Flack Attack: The Layne Flack Interview

By Arthur Crowson Aug 27, 2008 | 3 months ago

Layne Flack, Day 3 of Legends of Poker, 2008 WPT

Layne Flack had a huge summer. After finally getting that coveted sixth WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Rebuy event, he cheered his good friend Scotty Nguyen on to victory in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.

It's been about a month and Flack is once again deep in a major tournament; meanwhile, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding Nguyen's big win.

PL.com chatted with Flack on a break in the later stages of Day 3 and got his opinion on the tournament, ESPN and the aforementioned $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.

How has your tournament been? It seems like you have been up and down but you're currently sitting with around $500,000.

It hasn't been that bad. The first day was pretty slow right up to the end. I mean I was down to like $9,000 with an hour left and I managed to turn that into $90,000 by the time play ended.

The next day I came in and it was up and down, up and down. I got a few chips and then I lost them. I was down to like $30,000 or $40,000 with a couple hours left and I managed to run that up to like $190,000. Today it's just been a steady incline.

The Flack-man.

How have your tables been? Can't imagine there have been very many easy draws ...

There wasn't. It was strange though. Between like 64 and 36 we lost a lot of great players. I mean Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, David Chiu and a lot more. At my table we had Barry Greenstein and he went broke along with a lot of the [other] big-name players.

The field has been reduced by almost 25% here at Legends compared to last year. What are your thoughts on why that is?

I think the World Series is getting really big and it's taking a huge toll on people. Once you've done that for two months you need a break. It's not only that either. The East Coast players aren't coming over here because there's a tournament at Borgata next week and then there's the WSOP in London. You're losing both the East Coasters and the Europeans.

Layne Flack pondering a call.

L.A. is obviously a good place for live games but if those guys don't come it makes it a lot slower.

Do you think it's a matter of the tournament circuit getting congested?

Yeah; I think the poker world can just be overwhelming to a lot of people. I think the smaller tournaments might back down a bit and the big ones are going to hold strong probably.

Layne, there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding Scotty Nguyen's behavior at the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Did you think how he acted was inappropriate?

Obviously it wasn't all right. It's simple. He was out of line and he continued to carry on, but Scotty has made a lot of great poker shows and he's a good person.

He has really taken a bad rap on this deal based on the fact that he had a bad day. On the other hand the commentators should have taken their own advice. They could have backed off. They said a lot of bad things and brutalized Scotty.

They are basically guilty of doing the same thing. Scotty did too much and so did they. They could have edited it differently.

I mean Scotty overdid it and I overdid it too.

Rock on Layne.

Watching the episode it seemed like a couple players were getting upset at you. Did it actually happen like that?

Yeah; the players were upset, but you have to keep in mind that we couldn't hear in the stands what was going on at the final table. The producers were coming up to me and telling me, "Layne, you gotta slow Scotty down."

At that point I said, "Listen, all you people are against Scotty. I'm the only one that's not and if I turn on him you're going to see him really mad. You're going to see a mess out there."

That's why I continued to support him. I did it so he felt like he had someone on his side. It would have been such a mess if I wasn't on his side. I took one for the team.

So do you think the final edit was harsh?

It was extremely harsh. I mean it was out of line but here's a guy that's been playing poker on TV for 15 years now. He's done a lot of great shows and you want to destroy him in one episode? I mean use your head. You don't want to ruin one person's reputation based on the fact he had one bad day.

On the more positive side: It's been just over a month since you won your sixth WSOP bracelet. Looking back, how much did that bracelet mean to you?

It was a moral victory. I mean I earned it. I worked really hard for that bracelet.

Thanks for your time, man. Where will we see you next?

Well I'm going to Myrtle Beach for a week to play golf but I'll be in London for the WSOP Europe after that.  

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After waiting five years for his next WSOP bracelet Layne Flack seems to be back in the spotlight in the poker world. Flack finished Day 3 with more than $800,000 chips so he's in prime position to make some serious noise in this event.