Phillips prepares for WSOP final table

Dennis Phillips, the chip leader at the forthcoming World Series of Poker Main Event final table, has been using the event's 117 day break to hone his poker skills.

The commercial truck salesman from St. Louis will enter the final round of the world's biggest poker tournament with a chip stack of 26 million, 2 million ahead of Russian pro Ivan Demidov.

Phillips earn a $10,000 buy-in for the 2008 World Series of Poker Main event by winning a $200 satellite at Harrah's in St. Louis. He, like each of the November Nine, has already won over $900,000 by virtue of qualifying for the final table, but will be looking to walk away with the $9 million main prize.

The chip leader has spent the last four months taking tuition from Roy Winston and Joe McGowan of Oracle Poker Consulting.

"I fully suspect that when all nine of us sit back down that all of our games have improved a little bit," Phillips told USA Today."My life has not been normal since July. But I do still get into work as much as I can."

Phillips has pledged 1% of his winnings to the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and has already donated $10,000 to the Albert Pujols Foundation.