'So sick': Antonius stuns Laak on HSP

Laak ran deep in the EPT Grand Final.

It was the kind of soul-reading call that can leave even the most venerable high stakes rounder shaking his head.

And when PokerListings caught up with Phil Laak in Monaco this week to discuss the call Finnish legend Patrik Antonius made against him on GSN's High Stakes Poker, he could only describe it one way.

"So sick," Laak said, fresh from his deep cash at the PokerStars EPT Grand Final.

The hand opened with Antonius straddling blind for $1,600. Laak raised it up to $6,000 with A♥ J♦, Howard Lederer made the call with 8♠ 8♦ and Antonius called the additional $4,400 with T♠ 4♠.

The flop fell 4♥ 3♠ 2♥.

Antonius checked top pair, Laak made a $16,000 continuation bet, Lederer folded his small overpair and Antonius called.

The turn fell the K♠.

Antonius again checked and Laak led out for $37,300. Once again, Antonius called.

The river was the Q♦.

Antonius checked again and Laak fired out a third barrel, betting $80,000 into the $127,400 pot.

Antonius tanked for some time, but emerged making the call, leaving Laak shaking his head in absolute disbelief that the ice-cold Finn had picked off his bluff.

Laak had some interesting thoughts on where he thought the hand went wrong for him.

Laak was stunned by the Finn's big call.

"I didn't notice at the time, but when I watched it back I saw he picked up the flush draw on the turn," Laak said. "If he doesn't hit that flush draw, I think he folds.

"On the river, my range is very polarised which I think helped him make the call. That's why when you have a single pair in those situations, you should fire it all in like a %$#@ing animal.

"It takes a big pair of cojones to make those thin, big value bets. I guess I don't have them. I'm trying to work on that aspect of my game."

Despite Antonius getting the better of him this time, Laak said he was generally pleased with his performance on the show.

"I've been lucky enough to make good plays and get some good hands on High Stakes Poker since I've been on," he said.

"Even though I lost $125,000 on that hand to Patrik, I was only $25,000 or so down overall, which was ok. It felt good to give some back to the poker community."

Regardless, Laak sounded positive about his future, revealing he has plans to launch his own poker web site.

"I'm working on something with the Cake Poker Network at the moment," he said. "Hopefully Unibomber Poker will be up and running soon."

High Stakes Poker airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on GSN.