Philip C. Laak was born on 8 September 1972, in San Francisco, California USA, of Irish descent. Phil is a professional poker player, best known for holding a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and a World Poker Tour (WPT) title. He’s made numerous appearances on television, and all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Phil Laak? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $18 million, mostly earned through his success in playing professional poker. He has competed in and won numerous poker tournaments, building a reputation along with his success. He’s also become a widely known personality in the game, and as he continues his career his wealth will likely increase.
Phil Laak Net Worth $18 million
Phil attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering. After working a few jobs, he found the poker scene in California; he was a skilled backgammon player before turning to poker.
Since he was a child, Laak already knew how to play the card game of poker. He started becoming well known in the scene after winning his first victory in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Celebrity Invitational in 2004, a major tournament. After his win there, he made the final table in the 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the season two Battle of Champions. In 2005, he would place second in the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and would then win the William Hill Poker Grand Prix, earning him 150,000 Pounds for first place. He continued to make appearances in major poker tournaments such as the Poker Royale series and High Stakes Poker. His net worth was rising very well.
He also became part of the television series “E!Hollywood Hold’em” which was short lived, but Laak would then add to his impressive resume, winning at the “Poker After Dark” show, earning him $120,000. He won again in another episode of the show entitled “Nicknames”, netting him another $120,000. His net worth started increasing dramatically and he would soon participate in a fight against the poker playing computer program Polaris, a series which he won.
The following year, he made a cameo appearance in the television movie “Knight Rider”. He became a columnist for Bluff Magazine, handling the column entitled “Being Phil Laak”, and he also became a co-host of the show “I Bet You”, in which he and Antonio Esfandiari bet on various things. In 2009, Laak would win the PartyPoker.com World Open V, earning him $250,000. The following year he launched his own website entitled “Unabomber Poker”, and would later win his first WSOP Bracelet at the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe. Based on recent reports, Phil has won more than $3.1 million from live tournaments.
For his personal life, it is known that Phil is dating actress Jennifer Tilly who’s also well known in the poker scene. He is called the “Unabomber” because of his hooded sweatshirt which makes him resemble Theodore Kaczynski. He’s also helped coin a few unusual terms used for poker, and holds the world record for longest time spent playing poker in a single session at 115 hours.
