Phil Laak won the PartyPoker.com World Open V in 2009 to record his second largest tournament win of $250,000 for the first place prize.
The PartyPoker.com event was held at The Palm Beach Casino in London, U.K. The tournament was an exclusive invitation only event with entrants paying $10,000 each to take part.
The World Open was held as a shootout format with 8 players per heat. The winner of their heat would be guaranteed a place at the final table and the runners-up would get another chance to move forward in the consolation heat. There were a total of 48 entrants forming six starting heats as well as one consolation heat. The final table would be a 7 player contest.
Heat Winners & All Star Players
Our hero seems to dominate shootout tournament formats and the PartyPoker.com World Open V would play out similarly to the William Hill Tournament Grand Prix that he won a few years earlier.
He would excel during his 1st heat, winning it, and guaranteeing himself a spot at the final table.
Other heat winners included an all star poker cast that would also move on to the final table. The heat winners were Phil Laak’s girlfriend Jennifer Tilly, Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton, poker brat Luke Schwartz, Andy Black and online qualifier Jan Veit. Bodo Sbrzesny would win the consolation heat to earn himself the seventh and final seat at the star studded final table.
The Final Table
At the final table, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly would end up being seated side-by-side with Laak having the luxury of position on his lady.
The Unabomber would draw 1st blood and eliminate Andy Black in 7th place. Mike Sexton’s pocket eights would go up against Jan Veit’s pocket kings which would hold up to eliminate Sexton in 6th place.
Veit would go on to knock out Jennifer Tilly in 6th place as they faced off pre-flop with 99 and AJ respectively. Veit’s nines would hold up and Tilly would be forced to cheer on her man from the rails. Veit would continue on a tear eliminating Bodo Sbrzesny in 4th.
Veit’s success with all in confrontations would continue when he called Luke Schwartz’s AhTd while holding KcJc in a pre-flop battle. Veit had twice the amount of chips as Schwartz going into the confrontation and would eliminate him as he caught running clubs on the turn and the river to win the hand.
The Unabomber would go into the heads-up situation slightly behind with about $900,000 in chips to Veit’s $1,200,000. The fireworks would erupt immediately as Laak was dealt A8 to Veit’s A4. After a raise by Veit and re-raise by Laak, Veit moved all in with his opponent already pot committed. All the chips then found their way into the middle. An 8 on the flop would cripple Veit and put the Unabomber well ahead.
With a small stack and huge blinds, Veit would have to go into all in mode from here on out. Two hands later, Phil would push with Q9 against Veit’s J7 to win the PartyPoker.com World Open V title.
| 1st | Phil Laak | $250,000 |
| 2nd | Jan Veit | $100,000 |
| 3rd | Luke Schwartz | $40,000 |
| 4th | Bodo Sbrzesny | $30,000 |
| 5th | Jennifer Tilly | $25,000 |
| 6th | Mike Sexton | $20,000 |
| 7th | Andy Black | $15,000 |
Phil Laak was overjoyed to win the PartyPoker.com World Open V and $250,000 in prize money to record one of the biggest wins of his poker career against a very tough field.
