Phil Laak – Wiki, Bio, Age, Wife, Net Worth

As of 2018, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,650,000.

On June 2–7, 2010, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Laak set the world record for the 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 Foxwoods Resort 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.

On September 16, 2010, Laak won his first career 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.

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 2008, Laak made a cameo appearance in the Knight Rider television movie, where he was credited as “Poker Pro”.

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.

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.

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 seven of High Stakes Poker on GSN, and served as the dealer on the short-lived television series E! Hollywood Hold’em.

Laak wrote a monthly column called “Being Phil Laak”, in the poker-themed Bluff Magazine, from 2005 until the magazine folded in 2015. 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.

He is currently dating actress and 2005 $1,000 buy-in Ladies no-limit Texas hold ’em champion poker player, Jennifer Tilly.

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 his victory: sixth place in both the season two Battle of Champions and the 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Philip Courtney Laak (born September 8, 1972) is an Irish-American professional poker player and a poker commentator, 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.