Phil Laak has won a WSOP bracelet!
He has claimed his prize in the WSOPE six handed event after beating out a tough field of almost 250 players.
He won £170,000 for taking down the event as well as the coveted bracelet.
Laak came into the final table in 3rd place chasing the big stack of Andrew Pantling who had almost twice as many chips to start.
Once the action got down to the last three, the Unabomber would eliminate the Swedish pro Chris Bjorin with KK vs. QQ. A king on the flop sealed the deal and the action got heads up.
Pantling had managed to maintain his lead and had roughly 1,050,000 chips to Laak’s 750,000.
The battle would be a slow and arduous one of retribution over small pots with Laak coming out ahead and battling back to even the score.
It was in 2005 that the Unabomber had got heads up for a bracelet against a poker legend – Johnny Chan. Despite pulling out every trick in his arsenal and providing high energy entertainment at the final table, the Orient Express would defeat him and keep him from winning a precious bracelet.
This time however, he came into the heads up battle as the more experienced of the two players. Although the younger Pantling has had heads up tournament success, Laak was able to use his experience on the big stage and overcome his less experienced opponent.
The big hand of the long heads up session would come on a T67 all club flop that was checked through. The turn brought the King of spades. Pantling checked and Laak would overbet the pot, prompting Pantling to check raise all in.
Laak made a huge call tabling 67 for two pair to Pantling’s 68 with a club. The river was a blank and Phil would double up and take a huge lead.
The heads up battle that played out prior to this huge hand saw our champ betting big on the turn to push Pantling off of several pots and even having the audacity to show him the bluff on one occasion. These big turn bluffs allowed him to set the trap that snared his opponent.
The final hand would see Laak’s K5 get all in to Pantling’s A9 suited of hearts. The flop would come with two hearts on board. A miracle 5 of diamonds on the turn would win it for the Unabomber!
Phil Laak has now won both a WSOP bracelet and WPT title joining the biggest stars in poker with this amazing feat.
