Poker News Daily: You’re still in London following the PartyPoker Big Game IV. Are you stuck there because of the volcano?
Phil Laak: We were going to leave on Thursday morning to go back to the United States, but the volcano happened before, so we got trapped for six days. We’re so close to Monte Carlo and we’ve always wanted to go, so we’re headed there on Saturday. It has turned into quite a trip.
PND: Isildur1 was a no-show at the PartyPoker Big Game IV, bowing out at the last minute. Did the event lose any of its luster without him?
Phil Laak: I was tempted to say that anyone in the world, including Isildur1, could bet me $20,000 that he wouldn’t show up and play an hour or more. Why would the guy show up to a poker game where the world would know who he was and, all of a sudden, his anonymous status would be diminished to zero? Uncle Sweden would come knocking for taxes.
The game didn’t lose its luster and I didn’t get any sleep the night before. I tried to lie down and take 10-minute naps during the breaks. Around hour 30 or 40, there was about a four-hour period of time that I can’t wait to see what hands there were. All I could see was white noise. My betting technique for four or five hours straight was pretty random. My special weapon was that I knew two general principles: If you bet and they fold, you win the pot. If you bet and they call, you have to make sure your cards hit the board.
PND: Your better half, Jennifer Tilly, was the second biggest winner in the Big Game to David “Viffer” Peat. Does that make you proud?
Phil Laak: Jennifer played for nine hours and won ₤32,975. That’s ₤3,664 per hour and, for the mathematically inclined, that puts Jennifer ₤618 per hour higher than Viffer. She schooled Viffer in win-rate. I did ₤562 per hour as the fifth biggest winner.
PND: You’ve turned in several solid performances in televised events.
Phil Laak: Televised poker is a weird thing in that you have to line up your winnings to match when the cameras roll. Every time the cameras roll, I perform. The biggest loss of my life happened September 4th, 2009. I lost $270,000 in one day. I was wondering how long it would take to get that $270,000 back. One month later, I won the PartyPoker World Open for $250,000. I had also grinded $20,000 back, so when I won, I was holding the trophy with a big grin on my face. The maximum joy you can have is getting unstuck. When the television cameras go, somehow through all of the white noise, I do well.
PND: Tell us about your experience at the Big Game.
Phil Laak: They should call it the Medium Game. In hour 37, Neil Channing, Viffer, Ellis Reuben, and I got all of the short stacks off the table. We were playing ₤25/₤50/₤100 and wanted to change it to ₤25/₤50 with a ₤200 dead ante from the button. We finally got it approved, but a tech guy came down and said they didn’t have the capability to add the ₤200 into the computer. They also resisted us going to ₤50/₤100 at all costs. Apparently, they wanted to make it so that someone who was on deck with a short stack didn’t have to come into a bigger game. They should just let it morph. I love it when the game starts burbling like that.
Viffer raised every hand for 48 hours, which was fun because I acted after him. I called about 80% of his raises and Neil called about 80% of the time. It was beautiful because the pot always had ₤1,200 in it and Viffer was first to act. Isaac Haxton said that he bluffed me for ₤7,000. If that’s true, I’ll be slightly sick. The pot had ₤15,000 in it, which, if I had won it, I would have gotten second.
PND: What’d you think of having walk-in music for each player?
Phil Laak: I liked having the walk-in music. I came in to “Funk Soul Brother” by Fatboy Slim. Jennifer walked in to “Maneater” by Hall and Oates. I sported a new look too. I had two different ski trips the month before. Literally, anything that’s happening in poker happened first in skiing. In honor of the parallels between those two sports, I wore a ski cap.
PND: What do you enjoy the most about having your own online poker site, Unabomber Poker?
Phil Laak: The thing I like about Unabomber Poker the most is that when you go to the site, the cards have these little hooded guys on them. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a sketch of me or because I just think they’re nifty, but I love it.
PND: Which internet pros do you respect the most?
Phil Laak: I occasionally watch training videos and one of the few things I’m disappointed about is that I don’t watch more of them. They get you thinking about how to think about poker. I was watching Phil Galfond’s Pot Limit Omaha videos and they’re great. When you’re watching a video, it’s like a meditation tape where you get special powers when you walk out. When you play, it’s a lot easier.
It’s not about hand strength. It’s about the meta-game and Galfond did a whole series on that. Galfond has the coolest blog in the world. Mikey Stotz has the best blog out there too. I also have mad respect for Bengt Sonnert. He embodies the spirit of a person who is free and understands the whole point of living.
PND: We understand you just started Twittering.
Phil Laak: I am @realphillaak. I started Twittering a few days ago, but I’m planning to ramp it up to four times a day.
PND: What’s your schedule going to be like at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP)?
Phil Laak: In 2008 and 2009, I played seven and 11 events, respectively. I thought 11 events was about the brutal extreme of what I was capable of. I’m going to go back to the old days when I played between four and seven events and instead play more cash games. If there are some televised $10,000 events, I’ll probably play those, but I’m more suited to sit with eight other people and wait around to stack someone.
