Sep
16
by Jake
Phil Laak came into the 2010 WSOPE £2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Holdem Event #1 with the third most chips and found early momentum that rarely faltered. He eventually went heads-up against Andrew Pantling before finally winning not only his first WSOPE bracelet but his first WSOP bracelet period. Laak also pocketed a tidy £170,802 to go along with the hardware.
The sold out event saw 244 entrants battle it out over three days. The final table saw Willie Tann eliminated first in sixth place(£23,900), followed by Ilan Rouah in fifth place (£33,617), David Peters in fourth (£48,202), and Chris Bjorin in third (£70,473) leaving Andrew Pantling and Phil to go heads-up.
Pantling started with a lead of 1,078,000 to Laak’s 759,000. The tables turned fairly quickly as Laak evened the score and then took the lead. From there the two went back and forth for a while before a decisive hand gave Laak a significant lead.
With a relatively small pot of about 50,000 and the board showing 10c-7c-6c-Ks, Phil made an overbet of 180,000 which brought an all-in push from Pantling. Phil made the call to put his tournament life on the line.
The men flipped their cards to show bottom pair with flush and straight draws for Pantling who held 6s-8c while Phil led with two pair with 6h-7h. The river missed Pantling’s draws with a 10h doubling Phil up to 1.4 million and leaving Pantling with 430,000.
The final hand came when Pantling raised from the button and pushed back with his entire stack. Pantling called for his final 350K and showed Ah-9h to lead over Phil’s Kd-5c. The flop fell 7h-4h-4c giving Pantling plenty of hope by adding a flush draw. But the turn brought a 5d and the crowd roard with excitement as Phil took the lead. The Qc on the river changed nothing for Pantling and Phil Laak took down his first WSOP bracelet.
Congratulations to Phil and here’s to further success at the 2010 WSOPE!