Recent success has made Dennis Phillips one of the star poker players to look out for. Poker shows need an everyman who viewers can identify with so they can try to imagine what they would do with pocket jacks against a pro's all-in move on a queen-seven-five board.
Tournaments like the WSOP have plenty of these players, with winners like Chris Moneymaker and Jerry Yang, and other recent final table qualifiers like Dennis Phillips and Darvin Moon. The PokerStars.net Big Game accomplishes it by fronting an online qualifier $100,000 to play with and allowing him to keep the profits, while NBC's Heads-Up Poker Championship also saves a space for two online qualifiers.