Monday was payday for Dennis Phillips. The 53-year-old trucking account manager from Illinois got $4.5 million thanks to his second job playing poker, but winning the top prize just wasn't in the cards.
Phillips of Cottage Hills, near Alton, finished third early Monday in the World Series of Poker's main event in Las Vegas. He was the last American left in the field.
Phillips lost to Peter Eastgate, a 22-year-old poker professional from Denmark. Eastgate will face Russia's Ivan Demidov to settle the $9.15 million title.
Phillips won $4,517,773 for third place.
The nine finalists split $32.7 million. That's from a pool built on the $10,000 entry fees of 6,844 players who began play in July.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
