Poker Career
Laak learned to play poker as a child. His first major tournament victory was at the World Poker Tour (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 a 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 16, 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.
| Year | Tournament | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 2010E | £2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em | £170,802 |
As of December 2011, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,500,000.
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