Phil Laak
Encyclopedia
Philip "Phil" C. Laak is a professional
poker
player, now residing in Los Angeles, California
. Laak holds a World Poker Tour
(WPT) title, a World Series of Poker
(WSOP) bracelet and has appeared on numerous nationally-aired television shows.
, and now lives in Los Angeles
and Las Vegas
. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
in 1987 with a degree in mechanical engineering
and worked as an engineer
, a repo man
, a dishwasher on Cape Cod
, a stock day trader
, a gardener and a real estate
investor, prior to getting into open poker games in California
. He is a former roommate of fellow professional poker player and close friend Antonio Esfandiari
. Prior to his move west, Laak lived for several years in New York City where he honed his skills as a world-class backgammon player before he turned his focus to poker.
(WPT) Celebrity Invitational in February 2004. He has made two other WPT final tables since: sixth place in both the season two Battle of Champions and the 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
At the 2005 World Series of Poker
(WSOP), Laak finished second to Johnny Chan
in the $2,500 pot limit
hold 'em event. Laak defeated Ram Vaswani
to win the inaugural William Hill Poker Grand Prix, taking home the £150,000 first prize. He has also competed in numerous Poker Royale
series. Laak appeared on seasons two through six of High Stakes Poker
on GSN, and served as the dealer on the short-lived television
series E! Hollywood Hold'em
.
Laak was a winner of NBC
's Poker After Dark
, earning the weekly prize of $120,000. The tournament was entitled "Phil Phil" because both Phil Laak and Phil Hellmuth
were contenders. Apart from Laak and Hellmuth the table consisted of Doyle Brunson
, Antonio Esfandiari
, Jennifer Harman
, and Erik Seidel
. He again won $120,000 in the Nicknames episode, defeating Annette Obrestad
, Mike Matusow
, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren
and Phil Hellmuth.
At the 2007 conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
in Vancouver, British Columbia, Laak and fellow professional player Ali Eslami
competed against, and beat, Polaris
, a poker playing computer program developed at the University of Alberta
, in two of the four rounds with the remaining rounds being a loss and a draw.
In 2008, Laak made a cameo appearance
in the Knight Rider television movie
, where he was credited as "Poker Pro".
Laak has written a monthly column called "Being Phil Laak" in the poker-themed Bluff Magazine
since late 2005. Laak co-hosted a show called I Bet You
on the (MOJO network) with his friend Antonio Esfandiari where they can be found betting on any and all things.
Laak also played in the 2009 Aussie Millions cash game Invitational.
In October 2009, Laak was crowned PartyPoker.com World Open V champion winning $250,000 in the process. He overcame an extremely strong final table that included Luke 'FullFlush' Schwartz and Laak's long-term partner - actress and poker pro Jennifer Tilly
.
In early January 2010, Laak launched his own online poker site, Unabomber Poker. The site, which features cartoon style graphics, is a member of the Cake Poker Network.
On September 16th, 2010, Laak won his first WSOP bracelet by winning the ₤2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe
. His win came after an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle in August, where he suffered a broken elbow amongst other injuries.
As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,300,000.
Laak became known widely in the poker scene as the "Unabomber" because of the hooded sweatshirt
and sunglasses
he wears at the table, making him resemble the forensic sketch of Theodore Kaczynski
who was known as the Unabomber. Laak is known also for his unusual and inventive manner of speech. He coined the poker term "felted" to mean having lost all of one's chips (i.e. nothing left in front of the player except the table felt).
He is currently dating actress Jennifer Tilly
, who won a WSOP bracelet in 2005 in the $1,000 buy-in Ladies no limit
Texas hold 'em
championship.
Phil Laak played the first day of the Main Event of the 2008 World Series of Poker incognito, in a latex mask, wig, make-up and costume. His disguise was reported thereafter by AP reporter Oskar Garcia. The WSOP 2009 rules added a new rule prohibiting wearing masks at the table.
On June 2nd-7th 2010, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Laak set the world record in longest time spent playing poker in a single session. He halted at 115 hours. The previous official record, 72 hours and 2 minutes, was held by Larry Olmsted set at the Foxwood casino in 2004. Guinness allows one 5 minute break every hour, in which Laak could do whatever he wanted, and Laak could "bank" those 5 minute breaks into longer breaks if he played through. Laak banked several breaks to take a 30 minute nap (allowed), but he vows that he did not use caffeine or any stimulants. Playing $10/$20 No Limit Hold'em (with uncapped buyins), Laak finished up $6,766 and donated half of his winnings to charity. He did this for Camp Sunshine, a charity that helps sick children enjoy summer camp. His feat was witnessed live on streaming video by over 130,000 people.
