Tournament Details

Tell me who said this: "A lot of money's gonna get won by one guy...and the other guy's gonna get whacked."

Close. But no, not Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. Well, if you were on the rail at the beautiful Bicycle Club Casino in Los Angeles for the 2003 Legends of Poker stop on the World Poker Tour, you might know the answer. His name is Phil Laak, a.k.a. "the Unabomber," a colorful enigma of a player at the final table. Dubbed for cinching up his trademark hooded sweatshirt until just his sunglasses peer from the slit, Laak got it just right in his description of this year's battle for the lion's share of a 1.5 million dollar prize pool.

Joining Laak were Arizona tournament pro Chip Jett, short stack at the table; former Vidal Sassoon stylist, the Aussie journeyman, Mel Judah; the steady Iranian pro Farzad "Fred" Bonyadi; the most successful tournament poker player of all time, and the Bike's all-time money winner, Texan T. J. Cloutier; and the chip leader, tech-bubble multi-millionaire Paul "Dot Com" Phillips.

With a commanding $657,000 to start play, Dot Com wasted little time pushing people around, starting with the Unabomber. Phillips scared Laak off an early hand, then rubbed it in by holding up his broken-flush bluff for all to see. With his chances and stack dwindling, the Unabomber went heads up with T.J. Cloutier in the first big showdown hand of the final. Sitting on pocket 7's, Laak called T.J.'s all-in, A-10 off-suit. T.J. flopped top pair, and they held up. It was good night and a 6th place finish for Phil Laak, who strolled away with $54,075.

Befitting the Hollywood setting, T.J. was again cast as the Terminator when Fred Bonyadi ran into his bad-beat buzz-saw. Going heads up against the affable Texan, Fred drew J-9 for top pair and the straight draw with a J-10-7 flop, but T.J., holding J-7, had the winning two pair. Fred tried to buy the pot with a $24,000 raise, but as Mike Sexton succinctly put it for the TV audience, he was "heading for whitewater." Indeed, T.J. went all-in, and Fred called. The turn and river went 4-A, and Bonyadi's raft went under for good, sending him out with a 5th place finish and $69,525.

Now the action really heated up, as chip leaders Phillips and Cloutier faced off in a monster-pot clash. Phillips, with Q-Q, raised $35,000, and T.J. called with A-J. The flop came Jc-6c-2d, giving T.J. top pair and the best kicker, but up against Phillips' overpair. Paul bet strong with $100,000, and T.J. called. When the turn came 9c, T.J. raised $200,000, representing flush. After a long wait, Paul tossed his hand, quipping for the WPT cameras: "I'm either going to look like an idiot or a genius when that one gets on TV." Well, hate to tell ya, Paul, but...

In the next hand, Chip Jett, short-stacked for most of the game and now on fumes, took a Ks-9s all-in before the flop. Phillips, with K-Q, had the better kicker when they both missed hands, and used it to boot Jett out in 4th place, with a take of $100,425.

"There's no guarantees in this game. It's happened many, many times before, as we've seen. The leader generally doesn't win." This is probably not what Mel Judah had in mind as he sat short-stacked at $32,000, facing the Dot Com Kid's $700,000. But say it he did, and with a little elbow room now that it was three-handed, he went on a rush. Going all-in an amazing three straight hands, Mel doubled up on each to claw his way back into contention. The last of those was perhaps the pivotal hand of the final. With Phillips raising $30,000 on J-7, Mel called with A-2 off. When the flop came J-10-3, Dot Com got himself into big trouble by checking his top pair. The turn was a 2, and when Phillips bumped it $40,000, Mel jumped all-in. Giving credence to the poker cliché "think long, think wrong," Phillips took his time, and folded. Judah gleefully splashed his A-2 on the board, payback for the Dot Com Kid's earlier bluff-abuse of Phil Laak.

Rolling now, Mel caught A-K and went over the top of Phillips' $100,000 raise with Q-J. After the dust cleared, Phillips had folded, given up the chip lead, and Mel Judah's future was so bright he was now wearing shades, literally. Next to go was T.J. Cloutier on a severely bad beat. T.J. raised with J-J, and Phillips went all-in with 7-7. When Dot Com caught a 7 on the turn, T.J. was out of the tournament with a $146,775, third place payday. "It's nothing new, baby," T.J. smiled as he sauntered off, "I'm getting tired of saying it, but that's poker."

"Let's see how he acts when the pressure is on him, when he's got a marginal hand. Then we'll find out. That's what it boils down to." – T.J. Cloutier on Paul Phillips. With just shy of $900,000 in tight stacks of hundreds on the final table, T.J.'s words got a quick test. With 9-7 off, Mel called Paul's Jh-2h $90,000 pre-flop raise. The flop came Ah-6-3h, leaving Dot Com one to the flush, but giving Mel no help. Phillips checked through to the turn, yet it would be his most costly bet of the final. When it came 5d, they both added the inside straight draw, with Mel on top. Both checked through to the river, where, naturally, the 4 surfaced, giving Mel the top straight stone nuts. He went all-in. Unable to throw away his sucker straight so soon after being burned on a bluff, Phillips pondered. He smiled. He fidgeted. He talked to himself. He tried to read Mel, silent and inscrutable as a sunglassed Buddha. Ice caps melted. Species went extinct. Phillips finally called with a handful of petrified wood. Mel Judah pounded the table and stood with arms raised, a $25,000 seat at the WPT Championships, and the 2003 champion of the Legends of Poker. Phillips left with $293,550, and the champ celebrated with a sweet $579,375. Chip Jett reiterated the poker truism: "A chip and a chair, that's all you need." Mel Judah, on life-support not once but no less than five times at the final table, was winning, grinning proof.

This tournament is included in the World Poker Tour Season Two DVD Collection. Special features include commentary by Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu and Erik Lindgren.