Dennis Phillips is 4/1 to favorite to win the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event.

November 9th is the date as nine poker players converge once again at the Rio to play in the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event final table. Out of the final nine the chip leader will be Dennis Phillips from St Louis, Missouri. He is 53 years of age and is currently single. He works as an account manager for a trucking firm in St Louis and has no plans on giving up the job.

Dennis Phillips battled some of the toughest professional poker players in the region when he joined the $200 buy-in to a Satellite tournament at Harrah’s finally taking down the 2006 WSOP Main Event final Dan Nassif in heads-up action to win a seat in this year’s WSOP Main Event.

In his previous World Series of Poker Tournaments Dennis Phillips had only cashed in two events, both being WSOP Circuits held in the nearby city of Robinsonville. On September 7, 2007, Phillips bought into a WSOP Circuit NL Hold’em tournament at the Grand Casino Tunica for $550, finishing in 9th place for $2,386. Only two days later, Dennis reinvested his winnings for another $550 buy-in, this time taking 7th place for $2,192.

Phillips now finds himself having the largest chip stack in the 2008 World Series of Poker. He said that he will just continue and be calm with his poker face and staring into the eyes of his strong-willed competitors while the final three tables took place.

According to Phillips, as he went ever deeper into the WSOP Main Event, he resisted numerous offers from online poker companies, making every effort to get him to don their logos. Full Tilt Poker offered a large sum to Phillips simply to wear a Full Tilt Poker cap backwards, but Phillips declined, preferring the bright red cap depicting his favorite St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. Another offer came for him to wear a logo T-shirt, but again, Phillips rejected, choosing to keep his own shirt displaying his employment company logo, Broadway Truck Centers. Finally, PokerStars was able to convince Dennis to wear a logo patch on his company shirt, as well as another on the side of his red baseball cap.

Dennis’ confident and modest approach to the game has earned him a place at one of most prestigious final tables of all time. Asked about what he's going to do with his guaranteed $900,000 he joked: “Im going to get the $9m. Im just here to have fun and play poker”

Dennis Phillips is 4/1 to favorite to win the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event.

Craig Marquis - online generation of professional poker player at the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event

Craig Marquis represents the online generation of professional poker player at the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event final table. Even with well known players like David Rheem and Scott Montgomery on the poker table, Craig Marquis makes a name for himself. Known as “CraigMarq” he has been tearing his opponents in the internet world for about a year now.

In 2007 he came 34th in the $5,000 PLH for $14,030 as well as 30th in the $1,000 NLH re-buys for $16,133 his biggest cash prize. This year he made the money in the $1,500 NLH Shoot-Out Event 17, ending up 18th for a relatively modest $5,596. The 23 year-old, from Arlington, Texas, has only been playing poker for about 18 months but has rocketed through the levels from $2/$4 to $200/$400 & beyond on Full Tilt.

Given his background on the internet it is hardly surprising that Craig Marquis has just $35,759 in live winnings to his name, with all 3 of his cashes coming in the WSOP.

Being a college student hailing from Texas it is hardly surprising that Marquis is good friends with online legends Tom Dwan & David Benefield.

When he plays live poker his signature Oakley sunglasses are firmly on his face to hide his eyes from competitors. During fifteen hour poker sessions, it’s not unusual to see a cup of coffee at his side every two hours. His style of play is much focused and he takes his time when the cards cause a situation that requires deep concentration.

Craig Marquis claims that live poker is too slow, making it easy for him to lose focus. One would have thought that he would have entered an online satellite tournament to earn his seat at the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event, but instead he bought directly into the $10,000 Texas Hold’Em Poker tournament. He quit his job selling cell phones after learning how to play poker, determined to go professional. He used his cash winnings to pay his bills and support himself while entering mid to high level staked cash games online.

Craig Marquis is a heads-up specialist so expect to see his 10.2million chips being used more regularly than some of his rivals. He wont be afraid to gamble and double-up his 12/1 price start at the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event.

Darus Suharto - World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event

Does anyone recognize Darus Suharto in the world of poker? Maybe some and for those who does not know him Darus Suharto is one of the players of the November Nine group that will vie for the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event by first winning an $80 satellite on Poker Stars. He made his way with a victory in another Poker Stars satellite tournament; a $640 tournament for a Main Event package.

Suharto does not play poker on a consistent basis either. Born in Indonesia, his family relocated to Canada and he now lives in Toronto. He only plays poker on weekends, getting in around 15 hours online and with friends, and Suharto was introduced to the game while attending Indiana University to receive his MBA. He has only been playing poker for a little under three years. His first exposure to the WSOP was when he saw a PokerStars qualifier for the series. He took a chance and entered the tournament, winning a seat at the 2005 event and going on to the 2006 main event.

Darus Suharto admits that he started playing professional poker in order to pay off his mortgage. He has been compared to Chris Moneymaker who won the 2003 WSOP, and if Suharto should happen to win, with 9/1 odds, he’ll be able to pay off more than just his mortgage. Suharto, beat out over 6,000 other players that to make it to the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. Suharto assessed the he plays the game of poker like a donkey saying that “It’s my second Main Event. I played in 2006; I was a donkey. I’m still a donkey. Hey, but the good thing is, I was a donkey in 2006 and I made the money!” He’s a very quiet and modest player and he has a chip stack of 12,520,000, placing 6 out of 9 at the table.