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player, now residing in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Laak holds a World Poker Tour
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that...
(WPT) title, a World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
(WSOP) bracelet and has appeared on numerous nationally-aired television shows.
Early life
Laak was born in Dublin, raised on the East Coast of the United StatesEast Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
, and now lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
in 1987 with a degree in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
and worked as an engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, a repo man
Repossession
Repossession is generally used to refer to a financial institution taking back an object that was either used as collateral or rented or leased in a transaction. Repossession is a "self-help" type of action in which the party having right of ownership of the property in question takes the property...
, a dishwasher on Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
, a stock day trader
Day trader
A day trader is a trader who buys and sells financial instruments within the same trading day such that all positions will usually be closed before the market close of the trading day. This trading style is called day trading...
, a gardener and a real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
investor, prior to getting into open poker games in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He is a former roommate of fellow professional poker player and close friend Antonio Esfandiari
Antonio Esfandiari
Antonio Esfandiari is a professional poker player, known for his elaborate chip tricks.-Early life:When he was 9 years old his family moved to San Jose, California...
. Prior to his move west, Laak lived for several years in New York City where he honed his skills as a world-class backgammon player before he turned his focus to poker.
Poker career
Laak learned to play poker as a child. His first major tournament victory was at the World Poker TourWorld Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that...
(WPT) Celebrity Invitational in February 2004. He has made two other WPT final tables since: sixth place in both the season two Battle of Champions and the 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
At the 2005 World Series of Poker
2005 World Series of Poker
The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15 marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports and/or television history at the time was awarded to the...
(WSOP), Laak finished second to Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan (poker player)
Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....
in the $2,500 pot limit
Betting (poker)
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
hold 'em event. Laak defeated Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani is an English professional snooker player, turned professional poker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob...
to win the inaugural William Hill Poker Grand Prix, taking home the £150,000 first prize. He has also competed in numerous Poker Royale
Poker Royale
Poker Royale was a television series on the Game Show Network , which featured No Limit Texas hold 'em Poker. The first series began on December 7, 2004. The seventh and final series, Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages, began airing on November 4, 2005...
series. Laak appeared on seasons two through six of High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker is a cash game poker television program broadcast by the cable television network GSN in the United States. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. It premiered on January 16, 2006 and ended on December 17, 2007 and it returns back on March 1, 2009 and is...
on GSN, and served as the dealer on the short-lived television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series E! Hollywood Hold'em
E! Hollywood Hold'em
E! Hollywood Hold'em is a poker television program. It aired in 2005 on the E! television network. The show featured young celebrities hosting single table Texas hold em tournaments at their homes. The winner of each tournament pocketed $10,000...
.
Laak was a winner of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark was an hour-long poker television program on NBC. The show made its debut on January 1, 2007, and was cancelled as another victim of the "Black Friday" criminal case due to the show's sponsorship by Full Tilt Poker, one of that case's defendants. on September 23, 2011 For its first...
, earning the weekly prize of $120,000. The tournament was entitled "Phil Phil" because both Phil Laak and Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...
were contenders. Apart from Laak and Hellmuth the table consisted of Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson
Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.Brunson is the first player to...
, Antonio Esfandiari
Antonio Esfandiari
Antonio Esfandiari is a professional poker player, known for his elaborate chip tricks.-Early life:When he was 9 years old his family moved to San Jose, California...
, Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer C. Harman-Traniello is an American professional poker player.-Early life:Harman was born and raised in Reno, Nevada. She started playing poker in 1972 at the age of eight...
, and Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada who has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title.In 2010, he was inducted as a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
. He again won $120,000 in the Nicknames episode, defeating Annette Obrestad
Annette Obrestad
Annette Obrestad is a Norwegian poker player. Obrestad is the youngest person to ever win a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet...
, Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow
Michael Matusow is an American professional poker player, residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow's nickname of "The Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table...
, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren
Erick Lindgren
Erick A. Lindgren is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Poker Tour titles, one World Series of Poker bracelet, and more than seven million dollars in tournament earnings during his poker career.-Poker career:He won his first major tournament at the Bellagio in 2002 and...
and Phil Hellmuth.
