5-BRACELET
HOLDER FLACK
WINS OMAHA/8 IN A BREEZE
The
perpetually cheerful Layne Flack, a slight
chip leader when he came to the final
table, gradually built a commanding lead
and breezed to a win in the 13th event
of 2003 Four Queens Poker Classic, $500
Omaha hi-lo. Flack, who has five World
Series bracelets, including two this year
and two last year, credited his win to
two factors. First, he said, his girlfriend
won a one-table satellite, so he felt
compelled to finish at least seventh to
surpass her. Second, he noticed that other
players seemed to be "playing scared,"
just trying to move up one notch a time,
so he was able to run over them.
This
was the longest table to date, with players
repeatedly going all in and surviving,
notably David Rabbi, who recorded nine
escapes. It was also the most sociable
table so far, with Flack and Rabbi leading
the chatter parade. Also, Flack's winning
"in a breeze" was more than
a metaphor. At one point there was an
unscheduled five-minute evacuation break
necessitated either by a sewer explosion
or by one of the players having earlier
consumed a double portion of the snack
bar's chili bean special.
The
final started with $400-$800 limits, 15
minutes remaining. Ken Wagner, a student,
with only a few chips as far back as 18
players, arrived with just $400 and was
soon all in with A-3-4-Q. He got double-counterfeited
with a board of A-6-3-9-9, and Rabbi,
with A-A-3-4, finished him with a full
boat.
By
the time limits had gone up twice, to
$1,000-$2,000, Mike Crescanko had gone
all in five times, Geoffrey Waxler four
times and Rabbi and Ken Wagner once each,
and still nine players remained. On break
with 15 minutes left in the round, the
chip count was: Flack, $29,800; Crescanko,
$13,700; Ram Vaswani, $12,700; David Kutcher,
$5,200; Rabbi, $3,800; Waxler, $2,400;
Richard Klein, $1,300; and Max Pescatori,
$1,200. Just before the break, Kutcher
had a bad break when his set was beaten
after Flack made a wheel on the river.
Level
12, hand 49: limits now $1,500-$3,000,
more all-ins, and still nine players left.
Finally, five hands later, Kunkel had
the big blind, all in with 10-10-9-6.
Flack had A-2-2-3 with hearts and made
a scoop flush. Two hands later, Klein
had no outs on the turn when Flack, with
A-4-10-K, had an ace-high straight. Along
with good hands, Flack had no shortage
of wisecracks. When overly crowding spectators
were asked to move back, Flack said, "Yeah,
to the parking lot."
Immediately
after the players returned from that five-minute
"fresh air" break, Waxler, a
photographer, got waxed when Max Pescatori
of Milan, Italy, made a wheel. Soon after,
Pescatori himself was all in with three-way
action. Kutcher (aka David Kelly) showed
an ace-high straight and Pescatori mucked
without showing.
By
now, Crescanko had gone all in six times.
Rabbi surpassed him after Ram Vaswani,
winner of pot-limit Omaha the day before,
raised. "Well, Mr. Rambo, if I have
two cards under a seven or two over a
10 I'll call," he promised, and did,
getting the low end with 3-6-8-Q against
Vaswani's A-A-7-9. Instead, it was Vaswani
who bowed out a hand later when his K-K-3-2
lost to Flack's flush. Rabbi now got a
round of applause for outlasting four
players after being down to $2,500. "I'm
the world's best short-stacked Omaha player,"
he said later.
But
like the proverbial cat, Rabbi had only
nine lives. "I'm buried," he
said, going in for the 10th time and turning
up A-2-8-9 to Flack's A-2-K-8. All Flack
could make was ace-high with a king kicker,
but that was all he needed.
Three-handed,
Flack had a massive lead of around $55,000
to $15,000 for Kutcher and $10,000 for
Crescanko. It was no contest. Five hands
later Kutcher stoically raised his last
few chips with Q-6-5-2. Crescenko had
K-Q-J-4 and caught jacks full of kings.
One hand later it was over. Crescenko
committed his last chips with Q-Q-8-3.
Flack had K-10-5-4, and filled when 9-7-4-K-K
came.
And
finally, this important historical note.
When Barney and Ross Boatman came in 1-2
in a pot-limit Omaha event, they were
reported to be the first brothers to accomplish
this feat in a major tournament. However,
an archaeological expedition digging through
the ruins of prehistoric Las Vegas has
just uncovered documents showing Puggy
and J.C. Pearson were actually the first
brothers to do this when they came in
first and second in a tournament at the
Frontier back in poker's Stone Age.
Max Shapiro
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