Layne Flack (May 18, 1969 – July 19, 2021) was an American professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player from

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

, residing in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Poker career

Flack started playing cards with his grandparents, but became engrossed in the game while working at a

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

. He would regularly go to another casino after work to play poker. Despite becoming the Night Manager in his job, he quit as he was spending too much time on poker to continue working full-time as well. He met up with

Johnny Chan Johnny Chan (;He has another Chinese name "Chen Qiangni" () which is also commonly used by Chinese-language media. It is a transliteration of "Johnny Chan" (as "Chen" for "Chan", "Qiangni" for "Johnny") rather than his Chinese birth name. born ...

who helped him improve his game and, following a big loss, encouraged Flack to ensure he had a lot of rest before a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

Ted Forrest Ted Forrest (born September 24, 1964) is an American professional poker player, currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tournament wins Forrest won three bracelets at the 1993 World Series of Poker (WSOP). After the mid-1990s, Forrest turn ...

then took him under his wing, eventually playing in the biggest games in the world. Flack had lifetime live tournament play winnings of over $5,000,000. His 43 cashes at the

WSOP The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

accounted for $2,740,892 of his live tournament winnings.

World Series of Poker

Flack won six bracelets at the WSOP. He got the nickname "Back to Back Flack" after winning two consecutive Legends of Poker events in August 1999. He would accomplish the same feat three years later at the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

WSOP series.

World Series of Poker Bracelets

World Poker Tour

Flack made numerous appearances on the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...

and captured one WPT title. * 2002 World Poker Finals - 2nd place ($186,900) * WPT Invitational Tournament - Winner ($125,000) * 2004 UltimateBet.Com Poker Classic - 2nd place ($500,000) * 2008 Legends of Poker - 8th place ($105,620)

Death

It was announced on July 19, 2021, that Flack was found dead. According to Clark County coroner Melanie Rouse, the cause of death was listed as fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine intoxication. He was 52.

References

Poker Pro Layne Flack Died of Drug Overdose

External links

World Poker Tour ProfileCardPlayer articleHendon Mob tournament results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flack, Layne 1969 births 2021 deaths American poker players People from Rapid City, South Dakota World Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners