Feb
28
by Jake
At 7:04am on June 7, 2010 Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, set a new world record for the most hours of poker played in a single sitting after 115 hours. Setting a world record and having a record officially verified by the Guinness Book of World Records are two different things however and Unabomber Poker is proud to announce that Phil Laak has now been officially named the new and current holder for the record of 'Longest marathon playing poker by an individual'.
Attaining the Guinness World Record required meeting stringent standards and providing proof and verification of certain facts that included: witnesses, media coverage following the event, video evidence, drug tests administered by a doctor on site, log books detailing dealer’s names and times, Guinness Book of World Records log books detailing the record breaker’s activity and rest times among other things.
Taking place at the luxurious Bellagio Poker Room in Las Vegas, Laak started playing at 12:04pm on June 2, 2010 and broke the previous world record by 36 hours and 15 minutes when he stopped at 7:04am on June 7, 2010.
"I was shooting for 80 hours all along and eventually it came. The obvious next step was to honor the moment by making the most of it. A gambling degenerate by trade this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see what my inner vampire was really made of,” stated Laak. “Well we sure found out! It was loads of fun and of course impossible without my crew. This has been one of the most wonderful journeys I’ve ever taken, touchingly human and beautiful on so many levels. Thanks to everyone who shared in this amazing ride.”
Since breaking the record Laak has continued his storied and colorful career by winning a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet for the ₤2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship. Laak’s first WSOP bracelet followed a serious all-terrain vehicle accident that left Laak hospitalized with a broken elbow and other injuries and saw him win the tournament while wearing a cast.
You can check out a video recap of Phil Laak breaking the poker endurance record, or check out all the poker endurance challenge blogs on Unabomber for a complete review of how the momunmental event went down.
Nov
18
by Chad Holloway
I arrived in Los Angeles last week for the North American Poker Tour Main Event at the Bicycle Casino. This was actually my first trip to L.A. so I was quite excited. PokerNews had us staying at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel downtown and the place was simply awesome. Actually, historic is more like it. In fact, eight Oscar ceremonies were held there during the Academy's early years of 1931, 1935–39, and 1941-42, and Bob Hope hosted the Academy's 50th Anniversary banquet there in 1977. The hotel has also been used in a number of films including Chinatown, A Star is Born, Splash, Bachelor Party, Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, True Lies, Independence Day, Blow, Ocean's 11, The Nutty Professor, Bugsy, Blue Streak, In the Line of Fire, Wedding Crashers, The Italian Job, Daredevil, National Treasure, Spider-Man, Alien Nation, Prom Night, and Iron Man. Even more impressive, the hotel’s swimming pool was the same one used in the 1999 film Cruel Intentions.
To top it off, in 1960 John F. Kennedy gave his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination was given at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel and even set up his campaign headquarters in the Music Room (now the Lobby), with running mate Lyndon B. Johnson in the Emerald Room. Now the hotel was being overrun by poker players. Go figure.
The NAPT itself was being held at the Bicycle Casino, AKA the Bike, about 20 minutes from the hotel. I was really impressed with the place as a whole. The room was huge and they had games of every variety and limit. Unfortunately my schedule didn’t allow me time to play, but I imagine the action was good. The Main Event was held in a hall off the gaming floor and it attracted some of the biggest names in poker including Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Rousso, and many more.
The player I was most excited to see was the man himself, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak. I’ve been writing this blog for a little over a year and had never had the opportunity to meet Phil in person. I introduced myself and Phil was genuinely excited to meet me. He praised my work with the blog and asked how the fantasy poker stuff was going. He even said come WSOP time he’ll give me some inside information on what events he’ll be playing (essential to know in fantasy poker leagues). One of the photographers managed to grab a photo that shows me reporting the action right behind Phil, which I’ve included in this blog.
Phil also took the time to introduce me to his girlfriend, Jennifer Tilly, and she was as nice as can be. I always enjoyed both on TV but like them even more now that I’ve met them in person. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to spend some more time with them in Vegas come WSOP time.
