Philip Laak (pronounced "lock"; born September 8, 1972 in Dublin, Ireland) is a professional poker player, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak was the winner of a World Poker Tour (WPT) title in 2004^[2][3] and has appeared on numerous nationally aired television shows.^[4] Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with satellite events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... For details about the current event, see 2008 World Series of Poker. ... Non-Main Event gold bracelets given to the event winners during the 2005 WSOP The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is the biggest non-monetary prize a poker player can win. ... For a list of words Poker, see the Poker category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The following is a glossary of poker terms used in Wikipedia poker articles. ... The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of poker tournaments featuring most of the worlds professional players. ... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... This article is about people called professionals. ... For the domestic fireplace tool, see fireplace poker. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ...

Early life

Laak was born in Dublin, raised on the East Coast, and now lives in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked as an engineer, a repo man, a stock day trader, and a real estate investor, prior to getting into open poker games in California. Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... For further information, see Las Vegas metropolitan area and Las Vegas Strip. ... The center of the UMass Amherst campus. ... Mechanical Engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the application of principles of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 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. ... A Day trader is a very active trader who holds positions for a very short time and makes several trades each day. ... Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... This article is about the U.S state. ...

He is former roommates with fellow professional poker player and close friend Antonio Esfandiari. Antonio The Magician Esfandiari (born Amir Esfandiari, December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran) is a professional poker player. ...

Poker career

Laak learned to play poker as child.^[5] 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 2 Battle of Champions and the 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic. The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of poker tournaments featuring most of the worlds professional players. ...

At the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Laak finished second to Johnny Chan in the $2,500 pot limit hold 'em event. The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. ... For the actor, see Johnny Chan (actor). ... // Wikibooks Poker has more about this subject: Betting This article describes the common terms, rules, and procedures in the game, but does not cover the strategic impact of betting. ... Texas hold em (also holdem, holdem) is the most popular of the community card poker games as of 2006. ...

Laak defeated Ram Vaswani to win the inaugural William Hill Poker Grand Prix, taking home the £150,000 first prize. Ram Crazy Horse Vaswani (also known as Ram The Looks Vaswani) (born c. ... Series logo The William Hill Poker Grand Prix is a poker tournament sponsored by William Hill plc shown on Sky Sports. ...

He has also competed in numerous Poker Royale series. Poker Royale is a television series that focuses on No Limit Texas hold em Poker that airs on GSN. The first series began on December 7, 2004. ...

Laak appears on seasons two, three, and four of High Stakes Poker on GSN. High Stakes Poker logo High Stakes Poker is a cash game poker television program broadcast by the cable television network GSN in the United States. ...

Served as the dealer on the short-lived television series E! Hollywood Hold'em. E! Hollywood Holdem was a short-lived poker television program. ...

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. This article is about the television network. ... Poker After Dark is an hour-long late night poker television program on NBC, which debuted on January 1, 2007 in its NBC All Night programming lineup, airing six nights a week. ... Poker After Dark is an hour-long late night poker television program on NBC, which debuted on January 1, 2007 in its NBC All Night programming lineup, airing six nights a week. ... Phillip J. Hellmuth, Jr. ... Doyle Brunson, also known as Texas Dolly, (born August 10, 1933 in Longworth, Fisher County, Texas) is an American poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. ... Antonio The Magician Esfandiari (born Amir Esfandiari, December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran) is a professional poker player. ... Jennifer Harman (born November 29, 1964 in Reno, Nevada) is an American professional poker player with a reputation as a cash game player. ... Erik Seidel (born in New York City) is an American professional poker player. ...

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. 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. ... 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. ... The University of Alberta (U of A) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ...

As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,300,000.^[3]

Laak is also a writer who writes a monthly column in the popular poker magazine Bluff Magazine. Bluff Magazine is an American magazine specializing in the game of poker. ...

Laak co-hosts a show called "I Bet You" with his friend Antonio Esfandiari where they can be found betting on any and all things. I Bet You is a gameshow/buddy comedy that glimpses inside the outrageous lives of best friends and professional poker players Phil Laak “The Unabomber” and Antonio Esfandiari “The Magician” as they wander the streets of America betting and daring each other on anything and everything that inspires them, using...

