05 July 2025
Phil "Unabomber" Laak is a player completely out of the ordinary - you just have to look at his nickname. He often surprises us with his eccentricities, but this one in particular is really something. Without thinking twice, Laak used a pair of binoculars to observe the stacks of players sitting at other tables, while playing an event of the World Series of Poker ® in the Amazon Room.
"Last year, during the crucial phases of the tournament, there were times when I wanted to know the stacks of players from other tables, but I couldn't see them. Then I realized that with binoculars I could control everything. I use them two or three times a day and they're very useful."
The organization has allowed Laak to use his binnoculars, while the use of mobile devices is still forbidden.
This is not the first eccentricity of Phil Laak in this WSOP ®. He was late to the One Drop High Roller and he was eliminated by it, since his stack was devoured by the blinds. Anyway, Laak always seems to be short on time, and it was very possible that he was doing something else more interesting.
Laak has had some incredible moments as well - like his record of consecutive hours playing poker. He played cash games for 115 hours and ended the session with a profit. Another adventure he embarked on was when he faced Poker Probot, the champion of the World Poker Robot Championship, in which the creations of the best programmers in the world compete.
Laak beat Poker Probot after 300 hands. Humans are still better than machines; Laak has also shown that classic tools such as binoculars are still useful.
