Only in America!

An American poker pro who patterns his persona after a notorious killer has been rewarded with his own online poker room.

The Cake Poker Network, which operates and provides poker software for 55 different online poker rooms, announced this week that poker pro Phil ‘Unabomber” Laak will front a new Internet poker room for Cake.

The new room will be called Unabomber Poker and will be found on the ‘Net at www.unabomberpoker.com.

Laak fashions himself after the real-life “Unabomber,” Theodore Kaczynski, who murdered several people a number of years back by sending bombs through the mail.

Like Kaczynski–who’s now in prison after his brother turned him in–did, Laak wears dark sunglasses and a sloppy hooded sweatshirt or “hoodie” (when he’s at the poker table).

Laak also heartily embraces the “Unabomber” nickname and now it’s paid off handsomely–his own online poker room will likley earn him millions of dollars, despite the fact that it is illegal for Americans to run or help run online gambling sites.

As part of the deal, Laak will frequently play poker at Unabomber Poker so Average Joes can rub poker shoulders–at least online–with a top pro.

According to official tournament records, Laak has won nearly $2 million in his career playing offline tournament poker.

But it’s neither his offensive nickname nor his poker prowess that he’s best known for–it’s that his girlfriend is Academy Award-winning actress (and fellow poker pro) Jennifer Tilly of Canada.

In a press release issued by Cake, Laak declared: “We knew we wanted to launch the sickest poker site possible, By joining a network that focuses on player rewards and accepts players worldwide, we knew we would be starting out on the right track. I love getting involved from the ground up.”

Sick?

They got that right!

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)