Phil Laak aka the ‘Unabomber’ Poker Player Biography
Phil Laak is one of the most popular poker players in the world, mainly thanks to his personality as well as his high-profile relationship with actress and fellow poker player Jennifer Tilly. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1972 but his family moved to the United States soon after. It was his family who introduced him to card games, mainly the game ‘Tripoli’. Laak was instantly won over with card games and played with his friends during his youth.
Several years later Laak graduated from the University of Massachusetts, earning a degree in mechanical engineering. Despite this, Laak found the job boring and strived for a fun and exciting job. His search for a job which he enjoyed led to him becoming a day trader, a bookie, and a repo man. His search came to an end one day in California however when he stopped at a restaurant for a meal. While he was in the restaurant he overheard people in a back room and decided to see what they were doing. They were playing backgammon for money and Laak joined them. He quickly found success and was the biggest winner in the game, which made him realise he could earn a living through gambling. This led to him moving to New York City in 1999 where he became a regular in underground cash games.
Laak eventually moved back to San Diego where he moved in with another professional player – Antonio Esfandiari. The pair of them began playing at the Commerce Casino where they were regular winners in cash games, and in 2002 Laak got his first breakthrough in a live tournament. He won a $500 buy-in tournament for $15,660 and this taste of victory left him wanting more. In 2003 he claimed two big cashes, both of which were World Poker Tour (WPT) events. His best finish was 6th in the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event for $54,075 and his other cash was worth $34,917 in the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic where he just missed out on the final table, finishing 12th.
In 2004 he claimed his first major live tournament win which was worth $100,000 after he defeated Humberto Brenes heads-up in the WPT Invitational Main Event. 2005 was Laak’s biggest winning year to date however. He managed to accumulate $711,250 in tournament winnings and just missed out on his first WSOP bracelet after finishing second to Johnny Chan in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event for $156,400. However, he managed to take victory in the £6,000 William Hill Poker Grand Prix for his largest tournament win to date of $265,290 after defeating a table which included some of Europe’s best players.
His next major win came in October 2009 when he won the PartyPoker.com World Open IV for $250,000. He won Heat 2 of the event which earned him a seat in the final where he defeated players including Mike Sexton, Luke ‘_fullflush1_’ Schwartz, and even his girlfriend Jennifer Tilly.
Laak has also had a fantastic start to 2010. He began the year by taking victory on the ‘Nicknames’ event of Poker After Dark IV after defeating close friend Antonio Esfandiari heads-up to win $120,000. He also announced the opening of his very own internet poker room – Unabomber Poker, which is on the Cake Network. Laak earned the nickname because his appearance at the poker table resembled a police drawing of Theodore Kaczynski who was the original ‘Unabomber’.
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