At the 2007 conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
in Vancouver, British Columbia, Laak and fellow professional player Ali Eslami
Ali Eslami
Ali Eslami is a professional poker player currently residing in Los Angeles area. He was one of two people, who first won the man-machine poker championship....
competed against, and beat, Polaris
Polaris (poker bot)
Polaris is a Texas hold 'em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for 16 years as of 2007...
, a poker playing computer program developed at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, in two of the four rounds with the remaining rounds being a loss and a draw.
In 2008, Laak made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the Knight Rider television movie
Knight Rider (2008 film)
Knight Rider is a 2008 television movie which was created to serve as a backdoor pilot for the new Knight Rider television series, a revival of the series of the same name which aired during the 1980s...
, where he was credited as "Poker Pro".
Laak has written a monthly column called "Being Phil Laak" in the poker-themed Bluff Magazine
Bluff Magazine
Bluff Magazine is an American magazine specializing in the game of poker. Separate editions are also published for Europe, Latin America, South Africa and Australasia....
since late 2005. Laak co-hosted a show called I Bet You
I Bet You
I Bet You is a show about the lives of best friends and professional poker players Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari as they wandered the streets of America betting and daring each other on anything and everything that inspired them, using their own money.The series...
on the (MOJO network) with his friend Antonio Esfandiari where they can be found betting on any and all things.
Laak also played in the 2009 Aussie Millions cash game Invitational.
In October 2009, Laak was crowned PartyPoker.com World Open V champion winning $250,000 in the process. He overcame an extremely strong final table that included Luke 'FullFlush' Schwartz and Laak's long-term partner - actress and poker pro Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
.
In early January 2010, Laak launched his own online poker site, Unabomber Poker. The site, which features cartoon style graphics, is a member of the Cake Poker Network.
On September 16th, 2010, Laak won his first WSOP bracelet by winning the ₤2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe
2010 World Series of Poker Europe
The fourth World Series of Poker Europe took place from September 14, 2010 to September 28, 2010. There were five bracelet events, culminating in the £10,350 WSOPE Championship No-Limit Hold'em event...
. His win came after an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle in August, where he suffered a broken elbow amongst other injuries.
| Year | Tournament | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 WSOPE 2010 World Series of Poker Europe The fourth World Series of Poker Europe took place from September 14, 2010 to September 28, 2010. There were five bracelet events, culminating in the £10,350 WSOPE Championship No-Limit Hold'em event... |
£2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em | £170,802 |
As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,300,000.
Nickname and personality
Hoodie
A hoodie is a sweatshirt with a hood. The characteristic design includes large frontal pockets, a hood, and a drawstring to adjust the hood opening. They are sometimes worn with sweatpants. Some hoodies have zippers on them to allow easy removal much like a jacket...
and sunglasses
Sunglasses
Sunglasses or sun glasses are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can sometimes also function as a visual aid, as variously termed spectacles or glasses exist, featuring lenses that...
he wears at the table, making him resemble the forensic sketch of Theodore Kaczynski
Theodore Kaczynski
Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...
who was known as the Unabomber. Laak is known also for his unusual and inventive manner of speech. He coined the poker term "felted" to mean having lost all of one's chips (i.e. nothing left in front of the player except the table felt).
He is currently dating actress Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
, who won a WSOP bracelet in 2005 in the $1,000 buy-in Ladies no limit
Betting (poker)
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
championship.
Phil Laak played the first day of the Main Event of the 2008 World Series of Poker incognito, in a latex mask, wig, make-up and costume. His disguise was reported thereafter by AP reporter Oskar Garcia. The WSOP 2009 rules added a new rule prohibiting wearing masks at the table.
On June 2nd-7th 2010, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Laak set the world record in longest time spent playing poker in a single session. He halted at 115 hours. The previous official record, 72 hours and 2 minutes, was held by Larry Olmsted set at the Foxwood casino in 2004. Guinness allows one 5 minute break every hour, in which Laak could do whatever he wanted, and Laak could "bank" those 5 minute breaks into longer breaks if he played through. Laak banked several breaks to take a 30 minute nap (allowed), but he vows that he did not use caffeine or any stimulants. Playing $10/$20 No Limit Hold'em (with uncapped buyins), Laak finished up $6,766 and donated half of his winnings to charity. He did this for Camp Sunshine, a charity that helps sick children enjoy summer camp. His feat was witnessed live on streaming video by over 130,000 people.