Phil Laak Bio
Phil “The Unabomber” Laak Bio
Phil Laak was born in Dublin, Ireland but was raised in Boston where, after developing a healthy obsession for games of various kinds, he graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. After working as an engineer, repo man, stock trader and real estate investor, Phil found himself drawn back to his love of games.
After making a good living playing backgammon, Phil discovered poker in 1999 and, after a brief jaunt in New York City, moved west where he became a regular in the Bay Area cash games. By 2003 he found himself making his living playing poker and splitting his time between Vegas and Los Angeles where he co-resides today.
Phil has six World Poker Tour cashes, and six WSOP cashes. In 2005 he took first place in the William Hill Grand Prix for $265,000. A regular on the ever-popular High Stakes Poker T.V. show, he once won $281,610 in 12.5 hours!
Phil’s combination of table antics, razor intellect and success at the felt helped to make him one of the most recognizable poker pros in the world. His standard outfit at the poker table, which consists of a hoodie and sunglasses, earned him the name of “The Unabomber” because of his resemblance to the forensic sketch of Theodore Kaczynski.
In the 2008 WSOP, Phil broke from his traditional Unabomber outfit and enlisted the help of a make-up artist to disguise himself as an old man. He managed to survive into Day 2 with relatively few people discovering the truth and had as much fun fooling friends and members of the media as he did playing in the tournament.
In addition to playing poker and writing a regular column for Bluff Magazine, he co-hosts ‘I Bet You’ with his friend and former roommate Antonio Esfandiari. In it’s third season they can be seen betting each other on anything from who can do the best interpretive dance to who can panhandle for the most change.
Always a colorful character, Phil’s mad skills at the felt have helped him earn over $1,400,000 in career tournament winnings.