Nickname and personality

Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak right after her win at the 2005 World Series of Poker $1,000 Ladies Only Event - No Limit Hold'em.

Laak became known widely in the poker scene as the "Unabomber" because of the hooded sweatshirt ^[6] and sunglasses he wears at the table, making him resemble the forensic sketch of Theodore Kaczynski who was known as the Unabomber. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Jennifer Tilly (born September 16, 1958)[1] is an Academy Award-nominated American actress and a World Series of Poker bracelet winner. ... The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. ... Man wearing a hoodie A hoodie (also hoody, bunnyhug), at one time hooded sweatshirt, is a heavy upper-body garment with a hood. ... Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses (RB2132 901L) Sunglasses or sun glasses are a visual aid, variously termed spectacles or glasses, which feature lenses that are coloured or darkened to prevent strong light from reaching the eyes. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ...

Laak is known for pulling closed the drawstrings on his sweatshirt's hood to hide his face during large hands, and is well-known for his other antics at the poker table, such as doing push-ups to celebrate winning hands, running behind the dealer during showdowns to see which card will come up next, and getting entirely ready to leave whenever he pushes all-in (usually significant as he replaces his shoes). On the Poker After Dark program in 2007 he lay down on the floor during a particularly stressful hand. A poker table is round. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Poker After Dark is an hour-long late night poker television program on NBC, which debuted on January 1, 2007 in its NBC All Night programming lineup, airing six nights a week. ...

Laak is known also for his unusual and inventive manner of speech. He has been credited with coining 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).^[7]

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. Tilly has since been nicknamed "The Unabombshell." Jennifer Tilly (born September 16, 1958)[1] is an Academy Award-nominated American actress and a World Series of Poker bracelet winner. ... // Wikibooks Poker has more about this subject: Betting This article describes the common terms, rules, and procedures in the game, but does not cover the strategic impact of betting. ... Texas hold em involves community cards available to all players (pictured here on the left). ...

Laak now stars on "I Bet You," a TV show with fellow professional poker player Antonio Esfandiari on MOJO HD in which the friends make bets on anything ranging from who can make more tips bartending to the price of a t-shirt. I Bet You is a gameshow/buddy comedy that glimpses inside the outrageous lives of best friends and professional poker players Phil Laak “The Unabomber” and Antonio Esfandiari “The Magician” as they wander the streets of America betting and daring each other on anything and everything that inspires them, using... Antonio The Magician Esfandiari (born Amir Esfandiari, December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran) is a professional poker player. ... MOJO HD is a subsidiary of iN Demand, a leading Pay Per View (PPV) and Video on Demand (VOD) provider in the United States. ...

Laak has been highly regarded as one of the top "cash game" poker players on the circuit. He regularly plays the highest no-limit games at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. He was seen playing the biggest cash games at the World Series of Poker at the Bellagio and the The Venetian (Las Vegas). Established in 1983, The Commerce Casino is the largest card casino in the world, with over 240 tables. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Bellagio is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, USA. It is owned by MGM Mirage and was built on the site of demolished Dunes hotel and casino. ... The bridge at the Venetian Gondola ride in the Venetian View from second floor casino balcony. ...

According to sources^[who?], Phil Laak played the first day of the Main Event of the 2008 World Series of Poker incognito in a latex mask and costume. Only his girlfriend, Jennifer Tilly, Antonio Esfandiari, and a handful of tournament staff knew who he was. Even his fellow table mates who played the entire session with him did not recognize who he was.^[8][9]

Notes

1. ^ WSOP player profile
2. ^ "Phil Laak". worldpokertour.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
3. ^ ^{a b} Butt, Robert. "Phil Laak - Stats". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
4. ^ "Phil Laak". IMDb. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
5. ^ Poker Babes profile
6. ^ "Ultimate Blackjack Tour - profile". playubt.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
7. ^ Pokerplayernewspaper.com
8. ^ Photo of Phil Laak in latex at 2008 WSOP
9. ^ AP News

2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• World Poker Tour profile
• InsidePoker magazine interview
• Phil's Poker Blog