Flack Wins No Limit Finale!
By Max Shapiro
Layne Flack
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Easygoing Layne Flack had a fairly easy time of it once he got to the final table in Legends of Poker's $5,000 no limit hold 'em championship event. The 31-year-old pro arrived with a huge chip lead, caught cards when he needed to and dispatched his last opponent, Jeff Shulman, in one hand. Not that young Shulman was any pushover. The new editor-in-chief of Card Player magazine has now had big cash-outs in three straight championship events: this one, the World Series and the Tournament of Champions. "Don't forget to give me some credit for teaching him," proud father and Card Player owner Barry Shulman instructed.
Finishing tenth was David Shiu. "I've got nothing," the 1999 TOC winner said, after he tried moving in for $6,200 with Q-8 and was caught by Mel Wiener with two nines. Gary Haubelt, an accountant from Pennsylvania and the only unfamiliar face at the final table, was first out. He moved all-in for $6,200 before the flop with A-10 and made aces and tens, but Randall Holland, with A-Q, made aces and queens. Three hands later, Mel Wiener exited on a bad beat. He moved in with A-Q and Flack saw him with A-5. Mel had him until fourth street with a board of 8-A-J-4, but a river five gave Layne two pair.
A few hands later, Diego Cordovez, winner of the limit hold 'em event the day before, also had A-5 and shoved in all his $21,000. "Well, I'm running pretty good," Flack said, calling with J-10 of spades. He seemed to have it right, because the flop was 5-10-A with two spades, and a spade hit the turn. But then a river ace filled Diego. "Back to the grind," Layne shrugged.
Mel Judah then had three close calls in quick succession. With K-4, he called Scotty Nguyen's bet all-in and flopped three kings; with A-5 against Scotty's A-Q and Layne's A-K, he got a three-way chop when two small pair hit the board; and he escaped against Shulman, A-7 versus A-10, by flopping a seven.
Wiener, meanwhile, low on chips, finally decided to shove in his last $10,200 with a K-5 button raise. Cordovez called with Q-9 and won with a full house when the board came 10-10-8/Q-10. "I should have waited another round," Mel second-guessed himself.
Two hands later, Mike Laing raised all-in for $23,900. He tried to duck out for a smoke while Scotty pondered what to do, but Denny Williams made him stay put. Scotty finally made an agonized call, only to see Diego, with many more chips, announce all-in. More agony for Scotty. The 1998 WSOP champ, with about $17,000 left, finally dropped. Diego turned up K-K; Mike, with A-8 off, got knocked out when the board came Q-7-2/2-6; and Scotty, in distress, claimed he folded winning pocket queens.
Randy Holland was next out. The former attorney, who won the Legends all-around in 1998, moved in for $8,000 with A-3. Shulman, in the $3,000 big blind with 10-7 of hearts, tossed in another $5,000 and hit a ten on fourth street. On the next hand, Scotty went out on a heartbreaker. Before the flop, Diego raised $5,000 with J-9 of diamonds and Scotty called with pocket nines. On a flop of 10-7-2, Scotty moved in for about $35,000 and Diego, with one overcard and an inside straight draw, called. Neither an eight nor a jack turned up, but a king and a queen gave Diego an unexpected king-high straight. On the next hand, Diego suffered the same fate when Shulman, all-in for about $40,000 with A-10, hit an inside straight to outrun Cordovez' A-K.
Flack, who had briefly dipped down in chips, then moved back into a big lead. Holding 8-7, he bet all-in for $45,000 into a flop of 2-6-5. Shulman called with A-8, and Flack completed his open-end straight with a turn card nine. The tournament got heads-up when Cordovez bet his last $29,500 with pocket fours. Flack called with a suited Q-J and won with a flopped queen.
The next hand was the last one. With a board of K-A-10/6-6, Layne bet out and Jeff called all-in for about $85,000 with A-Q. But Layne had 8-6 and took the no limit championship crown with trip sixes.
Biography - Layne Flack
In tonight's event, Layne Flack said he never was dealt pocket aces or won any big pots and had to "grind, grind, grind" his way through until he got near the final table. That's when he took a lot of chips from 11th place finisher Gary Lent, once with 8-7, the same hand that he made a straight with against Shulman to win a $100,000 pot. "I guess that was my best hand in the tournament," he noted.
Flack originally is from South Dakota and at one time owned a cardroom in Montana. He holds numerous titles including limit and no limit hold 'em at Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Classic, and the Carnivale of Poker. He also came in third in a World Series $5,000 Omaha hi/lo split tournament. This is his first victory in a championship event. "You need a lot of luck," he said modestly.
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