WPT: Legends of Poker Q and A -- Layne Flack

Layne Flack came to the 2008 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker riding high after the biggest win of his career. He won $577,725 and his sixth gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker, and he looked to continue that success at the first major stop on the tournament trail. Flack has made a strong first step toward that goal by survivng to day 4 of the Legends event, with a stack that has him poised to make the final table. Card Player caught up with Flack during the first break during day 4, and he talked about how unknown opponents at his table have helped him stay focused.

Ryan Lucchesi: When the day started, you had Allen Cunningham sitting two seats behind you, and now he is gone. How has your approach to the table changed since that happened?

Layne Flack: I’ve played a lot with Allen, so I didn’t mind him at the table at all. Allen is a great player, but once you’ve played with somebody X amount of times… . Now I’ve got six people that I’ve never played with; sometimes you would rather have six Allens. I mean, his capabilities are more than these guys, which makes it tough, but when playing against an unknown, you have to sit there and wait and learn for a while, which is probably a good idea. I sat here and learned and probably picked up 600,000 doing it, and we lost 12 players during that time.

RL: Do you think you’re a lot more observant at a table with players you don’t know?

LF: Yeah, actually that’s a great question; a lot of people don’t realize that. If you get too comfortable in a situation then you’re not playing your best game, if you study the game again … . I’ve got eight players, and I’m studying them, so that’s probably making me play a lot better. A lot of times I’m up lollygagging around, playing a character role, doing whatever. Now I really have to pay attention.

RL: Are you worried about the other big stack at the table, like Amit Makhija?

LF: He just lost 350,000, so I think he is down to 1.6 [million] now, and I’ve got 1.5 [million]. I already have gotten a little information out of him, the fact that he isn’t willing to play big-pot poker right now, which I haven’t told him that I’m not; I’m not looking to play a 3 million pot with 15 players left.

RL: This is another strong performance for you after the summer, where you won gold bracelet No. 6 at the WSOP. Are you still playing your best poker right now and keeping focused?

LF: After the World Series, I got off the focus a little bit. I got into having a little bit of fun, nothing bad. Five or six days ago, I called my life coach and I said, “I’m getting off track.” He said, “All right, come on in; let’s reorganize.” I regrouped, because if your mind starts to get occupied with girls or other things that are going on, and all of a sudden you’re getting all of these texts from people and poker isn’t priority one. So, I took two to three days, and actually that’s why I drove out here instead of flying. I drove out here, and that was good. And my daughter came to town; we went school shopping for a couple days and forgot about everything else. It was a good way to clear my mind, and I got up and worked out — that’s a good way to clear your mind — and I ran some.

RL: Do you think you are more focused in cash games or tournaments?

LF: It depends, I believe the deeper we get, the more focused I am. Usually when you sit down and start out a tournament, you’re focused because you see if the rush comes. If the rush comes, then you ride it out. Day 1 I got really short, down to 9,000 with an hour left, and I stayed strong based on the fact that I had eight players at the table who I didn’t know. With an hour left, I turned 9,000 into 90,000. I was like, I’m not giving up; I don’t know any of these players, it's impossible. I ended day 2 with 190,000, day 3 with 807,000, and my goal today is three and a half [million].

RL: Which day of a tournament is the toughest for you to keep your focus during?   

LF: Day 2 is my toughest, of this tournament, day 2 is my toughest. I don’t know why, I gamble too much, it’s just so much mental stress. My brother and cousin came into town and they stayed in my room, and they snore … So, I got no sleep, which is probably good; it slows me down. If I haven’t gotten much sleep, then I’m going, this is all right, because I’m not bouncing off of the walls like I usually am.

RL: How are you keeping your balance between having fun at the table and having fun at night? You’re definitely having the most fun on the tournament floor every day.

LF: I’m definitely having fun. One of my biggest problems is that I do everything 120 percent compulsively. And I’ve tried to balance that down and separate this and this and this, and balance it. I’ve worked on that a lot.