’m just enjoying it. I’m ready to rock and roll. If the advantage that I have in chips is just a nice little additional edge. I think it puts more pressure on the other people. Again, I really think it’s the middle stacks that are gonna have the problem. The short stack has limited options, you know what’s gonna happen there. I have a lot of respect for him (Kelly Kim). I really don’t want him to get a whole lot of chips. I think he is better than several of the people at the table, so having him short-stacked doesn’t bother me at all. He’s a really good guy, I count him as a friend.

RS — Kim probably picked up lots of fans when ESPN did that interview with him about his Mom passing away.

DP — I lost my mom just a few weeks ago. I flew over to London, got a phone call the day after I got there and had to come back for the funeral and everything. Then I went back to play the High Rollers event. She was a hell of a woman. I had two fantastic parents. They were married for 65 years. Nothing but the best for them. I was blessed, there’s no doubt about it. She was doing a crossword puzzle and fell asleep and just never woke up. 84 years old, all her faculties, in pretty decent health, we thought. She was just here in St. Louis a couple weeks before, watching me throw the first pitch out at a ball game.

RS — Your tourney results are shy of others. And your experience low by comparison. Is that a disadvantage for you?

DP — No, I don’t know that it is at this stage. I’d only played in two WSOP events before this and I made final table in both of them — two $500 buy-in events at Tunica. I play around here locally and I dominated the local area in the way of tournaments. I had no problem at all with it. I had no idea what to expect when I went to Vegas. I wasn’t trying to build myself up or anything. I sat down and said I’m either gonna do OK here or I’m gonna need a whole lot more learning. After about 3 hours into it, I started getting real comfortable.

RS — Tell me more about your London trip.

DP — I got to be the glorious bubble person. Ninth paid $120,000, and I got a nice handshake for 10th. Look at it the other way. There were 86 players in this thing, basically the best in the world. 76 of them finished below me. That’s not that bad.

RS — Did you witness any inappropriate behavior at your table and what should be done about it when it happens?

DP — I didn’t witness anything at my table. I witnessed things at other tables near me. I really think the director needs to step in a little sooner. It’s inappropriate. If you take the action right away, it’ll stop it. I do not agree with the actions they did. Hopefully I will never do that.

RS — You were against the final table pause in July, but what about now?

DP — Oh yeah, I was against it. For pure poker playing, I was on a nice roll, had a great read of the table. I wanted to finish it up. Now I look back at the last four months and the opportunities that I’ve had, I’ve improved my game, I got to travel around the world, I got to help some of the charities around here in such a way I’d never been able to do before, I got to visit Walter Reed, Albert Puhols walking out of the dugout to me with an autographed bat to shake my hand … no, I’m kinda glad we took the break now.

RS — What are your plans right after the final table plays out? You gonna watch the ESPN show from your hotel room?

DP — There’s a restaurant at the Rio called MaFaddens. Whenever I finish the tournament or we get down to 2 people on Sunday night, there will be a bit of a shindig at McFaddens. Let’s just say it’s gonna be a helluva blowout party. I’ve got 300 people coming from St. Louis and they’re gonna go there and we’re gonna have some fun, and if you’re out there, you’re invited.

RS — If you win, can you picture yourself as an ambassador for poker?

DP — Actually I can. Poker used to have a reputation of smoke-filled back rooms, shady characters in the background and we’ve come away from that. We need to draw it even further away. We don’t need somebody getting drunk at the table, or somebody making inappropriate comments. We need people out there like the Phil Gordons of the world who does the Bad Beat on Cancer, or Victor Ramdin who does such great work for his home country. I’m ready, absolutely.

RS — Thank you, Dennis, and good luck! I’ve never tried to record from my cellphone speaker before, so I hope this worked!

DP — You’re welcome. If you think of something else to ask me, you’ve got my numbers and e-mail. If your recording didn’t work, just give me a call and we’ll re-do the interview.

(The recording worked!)