Circuit Update

Phil Laak Emerges For First Title Since 2010
By Erik Fast
Phil Laak is a bracelet winner with millions in career cashes on the tournament circuit. The 51-year-old was once a fixture on the scene, but has 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, when Laak topped a field of 3,817 entries in the Legends of Poker 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, giving him more than $3.4 million in recorded scores.
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), WPT champion Ky Nguyen (25th), and WPT champion and bracelet winner Dylan Linde (19th).
In the end, it came down to Laak and Behzad Teranie. After a flop of Q♣ 6♠ 2♠, Laak checked to Teranie, who bet. Laak called and the turn brought the 9♥. Laak checked again and Teranie fired again. Laak stuck around to see the 2♦ complete the board. Teranie moved all-in and Laak made the call with Q♦ 9♠ for top two pair. Teranie revealed 8♠ 5♠ for a missed flush draw, settling for $250,075 as the runner up.
Player Payout
1 Phil Laak $380,050
2 Behzad Teranie $250,075
3 Amir Dehghan $155,420
4 Anne Bui $116,050
5 Leonid Vaisburg $90,930
6 Anthony An $71,685
7 Ararat Abramyan $56,325
8 Wonseok Heo $43,435
9 Daniel Schunk $31,150

Red-Hot Donovan Dean Wins Again
By Erik Fast
In the span of five weeks, Donovan Dean took down two large-field main events. He first took down the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,700 buy-in on Aug. 12, besting 1,451 entries to bank $326,206 and his second main event title at the venue (he won the same tournament during a winter stop back in 2022).
Then on Sept. 17, Dean triumphed over a field of 755 entries in the Borgata Fall Poker Open $3,500 main event, earning a career-best payday of $410,452.
These two huge victories have propelled Dean’s career earnings past $2.1 million. The latest win also awarded him 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points. With three POY-qualified titles and seven final-table finishes, Dean now has 3,010 total points to his name. As a result, he has climbed to 49th place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.
Dean’s other win this year came in a $1,100 buy-in at the Hard Rock Hollywood back in May for $24,420.
Dean had plenty of stiff competition to deal with down the stretch at Borgata. Two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro finished seventh for $54,992, bringing his lifetime haul to more than $4.3 million. Tournament regular Andrew Ostapchenko grew his career earnings to over $3 million thanks to his sixth-place finish for $69,330.
2021 MSPT Venetian main event runner-up Ryan Dodd placed fifth for $89,002, while five-time WPT final-tablist Josh Kay earned $128,699 as the fourth-place finisher. After Kharlin Sued bowed out in third for $195,599, Dean was able to overcome Luis Ortiz heads-up to secure the title. Ortiz walked away with a career-best score of $283,446 as the runner-up.
Player Payout (POY)
1 Donovan Dean $410,452 (1,368)
2 Luis Ortiz $283,446 (1,140)
3 Kharlin Sued $195,599 (912)
4 Josh Kay $128,699 (684)
5 Ryan Dodd $89,002 (570)
6 Andrew Ostapchenko $69,330 (456)
7 Frank Funaro $54,992 (342)
8 Arun Rajasekharaiah $44,113 (228)
9 Adel Jo $35,331 (114)