The Chrysler car company may be down the toilet, but one of its employees has come up roses.

Ray Foley, who works for the bankrupt Detroit automaker as a financial services business manager and lives in nearby Northville, Michigan, USA, has won big at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Foley, 37, has won 2009 WSOP Event #39, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament with a $1,500 buy-in, a $3.7 million prize pool, 2,715 entrants and 270 payouts.

It’s his first career WSOP championship gold bracelet, which he gets along with the $657,969 he takes home for winning.

Coming in second in the tourney was Brandon Cantu of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, copping $403,951.

Taking third was Wei Mu of Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, snagging $269,609.

After the victory, Foley told reporters: “My friends and I usually play in only one WSOP event per year. We have a poker league where we send nine guys to play a $2,000 event. I played in that and busted out at the fifth level. So I bought into the $1,500 buy-in and I was supposed to fly out the next night. I was second in chips at the end of Day Two. I missed my flight. Fortunately, it worked out well.

“The bracelet and the money both mean a lot. It’s still unbelievable at this point that I have a bracelet. I can’t event describe it. And $660,000, that’s a lot of money. It’s hard to believe there were 2,715 people in this tournament.

“Before this win, I was contemplating going to poker full-time, mostly online. So this will help make that jump a little easier. This is great timing.”

Good for Foley.

He’s got a new career, just in case that automaker thing doesn’t work out.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)