Dennis Phillips Hires a Coach
Written by Roger S | Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
Dennis Phillips is the chip leader among the nine finalists scheduled to fight for the WSOP 2008 Main Event title in November.
Last week he officially announced that he would be hiring a coach becoming the first person to make the announcement.
If any of the others have hired coaches then they are not yet telling.
Phillips has engaged the services of Oracle Poker Consulting, which was launched in May this year by Roy Winston and Michael Binger. Roy Winston is known in the poker world as the winner of the 2007 Borgata Poker Open. Between them, Winston and Binger have almost $8 million in tournament winnings. Phillips will be coached by Winston and Joe McGowan, who is also a partner in Oracle Poker Consulting. Outlining what they hope to achieve Winston said, “Dennis’s play so far has been extraordinary. My partner Joe McGowan and I are going to help with his preparation for the challenges he will face not only at the final table, but on the way there. This is a unique experience to have weeks to prepare before play and we want Dennis to have every opportunity and will be there with him along the way.”
Dennis Phillips is not a poker professional. He is employed as an account manager by Broadway Truck Center in St. Louis. He entered the WSOP Main Event through a $200 satellite at the local Harrah’s casino and then made it big. Phillips St. Louis leanings are obvious because of the Cardinals cap he always had on while playing. He has only cashed twice before in major tournaments. These were two events at the 2007 WSOP Circuit Event at Grand Casino Tunica. His total winnings at these events were $4,578, which are literally peanuts compared to the $900,670 he stands to win even if he is the first to get knocked out from the final table. Given his background one can understand his apprehensions of squandering the gains he has made. He is sitting pretty with 26,295,000 chips but things can change pretty fast at the final table. The break in the event has given him an opportunity to fine-tune his game and it would be foolish on Phillips part not to take advantage of it. Announcing his engaging the services of Oracle Poker Consulting Phillips said, “I look forward to working with Roy and Joe and Oracle Poker Consulting over the next couple of months leading up to the Main Event. I’m confident in my game and don’t intend to change it, but I’m also smart enough to know that you can always learn more. Roy and Joe’s help and insight will be invaluable, not only in preparing for the final table but in helping me navigate through the many aspects of being in the poker spotlight.” It is probably the second issue that is troubling Phillips more.
What Phillips has not revealed is how much will he be paying Oracle Poker Consulting for their services. But with 3 to 1 odds of winning $9.1 million dollars whatever he will be paying will be worth it.
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
