Before the 2008 World Series of Poker, Dennis Phillips was a truck driver. At 53 years old, the St. Louis native had worked his way up from behind the steering wheel to behind a desk serving as an account manager for a trucking company. And now, after becoming an inaugural member of the November Nine and finishing 3rd for $4.5 million, he’s simply a multi-millionaire account manager.
Prior to the final table, Phillips said, “I’m just a good solid player…nothing special… [no matter how I finish] I’ll keep playing but I’ll keep my job too.”
During an interview with us in August, 2008, Phillips told us how he got started in poker: “I’ve played cards all of my life. Growing up, my family played everything from canasta to bridge. Then, I went to casinos to play blackjack. About four years ago, I started playing cash games and then started playing tournaments on a whim. Obviously, it worked out.”
In the same chat, he outlined his decision to donate 1% of his WSOP Main Event earnings to cancer prevention charities:
“On Day 4 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event, information for Put a Bad Beat on Cancer was on each table. You’re donating 1% of your earnings (if you make anything), so why wouldn’t you do it? It’s tax deductible. I’ve talked to Phil Gordon and 100% of the money donated goes to it. I do my due diligence to make sure that a high percentage of donations go to the people that it should. I participated in a tournament recently for a fallen firefighter. I’ve been doing charity before playing poker and I will continue to do it in the future. The only difference is that now, I can write some checks.”
Since his big win, Phillips has gone on to record numerous other cashes, including 45th in the 2009 WSOP Main Event for $178K and third in the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Championship for $125K. All told, Phillips has over $4.8 million in live tournament earnings.
When he’s not traveling the tournament circuit, Dennis Phillips plays online at PokerStars as sponsored pro ‘D. Phillips’.
Click here for Dennis Phillips’ interview with Poker News Daily.
