In walks Phil Laak
A buddy of mine said it best: “When my friends succeed, a little part of me dies.” It’s a pretty sick statement, but there’s some truth behind it. Phil Laak is one of my dearest friends, but watching him lose brings me great pleasure. And vice versa, of course. It’s so sick; we are always rooting for each other to lose. That just doesn’t make sense, right? We are friends, after all!
It all started back in the day, when all we did was play the live games. We were roommates, and so after every session we would go home and have to hear the other guy talk about how much he won and how he was the greatest. Ever since those days, Phil and I have been highly competitive and have developed this crazy energy where we want to beat each other. Rooting for the other guy to lose is a part of that process.
I want to tell you all about a beautiful moment in my life.
I was in the Bahamas for the WPT event. I was hanging out in the poker room with my bud (Joe) Hachem, when in comes a herd of these kids. Supposedly one of them (a kid named Chris whom I actually swapped 2% with in the tournament because I sensed he could play) had just lost 150k betting blackjack and flipping coins. He was hungry for more action. His buddy came straight to me and said, “Chris wants to flip for 50k; you want action?”
I like to gamble, but flipping for 50k is a little too sick even for me. Only one time was I so steamed in London after losing 24k to Phil high-carding that I offered a 50k flip, which he passed on. At this moment, I was in a good mood and could not handle the mental sickness of losing a 50k flip. Chris even offered me $500 in juice to flip… hmmm. It was tempting I have to admit, but losing would have been too painful. I told Chris I’d have to pass but that I had the perfect customer for him. Who better than Phil? If you pay Phil juice on a 50/50, he will coin flip till the day he dies! I went to go call his room but the second I lifted the phone, he walked into the poker room for the very first time that day. I introduced Chris to Phil. They said hello and within one minute they were ready to flip for 50 dimeballs. By the way, Chris cannot be older than 20. He looks closer to 16! It’s amazing that a kid this young can flip for 50 dimes! Thank God for internet poker; right, Chris?
They decided to gamble for red or black on the flop. If the flop (the first three cards to come out) is more red than black (that means if at least two of the cards are red) then red wins and vice versa. Phil gave Chris the option of picking the color. Chris picked red.
By this point, the whole room had gotten wind of what was happening and crowded around the table to watch the next flop come out. Only four people knew of Chris’s color choice due to the fact that someone in the game could technically alter the flop and rig the outcome, so for that reason no one knew but Phil, Jennifer, Chris, and me.
Q-7-9, all red!
There are moments when I know someone up there is looking out for me and, even though I had nothing invested, it was so enjoyable watching the flop come down all red. The best part is that Phil, for one second, thought he had won! Oops… Jennifer and I had to explain to him that he had black. He handed Chris $50,000 and kept on walking. It was beautiful.
The best part about the whole thing is that Phil actually thanked me the next day for making him 500 bucks because, in reality, that is exactly what I did.
The whole rooting against your friend thing is only with Phil, by the way. I don’t want people out there to think that I root against my other friends. Just Phil.
