@tom grant:

1. you said a friend told you? how did he hear this ? how sure can you be that theres not a misunderstanding of some sort? (joking, literally speaking)

2. if this were true and a real contract killer hired to kill you, you didnt go to the police ? if u went there, this would be kept secret while the investigations are running and you wouldnt create a website for this, cmon hiring contract killers is serious police stuff, not open-a-website-stuff.

What are you trying to gain from all this? You want him locked up or something?

Tom Grant lives in Thailand. Police are bought and sold for very small sums of money in Thailand. Not sure if I would want to use the law to go up against someone who had more money than I do if I lived in that country.

I have lived in Pattaya, Thailand for many years. I have known the person responsible for this story and his wife for 9 years.

No his written English isn't going to win any Pulitzer prizes. No he isn't well versed in forum etiquette. No I wasn't personally involved in the incidents described by him on this thread. No I can't confirm or deny all the details of the episode. For example I don't know what business deals were proposed or why Phil Laak got so angry. No I've never met or talked to Phil Laak.

But..... this story has been common knowledge among ex-pat gamblers in Thailand for several years and I have heard the same facts repeated by several people integral to this story. Namely that after a deal went wrong Phil Laak made contact with a guy living in Thailand and said he wished to pay for a certain person to be killed.

At the time all this happened Mr Laak was neither famous nor rich.

Why has this story become so public at this time ? I have no idea other than I was told the injured party was in Las Vegas for the WSOP and wished to use the opportunity to finally confront Mr Laak, and he was infuriated when he was repeatedly brushed aside and ignored. I don't believe the attempt at talking in person to Phil Laak shown in the photos was the only or first time that the aggrieved man tried to make direct contact in Las Vegas.

I can confirm that the Thai wife in this story is suffering from MS and that it was originally diagnosed shortly after the alleged threats of violence. Stress doesn't help MS, but would this diease have appeared so soon and so aggressively without the threats ? That's an answer that even a doctor would probably struggle to answer.

If a poker magazine wants a real front page story they should send a reporter to Pattaya. I'm sure all the true facts could be quickly uncovered.

thread posted: 08/02/07.

Laak is unquestionably a scumbag, too much angle shooting and attention whoring.

Esfandari strikes me as a scumbag also, but he's a bit more reserved. I distrust anyone in poker who has spent untold hours learning how to do card tricks.

When you get right down to it all these guys are kind of degenerate scumbags, the big name players that is. Would you trust any of them to give you an even break? Maybe Laak and Esfandari don't stand out afterall.

Tilly has already been exposed!.

"We operate a tour business that caters for people with all forms of disabilities"

Oh yes and I am sure there is at least a $10000 tax on the exportation of heroin. So that part makes sense too.

I have to say, I don't understand why somebody acknowledges that they're a co-conspirator in a scheme to smuggle heroin into the USA inside religious artifacts, but I can easily see how somebody foolish enough to get involved with such a plot might not reckon on having to spend an additional $10k export tax because they were smuggling the dope inside religious art.

antisocialgrace, is there *anyone* who plays poker who you don't regard as a scumbag? Is it because you believe that it's impossible for anyone to win without being a cheat or angleshooter?

in the high stakes games I think the guys you haven't heard of are suckers lets just put it that way.

maybe if i couldn't tell you a story about nearly every well known player that didn't paint him in a bad light I might not be so harsh in my judgment.

I don't think it's impossible to win without cheating (at high stakes) but I think honest players are losing a lot of EV.

A Heroine is a female hero. Do you mean Tilly is a heroine?

However, Heroin is the key to eternal youth:

Coincidence that this is your first post? This doesn't offer any credibility because the OP has clearly asked you to write this.

Enough said? You're just repeating a "story", as you put it.

Why was the "injured party" (who actually suffered no injuries but has apparently received $20,000 from Laak) playing in the WSOP? In the original story, he's not a poker player at all - he just runs a holiday company. Plus this is a bit fishy because isn't poker illegal in Thailand? Maybe you should have asked him why he was there, because if he's not you, he's asked you to post this?

What is the story here? Why is this guy hassling Laak 7 years later, and what does he want? Is it surprising Laak doesn't want to talk to some guy who scammed him (but more likely who he's never even met before) and now seems to be stalking him?

This is such bs and this guy's wife's health problems are totally irrelevant the story, whether or not there's any truth in it. And why would the alleged assassin identify himself and tell the target of the request? If he's telling them, then there's no longer a threat and there's no reason for them to be stressed.

This is quite apart from the fact, already made, that there is no logical reason in this story why Laak would want to spend tens of thousands of dollars having a casual business partner on the other side of the world killed, at great expense and risk to himself.

This story has more holes than Swiss cheese and is clearly no more than a very amateurish extortion attempt, whether there's any truth in it or not... better luck next time OP.

Back in my hit man days, I would always phone up my victims and let them know what was soon to happen. Just proper etiquette, that is all. Sometimes they would even offer me a better deal not to kill them. Now we have ebay.

This is so bad I'm craving a "busto" thread right now.

I don't really understand the direction that this thread has taken.

<ul type="square">[*]Phil was in Thailand at the time in question[*]This story is well known in Thai gambling circles.[*]Phil obviously knows the person in the pics and does not want to discuss the incident[*]Phil hustled backgammon at Ace Point[*]Phil loves the ganja [/list]
It seems to me like there is some truth to the story and I find it unsettling and horribly racist that we discount the storyteller's credibility because he is not one of us and because of his poor command of the English language.

I don't know how much of the story is true but it definitely seems that Phil owes this guy money for something and won't pay him. This is the case with many gamblers...prior to making a big score you often have to rob peter to pay paul and people get screwed in between. It's just how it goes.

Yeah, it was at this part of the story that my B.S. detector went off. Sounds like likely extortion to me.

What a Laak of a story.

But seriously, we need to get serious and start up the serious business of solving this detective thriller in the great tradition and spirit of Sherlock Holmes, Dick Tracy, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Henry Poirot, Nero Wofe, Miss Marple, Jericho, Inspector Morse (and Lewis), Cordelia Grey, and of course Harry Potter.

As potential evidence at our immediate disposal, we have all the exotic locales, obscure lingos, foreign currencies, religious artifacts, candid photographs, illegal substances, famous personalities, cunning alibis, grievous injuries, deadly diseases, motorized vehicles, anonymous confessions, and unsolicited testimonials necessary to solve this whodunnit once and for all.

Now we need to apply our powers of observation, induction, deduction, and most of all logic to establish means, motive, and opportunity.

I would like to begin by offering money as a motive and we should be careful not to exclude marital infidelity and the sex tourist trade from the mix.

yeah, cause extortionists often make their businees public in this way

Ok Poker monkey this is my second post, does that make me twice as credible ?

The person in question has given out his personal email address and telephone number on the website under discussion.

I ask that someone with some punch, a journalist for example, should investigate this story. I have no vested in the outcome of all of this other than to defend a friend who did not have the luxury of a university education.

I believe all the important facts in this case can be proved, and this drama will eventually play to a wider audience. This forum is merely a conduit to reach the general public.

If anyone doubts that I live in Pattaya visit this link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28232980@N00/

....dream on dudes (and dudettes)

If theres any truth to the story you would think it would just be in Laak's best interest to spend the few dollars it would have taken to make this guy happy and make the story go away.

How could I possibly have left transsexual Thai hookers out of the mix. My bad. Someone let Sklansky know about this thread.