Phil Laak wins WSOPE Event 1 for £170,802

Phil Laak wins WSOPE Event 1 for £170,802

Friday, 17 September 2010

Out of the ashes – Phil Laak, having played the record 115-hour session of poker and then crashed a quad bike hospitalising himself for several days, has come back from near death to winning his first WSOP bracelet at the opening event of the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe.

Laak, his arm still in a cast that now bears the Union flag, said his endurance no-sleep four-day session made him a better player today: “I’ve won something like 80 percent of my cash sessions since I broke the record.”


He arrived at the final table smack in the middle of the six-player pack in third place, ahead of short stack Willie Tann but behind five-time WSOPE casher and Canadian heads-up EPT champion Chris Bjorin and Andrew Pantling.


Tann was first to exit and it was almost inevitable that Laak, Pantling and Bjorin would reach the final three. Eventually Laak eliminated Bjorin in 3rd place with KK over QQ and after a short break was requested by Pantling and denied by endurance poker record holder Laak, the game continued.


Pantling began with a roughly 3:2 chip lead but it swung back and forth – Laak climbed up gradually to even the stacks before dropping, then doubling up, then switching stacks back on a huge pot. Eventually he got the momentum he needed when his 6-7 held on a Kc-6c-7c board against Pantling’s pair and flush draw.


That put him in the lead by over a million chips and a few hands later he 3-bet Pantling for the rest of his chips. The Canadian called with Ah-9h, good against Laak’s Kd-5c and strengthened by a flopped flush draw. Laak made a pair of fives, though and that was that, bracelet won. The full final table payouts were as follows:


1. Phil Laak - £170,802
2. Andrew Pantling - £105,506
3. Chris Bjorin - £70,473
4. David Peters - £48,202
5. Ilan Rouah - £33,617
6. Willie Tann - £23,900


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Tags: Poker News, Phil, Laak, wins, WSOPE, Event, 1, for, £170, 802