Easy as Riding a Bike – Phil Laak Takes First Trophy in 14 Years

The poker legend, cash game specialist and TV poker personality Phil Laak won his first poker tournament in 14 long years last night as he took down the ‘Mega Millions’ tournament at The Bike – a.k.a. the Parkwest Bicycle Casino for $380,050. Taking down an all-American final table, Laak’s score was the best tournament cash of his poker career.

Hilarity and Reality

Over the last 20 years, Phil Laak, known as ‘The Unabomber’, has enjoyed cash game wins, tournament victories and many televised poker appearances that have him as a solid poker legend in the eyes of any poker fans of teenage or older. It is perhaps an odd quirk that the Parkwest Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker Mega Millions XXVII title has earned Laak the biggest score of his live tournament poker career at $380,245.

Costing just $560 to play, the event was a roaring success and in sealing his first tournament win since 2010, a lifetime ago in poker, Laak got the better of seven fellow Americans. Laak led the field some way out from the finish line, and at several stages, turned down offers from all of his opponents for any sort of deal, preferring to make the table laugh with his trademark brand of humor.

Heading into the final eight, Teranie was the leader with 32,550,000 chips, with Laak on 26.6 million and no other player having close to the two at the top. Wongseok Heo was the short stack on just 5.3 million and soon moved all-in pre-flop with ace-nine. Called by Amir Dehghan with ace-queen, Heo was soon on the rail with $43,435.

Laak Levels Up

Ararat Abramyan was the next to leave, busting in seventh for $56,325 when his couldn’t overcome Anne Bui’s , a board of leaving him needing running cards, and the turn wasn’t one of them, meaning he crashed out. Soon, Anthony An was all-in with a short stack but the final table chip leader Behzad Teranie had  , and An was slayed when his cheeky move with didn’t hit across the board.

Leo Vaisburg was the next player to leave, with his fifth-place finish worth $90,930. Shoving pre-flop with , he was in desperate need of a ten when Amir Dehghan turned over pocket nines. The flop of left Vaisburg chasing a miracle which didn’t come in as soon as another deuce hit the turn.

Laak Be a Lady

All-in for around 10 big blinds, Anne Bui held and was hoping to hit against her caller Phil Laak’s . On the flop, Bui moved into the lead and a on the turn changed nothing. On the river, a sprang out of the pack to give Laak a full house and eliminate Bui in fourth place for $116,050.

Three-handed, Dehghan shoved with but was well behind Teranie with . Once again, false hope was the order of the day, as a flop of catapulted the at-risk Dehghan into the lead. Teranie hit the turn for a set, however, and that locked up the lead heads-up, while Dehghan lost out in third place for $155,420.

The final duel was set and with Teranie (76m) in the lead to Laak’s 64m behind, it was a topsy-turvy clash. Both players held the lead at multiple moments during the epic battle, only for Laak to be ahead. On a flop of . Laak check-called for two million before a landed on the turn. Again, Laak check-called, this time for five million. A on the river led to Laak’s third check and Teranie bought the bait, shoving with . Laak snap-called the bluff, showing for two-and claiming the Mega Millions title for $380,050 while Teranie claimed the $250,450 runner-up prize.

The City of Angels brought the High Stakes Poker, Poker Night in America and Poker After Dark star Phil Laak his latest tournament title in a heavenly win for one of poker’s most popular entertainers. In doing so, The Unabomber exploded past $4.3 million in live tournaments earnings on The Hendon Mob.

After his victory, Laak’s partner, High Stakes Poker alumni and Hollywood actress Jennifer Tilly congratulated him on winning, and with the $2 million guarantee smashed, it was a terrific conclusion to the Legends of Poker Series after seven weeks of poker action in Los Angeles.