Phil Laak Takes Down 2010 World Series of Poker Europe Event #1

Published on September 16th, 2010 7:17 pm EST

Phil Laak's crazy year took a turn for the better on Thursday, as he was able to outlast 243 other players in WSOPE #1 to take down his first World Series of Poker bracelet.

Phil Laak had come close to winning a WSOP bracelet a couple of times during his career (including a second place finish in 2005), but he had never been able to close the deal and take home a bracelet until earlier today.

On Thursday, that all changed, and now Phil Laak is the proud owner of a shiny World Series of Poker bracelet.

In addition to the bracelet, Laak also received a little over 170k pounds (about $263k) for taking down Event #1 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (2,500 Pound No Limit Hold'em 6-Handed).

Here is how the final table ended up finishing out:

1. Phil Laak
2. Andrew Pantling
3. Chris Bjorin
4. David Peters
5. Ilan Rouah
6. Willie Tann

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The decisive hand of the back and forth heads up battle between Laak and Andrew Pantling came after Phil Laak called a shove from Pantling with the board reading 10c-7c-6c-Ks. Prior to this hand taking place, Pantling had about 1.1 million chips to Laak's 730k.

The two players flipped over:

Laak - 6h-7h
Pantling - 6s-8c

Laak was ahead with his two pair, but Pantling had all sorts of outs to take down the hand and the tournament.

The river brought the 10h, giving Laak the monster pot. Laak won his first World Series of Poker bracelet a short time later after his Kd-5c managed to beat Pantling's Ah-9h.

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It's been an interesting year for Phil Laak.

In June, Laak set the record (115 hours) for longest time spent playing poker in a single session.

Last month, Laak suffered numerous injuries in an ATV accident.

What does the rest of 2010 hold in store for Phil Laak?


Photo: GreasieWheels

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Filed Under: The World Series of Poker