Layne Flack’s Close Call

Date: 2007.12.03 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

On Nov. 27, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Layne Flack entered the opening event — a $1,500 buy-in, no-limit, hold-’em tournament with 472 players — of the Bellagio’s Five Diamond Poker Tournament.

Throughout the day, Flack text-messaged me that he had the chip lead. By 9 p.m. (the tournament started at noon), he text-messaged: “I still have the chip lead. Wire to wire, baby.” At 10 p.m., with the average chip stack at $27,000, Flack still had the lead with $160,000 in chips. That’s when Flack finally surrendered the chip lead over the course of two big pots.

With the blinds at $500 to $1,000, and a $200 ante, Nick Binger made it $3,600 to go with A-J. Flack, sitting in the big blind with Qs-8s, called $2,600 more. The flop was Q-8-2, and both players checked. On the turn, the 10d came off, and Flack led out for $9,000. Binger studied for a long time, then moved all-in for around $30,000 total. Flack called him quickly, and Binger needed a nine or a king on the last card to complete a straight — and the river didn’t disappoint him as a king came off.