WSOP Update: Phillips Takes Third!

If you were dorky enough to stay up and keep track of the 2008 World Series of Poker, you heard a great run by St. Louisan Dennis Phillips, who finished third last night (technically today) a little after 2:30 am local time. Phillips began the day as the chip leader and got hit hard early on, going from a little over 26 million in chips to under five million in the span of a half hour. Phillips folded both hands before the river, so we'll have to wait until ESPN airs it on Tuesday to find out if he made the right decision or not.

Congrats to the 53 year old Phillips, who takes home $4.5 million (most of which will pay the bills on his 300+ person entourage to Vegas). InsideSTL provided a bunch of Phillips-related updates and pics throughout the day, and I'm sure they will have more on Monday and Tuesday. But keep in mind the Post-Dispatch says there is some racy content on that site, so you've been warned.

As mentioned before, ESPN will show the final table in their two hour show on Tuesday night. If I was dorky enough to listen to this crap all day, I might as well watch it too.

One highlight that I'll share with you is the post-elimination interview with Chino Rheem. After finishing 7th, Chino was interviewed by Maria Ho (that name is too good to be true) and the following exchange ensued:

M-Ho: Um, that was a brutal beat on the biggest stage in all of poker. How does that feel?

Rheem: It feels like shit. What do you want me to say?

Good job girl. Watch it for yourself here. Seeing her squirm in embarrassment is pretty funny to me, but I'm a jerk. Or maybe I just hate dumb reporters who ask dumb questions.

Back to the point - congrats to Dennis, who seems like one of the nicest people on the planet to go along with being a damn good poker player. If only we were charitable with all the revenue we generate from this site. To our credit, $4.5 million is slightly higher than $0.

(So you just read this poker column. How do you feel?)