Champion of Poker

Layne Flack started his poker playing career like many players, by working as a dealer in a casino. He used to play in his off hours from the casino and after a while he decided to take up playing full time. However, things in his life changed after the birth of his daughter Haley, and he moved home to Montana and took a job as a card room manager. Around this time he became friends with World Champion Huck Seed and Seed encouraged him to try his hand at playing in Vegas. Flack did so in 1997 and never looked back.

One of his initial big scores on the tournament scene occurred at the Hall of Fame Class in 1997 when he took down the $1,500 No Limit event for $67,800. He would again win an event in early 1998, but the first score to put Flack on the map occurred in 1998 when he finished 2nd in the $2,000 No Limit Event at the World Series of Poker. He would then return to the series in 1999 and make two final tables, including his first WSOP bracelet win. Flack won the $3,000 Pot Limit Holdem event and $224,000.

Whether it was his style of play or his success at the table, something sparked an interest in Johnny Chan because he decided to befriend Flack and even started backing Flack. Flack seemed to have gotten a confidence boost as proceeded to win the first tournament Chan backed him in and then Flack started to rack up the final table appearance, including a 3rd place finish in the $5,000 Limit Omaha 8 event at the 2000 WSOP. Flack would also win the Main Event of the 2000 Legends of Poker.

Flack would not win any major events for nearly two years after that, but when he won again, he won big. The 2002 World Series of Poker saw Flack cash only 3 times in the event, but two of those cashes brought him his second and third gold bracelet. First he won the $2,000 No Limit Holdem event. His next bracelet win was even more impressive when he won the $1,500 No Limit Event. Carlos Mortensen, T.J. Cloutier, and Johnny Chan all made the final table. Flack and Chan wound up heads up in the event and in the end Flack would emerge victorious over his friend and mentor.

A few months later, Flack would go on to make two final tables in the span of 4 months in the WPT when he finished 2nd at the 2002 World Poker Finals and then won the 2003 WPT Pro-Celebrity Invitational. Flack would go on to finish 10th in the WPT Championship event in 2003.

The 2003 World Series of Poker would be where Flack would garner his nickname of “Back to Back Flack.” He made three final tables at the event, but just like 2002, two of his three finishes were bracelet wins. He would win the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event after outlast Men “The Master” Nguyen and then would go on to win the very next event he was able to enter, which was the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout. He outlasted Annie Duke heads up for that title. After his back to back bracelet wins, Flack would go on to win 3 tournaments that year, including 2 at the Four Queens Classic and a preliminary event at the Bellagio Five Diamond WPT event.

Flack was known to have a lot of problems with drugs and alcohol. He started out using drugs in 2000 when he tried ecstasy and progressed from there. Flack was already a heavy drinker but the combination of the drinking and drugs nearly destroyed his life. Friends and family stepped forward to try and get him help in 2004 and Daniel Negreanu even offered to pay his bill for rehab. He spent a month in rehab and then went back to work.

In 2005, Flack would cash four times at the World Series of Poker, which included two final tables, a runner-up finish in the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem event and his only cash in the Main Event so far. After 2005, Flack would have modest success at best, but no really big wins. It wasn’t until around the 2008 WSOP that he started to turn things around again.

Just before the WSOP, Flack won a small $2,500 No Limit event. It was not a huge in regards to payout, but it may have given him the confidence needed to do well at the WSOP. For most professionals, if they only had one money finish at the WSOP, they would consider it a poor overall showing. In Flack’s case, that one money finish was his 6th WSOP bracelet. He made the final table of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys Event in the middle of the field in regards to chips. He was able to make his way near the top of the leaderboard and then take down the event for his 6th bracelet. After the WSOP, Flack was able to finish in 8th place at the Legends of Poker.

To date, Flack has over 4.2 Million in tournament wins. He has recently stated that he has overcome many of the demons that have plagued him in his past and as a result he plans to be more responsible with this lifestyle. Hopefully, this will translate into more major victories. At just 39 and with 6 bracelets already to his credit, Flack has the makings to be an all-time great in the game. Now we will see if he can keep his lifestyle in check enough to achieve his great potential.