Darus Suharto is a smiler: ear to ear, beaming all of the time. He is possessed of that most endearing of qualities so often lost on many gnarled poker pros – gratitude. While no one will be installing Darus Suharto as a favorite to win the November 9 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event , with 1 WSOP cash to his name already - 448th in the 2006 Main Event don’t be too surprised to see Darus turn his 12,520,000 chips into 136,865,000 and a Main Event victory.

David “Chino” Rheem to win the 2008 WSOP Poker Tournament in November

David “Chino” Rheem may not have the most chips going into the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament Main Event this November but he is arguably the most well-known professional poker player of the November Nine group at the final table.

The 28 year old professional poker player has won over $700,000 in live tournament earnings since he first hit the World Series of Poker circuit in 2005. He already has 5 WSOP cashes to his name and finished 2nd in the 2006 $1,000 No Limit Texas Hold’Em Re-Buy event. The World Series of Poker Tournament is not the only place Rheem has taken the prize. He has also won three Bellagio Cups and made it the final table of the 2005 EPT Grand Final finishing in 3rd place and earning $10,219. David Rheem qualified for the 2008 WSOP by playing at online poker site: PokerStars.

But David Rheem's stellar performance has been scrutinized heavily bout past criminal convictions that he was charged for. Allegedly, Rheem was charged with burglary, dealing in stolen property, larceny and marijuana possession and had to serve 4 months in prison and 30 months of probation.

Although Rheem has been defended by WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky saying that “It's basically the odds of society. Not an unusual circumstance.”

“There's baseball, football players who do break the law, do their time, then return to the field. He has the same constitutional right as anyone else.”

Nevertheless, Rheem has been defended by the poker community and is widely regarded as one of the most cordial and humble players on the circuit.

His trademark sunglasses and hooded sweatshirt disguise will be seen in the the 2008 World Series of Poker Tournament 7th out of 9 with 10,230,000 chips given his proven ability there is sure to be interest in him at a best priced 10/1.

2008 World Series of Poker

2008 World Series of Poker will resume play on November with nine remaining players vying for the penultimate crown and to be named the best poker player on earth. Dubbed as the November Nine who battled their way through a field of 6,844 entrants,and last Monday they rose to the top of the final 27 players to take their positions at the final table.

The cream of the crop in this year’s 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event are Dennis Phillips, Ivan Demidov, Scott Montgomery, Peter Eastgate, Ylon Schwartz, Darus Suharto, David Rheem, Craig Marquis and Kelly Kim.

Dennis Phillips, one of the oldest players of the “November Nine” group hails from St. Louis, Mo. and currently is the chip leader. Phillips has some poker success on his resume. He came in ninth place back in 2007 WSOP Circuit Grand Tunica $500 No-Limit Hold'em event.

He also won his way into the Main Event through a satellite at Harrah's Casino in St. Louis. Dennis Phillips has $26,295,000 over $2 million dollars difference from Ivan Demidov who has $24,400,000. Ivan Demidov is only a couple million behind Phillips in the chip count, but away from the poker table the two are worlds apart. The 27-year-old Demidov hails from Moscow, Russia, and is a professional poker player.

Running in third is Scott Montgomery who is another professional poker player at the final table. His poker resume looks pretty blank prior to 2008, but this has been a good year for the Canadian. In February he made the final table of the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, and he has already cashed in three other WSOP events as well. Scott Montgomery has $19,690,000.

2008 World Series of Poker

The youngest player at the table will be Peter Eastgate, who is the only other player aside from Ivan Demidov who had to travel from outside North America to be at the final table. He comes from Odense, Denmark, where he is a professional poker player. If Peter Eastgate wins the Main Event, he would take over Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest-ever Main Event winner in Las Vegas.

Ylon Schwartz is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and is one of the five Americans at the final table this year. The 38-year-old is a former professional chess player who has been playing poker professionally for several years now and has 12 prior WSOP cashes to his name already, including a 15th-place finish in this year's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.

David "Chino" Rheem is probably the most well-known of the players at the final table this year. The 28-year-old professional player is from Los Angeles and has five prior cashes at the World Series. One of those is a final table in the 2008 $5,000 Limit/No-Limit Hold'em event, where he came in in fifth place.

Another contender for youngest Main Event winner on record is Craig Marquis, 23, from Arlington, Texas. Marquis is a college student who's only been playing poker for about 18 months.

Marquis had two cashes in the WSOP last year and cashed in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout this year, but nothing compares to the money he'll take home after making the final table of the Main Event.

The short stack at the final table will be Kelly Kim from Whittier, Calif. Kim is a business-analyst-turned-poker-pro.

Kim has a long list of cashes in events in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area, but he has yet to post a major event win on his record. He'll now have four months to study up and practice ways to play his short stack to victory as the players take their break before play begins again in November