Phil Laak has finally claimed his 1st WSOP bracelet by winning the WSOPE Six Handed Event.
He had to battle through a starting field of almost 250 entrants that was riddled with all of poker’s biggest names.
Players paid £2,650 to enter the tournament and Laak’s prize for 1st place was £170,000.
The Unabomber would come into the final day 3rd in chips. The Canadian, Andrew Pantling, who has lead the field since Day 2, would begin with almost twice as many chips as Laak.
Coming into the final table at #2 would be the Swedish pro Chris Bjorin who has a record five WSOPE cashes and almost $5 million in winnings.
The top three would remain until the action got three handed. Laak would bust the Swede when he ran over him with KK vs. QQ. A king on the flop would ensure that Laak made it to the heads up battle.
The heads up chip counts would have Laak holding 750,000 in chips to Pantling’s 1,050,000. Laak would begin chipping away at the Canadian heads up specialist’s stack and the momentum was definitely going his way. However, Pantling would battle back and the heads up competition would be a long drawn out battle.
The last time that Phil Laak came this close to a WSOP bracelet was in 2005 when he got heads up with the Orient Express – the legendary Johnny Chan. Chan would prove too much for him and he would have to settle for 2nd place.
This time however, Laak was the more experienced player at the table and showed his worth in battling back to beat the Pantling.
The turning point of the battle would come on a T67 clubs flop that saw no action. The turn was a K spades. Pantling checked again and the Unabomber fired a huge overbet. Having seen Laak bluff the turn before, Pantling check raised all in with his 68 holding one club for the flush draw and a gutshot, obviously believing that the Unabomber couldn’t make the call. Laak did in fact make the huge call and showed 67 for two pair. The river was a T of hearts and Laak would take a massive lead and go on to win the event as Pantling was forced to gamble pre-flop.
Winning a WSOP bracelet means that Laak has now joined the elite of the poker world who have won both a WPT event and a WSOP bracelet.
Congratulations to Phil Laak on winning his 1st ever WSOP bracelet and the 1st event of this year’s WSOPE!