As far as the tournament, Laak actually had an impressive performance and made a deep run. The field started with 701 players and Phil was still there when the money bubble was cracked at 104 players. Laak made it all the way to Day 3 when the following hand came up. As I wrote in my live update on PokerNews:
“With about 50,000 in the pot and a board reading Kc-Kd-2d, Joseph Melancon checked from the big blind to Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, who bet 20,000. Melancon then grabbed two stacks of blue chips, totaling 200,000, and pushed them forward. Laak wasted little time in calling all in for 190,000.
Melancon: {Jd}{8d}
Laak: {9d}{9c}
Laak was ahead but up against a flush draw. Unfortunately for him, the turn was the {4d} and he was in trouble. He would need either a nine of king on the river. The dealer burned and put up the {7d}. Laak was eliminated from the tournament while Melancon increased his stack to 600,000.”
Laak ultimately finishing in 59th place and added a NAPT cash to his résumé. I wish he could have made the final table, and I believe if he could have won that hand he would have had a great chance. He was playing well and seemed in great form. If his bracelet at the WSOP-Europe is any indication, we can expect big things from Laak in the future.
The final table of the NAPT L.A. saw some big names in Jason Mercier (seventh), Michael Binger (sixth), and Anh Van Nguyen (fourth). In the end it was poker pro Joe Tehan who outlasted them all, in fact he knocked out all the players at the final table, and took down the $725,000 first-place prize. Congrats to Joe Tehan on a well-fought victory in the NAPT Los Angeles.
Oct
20
by Chad Holloway
Matthias Habernig at the LAPT.
How about that WSOP-Europe? The series gets better and better every year, and I think this was the best yet. Congratulations to Phil “The Unabomber” Laak for winning his first WSOP gold bracelet in Event #1: Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em. Laak was, without a doubt, one of the most popular poker characters without a bracelet. While we’re on it, congratulations to Gus Hansen. Gus has dominated the World Poker Tour in the past but has always come up short in the WSOP. That all changed when he took down Event #4: No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads-Up by defeating Jim Collopy in an epic heads-up confrontation. Congrats again to both, they’ve long been staples in the poker world and it is nice to see them capture their first bracelets.
Other highlights of the WSOPE include Jeff Lisandro winning his fifth bracelet by taking down the PLO event (his first non-Seven Card Stud bracelet); Viktor Blom and Phil Ivey’s deep run in the Main Event; and James Bord taking down the title. Now that the WSOPE has wrapped, we’ll all just have to wait until November to see who will become the new World Champion (I’m leaning toward Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi or John Racener).
I just had a new article in Poker Pro Magazine highlighting the benefits of using social media outlets to improve your Fantasy Poker game. If you want to check it out, you can click here. Speaking of which, we’ve been working hard on revamping the Poker Pro Media social media outlets, and we’ve started a big Twitter campaign. Just by following us on Twitter, you can win annual subscriptions to the magazines while also getting breaking news, industry gossip, tournament updates, special offers and chances to win great prizes. I recommend you follow @pokerpromag, @pokerproeurope, @pokerprocanada, and @onlinepokerpro. While you’re at it, feel free to follow myself (@ChadAHolloway) and Phil Laak (@RealPhilLaak).
In more recent news, I just returned from Rosario, Argentina where I was working the LAPT Grand Final for PokerNews. This was my first trip to South America and I was excited to visit the City Center Casino, which was where the event was held and happens to be the continent’s largest casino. By Vegas standards, the casino wasn’t overly impressive, but it was still pretty nice. While many of the top pros were in Europe for the WSOPE, some managed to make the trip. Chris Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips, Jose “Nacho” Barbero and Terrence Chan were just a few of the pros in attendance. The event ended up drawing 254 players and was highlighted by a young Austrian by the name of Matthias Habernig, who had won the previous LAPT event at Florianopolis. Habernig made the final table and everyone was wondering if he could win back-to-back titles (which Nacho Barbero had done earlier in the year). Unfortunately for him, Habernig could only manage a sixth place finish; regardless, his back-to-back final table appearances are an impressive feat. The tournament was eventually won by Martin Sansour, who eliminated everyone at the final except one opponent.
Also, I have some good news in the poker writing front. Since this year’s WSOP, I have been working for PokerNews on a freelance basis. As of a couple weeks ago, I am now a full-time staff writer for the site! I am really excited about the opportunity and the travel experiences that will surely accompany it. Which means some great blog posts in the future!
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!