News / Chris Edwards / 10 July 2008 / 1 Comments

During day 1D of the main event, one player who usually get lots of media attention was AWOL. Phil Laak was set to play on table 33, seat 8, but when reporters went to catch the quirky star in action he was no where to be seen. Seat errors have been made before, so no one thought anything about it. He was not seen for the rest of the day however which sparked some mystery on his whereabouts.

A report then surfaced online that Laak had altered his appearance for the days play. Players from his table were asked if it was indeed Laak in seat 8 and they all said it was impossible and that it was an old man who did not talk. But after further investigation the seat card was found and it had Laak's name on it.

Antonio Esfandiari later confirmed it was Phil in an interview, stating that Phil had gotten up at 6am to spend 6 hours with a professional make up artist. The reason why he pulled this stunt is currently unknown, but if any bets were made Phil should be a happy man as the disguise worked brilliantly. Here he is in his disguise compared to how he usually looks at the tables.