Somach: Your 15 Minutes of Poker Fame Are Up… Or Maybe Not

Winning a big poker tournament can make you an instant celebrity anywhere.

Even finishing as the runnerup will grant you a modicum of fame.

But only in the good ol' USA-where Andy Warhol once predicted everyone would get their 15 minutes of fame-does finishing in third place in a poker tourney make you famous.

But that's just what's happened to Dennis "Fordman" Phillips, the trucking company sales executive who hails from a tiny Illinois town that's a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

Phillips finished in third place at the Main Event of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP), which concluded last November in Las Vegas.

And that, apparently, qualifies you as a celebrity, at least in St. Louis.

Because for finishing third, Phillips got his own radio show on a St. Louis radio station.

Since January, Phillips has hosted a weekly poker-themed radio show every Tuesday from 6-7 p.m. Central Time on St. Louis radio station KFNS, heard on the AM dial at frequency 590.

The show is co-hosted by Missouri radio personality Paul Harris, who is also a poker player.

The title of the show is "The Lumiere Place Final Table" and is broadcast from the poker room at Lumiere Place, a St. Louis casino.

In recent weeks, guests on the program have been Chris Moneymaker, who won the 2003 WSOP Main Event, and Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, who won the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

There's also a regular segment on the show by attorney Josh Schindler, who calls himself "The Poker Lawyer" and answers legal questions about poker from listeners, such as whether home poker game are legal and whether winners in such games have to pay taxes on their winnings.

If you're not in the St. Louis area but would like to hear Phillips' show, it can be heard via the KFNS website at  www.kfns.com or via Phillips' website at www.thechipleader.com

Thomas Somach, www.pokerhelper.com