Phil Laak Makes Dumbest Fold of All Time

Accomplished poker players aren't immune from making stupid plays now and then and Phil Laak is no exception.

A YouTube video released by Poker Night in America from a tour stop at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino Resort in Hollywood, Florida has undoubtedly resulted in a lot of head scratching from the more than 23,000 viewers who watched Laak fold the second nuts after a three-bet on the turn.

Unagoggles

Were his goggles clouding his vision? Did he misread his hand? Or did Laak actually put Alan Richardson on holding the exact and only two cards that could beat him?

We may never know unless Phil some day explains his reasoning behind the fold. What we do know is that it looks like perhaps the dumbest fold of all time.

The Hand

He and Richardson were the only players remaining in the hand after folds by Vanessa Rousso, Matt Affleck, Jared Jaffee, Noah Schwartz and Glynn Beebe before the flop.

Richardson raised to $200 pre-flop with his ace-rag in the $25/$50 cash game and was slightly ahead of Laak's king-high. Phil called the bet and the flop failed to pair up either player, but did give Richardson an open-ended straight draw.

Checks from both pros post-flop brought the turn card and a 10-high straight for Laak. The Unabomber checked and Richardson bet $200 with a meager pair and his open-ender still intact.

Laak check-raised to $700, and Richardson quickly pushed $2,200 into the middle. Facing a call of $1,500, Laak became quite the nit and folded his straight despite the fact that he could only lose at this point in the hand if Richardson had precisely a jack and a 10.

Phil ended up losing $2,975 for the PNIA session, an amount that could have been lessened or perhaps even reversed to a positive number if he wouldn't have made the dumb fold with second nuts. What was he thinking?