Heading into the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event November Nine weekend in 100 days, PocketFives.com member Phil USCphildo Collins (pictured) will hold the fourth largest stack at 23.89 million, or about 48 big blinds. Collins, who resides in Las Vegas and is one of three Americans at the final table, has been a member of the online poker community since 2007 and will now vie for a monstrous first place prize of $8.7 million.

PocketFives.com caught up with Collins 12 hours after the 2011 WSOP November Nine were determined. He was running on fumes, telling PocketFives.com that he had only logged about four hours of sleep in the last two nights. However, partying on Tuesday following a November Nine run wasn’t in the cards.

“It’s a very long, grueling tournament,” Collins assessed about the eight-day Main Event, which is spread out over the course of two weeks. “A couple of the guys wanted to go to Aria to drink last night and I was up for that, but then I went home. My dad was in town, so I chatted with him for a little bit and curled up with my wife on the couch and watched the Main Event replay on ESPN3.com until I thought I could fall asleep.”

Collins finally turned in around 6:00am in Las Vegas and gave us his take on how he came off on the WSOP Main Event replay: “I was pleased with how I looked. I was looking at my body language and such when I was putting in bets, thinking, etc. and making sure that I wasn’t giving anything away.”

You might have noticed that Collins sported a ClubWPT patch during Day 8 of the Main Event on Tuesday. The sponsorship was due to a relationship first forged when Collins was selected as a “One to Watch” on the WPT circuit. Interviews with the youngster from Nevada will air during the Fox Sports Net coverage of the WPT Championship.

“I was approached for a couple of patch deals,” down the stretch in the Main Event, Collins told us. “But I went with the WPT because they were one of the first to give me recognition. The others were just whimsical offers and I felt uncomfortable dealing with them, negotiating, or anything like that. I already trusted the WPT and so whatever they offered me, I said sure.”

When the November Nine debuted a few years ago, the industry was largely divided on whether it was positive or negative for the game and the players involved. Collins, however, is largely a fan: “I’m going to enjoy this break. It’s the greatest moment in your poker career. Now, I get to enjoy this moment for the next three months. The players get to enjoy the moment and come November, everyone will know who we are.”

Collins, an American, was among those affected by Black Friday back on April 15th. Prior to poker’s dark day, he moved from South Carolina 2,000 miles west to Sin City and admitted, “I’m glad I live in Vegas because there’s poker here. I was wise making the decision to move from South Carolina. If I were still there, I would be out of luck with no ability to make an income.” A recent increase in live cash games played may have contributed to his success in the Main Event.

The 2011 WSOP Main Event marks the largest foreign contingent ever at six players. A total of seven countries are represented in the November Nine this year, leading Collins to tell us, “Poker has become more of an international game. Europe and other places were behind America when the poker boom started. Now, the whole world will be watching. I’m glad there are a lot of countries represented. People from around the world have been really friendly in this tournament and all of the international players are great guys.”

If you watched coverage of the Main Event on ESPN or online, then you surely noticed Collins’ boisterous rail belting “In the Air Tonight” whenever their hero found success, even in the smallest of pots. Collins, who shares his name with a singer well known in the United States and around the world, was flattered. But will his contingent expand their repertoire come November? Could we hear the entire hook?

“Whenever people are drinking, you want to keep things simple,” Collins joked. “They want to be the best rail. I’m sure they’ll put in the time to learn more, though. It feels awesome to have them in my corner. One of my opponents asked if it was like home field advantage for me. If you think about it, players don’t want to lose big pots to me because they’ll hear the song. It keeps me motivated playing for myself, my wife, and everyone else.”

His rail started turning out on Day 5 of the Main Event, cheering loudly even when Collins received a walk.

Would he be disappointed if he busted in ninth place from the Main Event in November or otherwise fell short of the title? The poker pro responded, “I would clearly be disappointed, but I have prepared myself every day for the worst case scenario. If you bust out first, you get $700,000 and a bunch of recognition. I am fortunate to make it this far and played awesome. I try not to get too high or too low in general.”

Collins and the rest of the November Nine can now spend 100 days studying their opponents and gearing up for the conclusion of poker’s biggest tournament. For each, it’ll be a brand new experience: “I’ve never been in a tournament where I can go back and look at how everyone played. I expect people to understand that everyone has watched how they played and change it up in November. You can probably pick up body language when people have strong hands and when they don’t. I’ll keep studying everyone.”

We’d like to thank USCphildo for sitting down with us one day after making the November Nine.