Phil Laak Secures Largest Career Tournament Score With Mega Millions Victory

Phil Laak a World Series of Poker bracelet winner with millions in career cashes on the tournament circuit. The 51-year-old was once a fixture on the scene, but has seemingly cut back on his tournament play in recent years, with most of his results coming from a few cashes each summer at the WSOP. In fact, Laak had not won a tournament outright since 2010, when he took down the WSOP Europe six-max no-limit hold’em event for $263,494. That winless streak ended on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024 when Laak emerged victorious from a field of 3,817 entries in the Mega Millions XXVII at the Parkwest Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

Laak was awarded a new career-best payday of $380,050 as the champion. He now has more than $3.4 million in recorded scores on the circuit.

This event ran from Aug. 20 through Sept. 4 and featured a guarantee of $2 million. The sizable turnout resulted in a final prize pool of $2,234,290, with six-figure scores for the top four finishers.

Plenty of big names ran deep alongside Laak, including bracelet winners Michael Liang (28th) and Danny Wong (33rd), Andrew Ostapchenko (32nd), World Poker Tour champion Ky Nguyen (25th), and WPT champion and bracelet winner Dylan Linde (19th).

After the win, Laak’s longtime partner Jennifer Tilly took to social media to share the good news. The actor and WSOP bracelet winner posted a photo of Laak with the trophy, saying:

Congratulations to PhilLaak</a>, the newest champion of the <a href="https://twitter.com/BicycleCasino?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">BicycleCasino #LegendsoftheFall tournament! Phil wins 380,050 , and this nifty trophy!pic.twitter.com/TkSonblcNE

— Jennifer Tilly (@JenniferTilly) September 5, 2024

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

Winner photo via Parkwest Bicycle Casino Poker Tournament Director Jeff Thompson’s X account.