Layne Flack won his sixth World Series of Poker bracelet on Friday, joining an elite group of six time bracelet winners and becoming one of the top 10 bracelet winners in WSOP history.
Flack, whose last bracelet came in 2003, beat a field of 320 players in Event #34 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys) to take the hardware and $577,725.
Flack started the final table in the middle of the leaderboard but as players traded big pots around him, Flack quietly chipped up until he could count himself among the big stacks. Tournament veteran Frank Vizza and online star Tim West were the first to bust from the final table. Next out was the lone unknown at the table, Michael Guzzardi, a 24-year-old casino dealer from Melbourne, Australia, who said he started playing poker online with a $1 bankroll and has run that original buck up to six figures over the course of two years. Kyle Kloeckner was next to head to the cage after busting in 6th place, followed shortly after by Ted Forrest, who like Flack was at the final table looking for his sixth WSOP bracelet.
The final four consisted of Flack, German online pro Daniel "amichaiKK" Makowsky, World Series of Poker Europe bracelet winner Dario Alioto, and Jacobo Fernandez, who was at his third final table shot of the 2008 WSOP.
Flack was the leader of the four and proceeded to put on a clinic in big stack poker, so much so that ESPN360.com's Howard David later said "I haven't seen a destruction of a table so far this year at the [WSOP] like [Flack] put out today."
Flack then busted Alioto in third place to take possession of nearly two-thirds of the chips on the table. Flack had Aces to go with a flopped open ended straight draw while Aliot had the same open ended straight draw and a flush draw. All the money went in on the flop and Flack was able to dodge Alioto's many outs, eliminating the 23-year-old Italian in 4th place.
From there it was the Layne Flack show. Flack flopped a full house to crack Fernandez's aces, eliminating the 43-year-old father of six in third place, once again denying him a bracelet but giving him enough points to move into top spot on the 2008 WSOP Player of Year leaderboard. A few hands later it was all over when Flack's K-K-J-2 held up to Makowsky's A-K-4-4 after getting all the chips in before the flop. Makowsky takes $355,050 for second place while Flack wins $577,725 and his sixth WSOP bracelet, joining Men "The Master" Nguyen, T.J. Cloutier and Jay Heimowitz in the six bracelet club.
"I've waited four years for this one," Flack said, before being reminded that it's been five years since his last WSOP bracelet. "I want to savor this a little bit."
Flack, 39, said he was in for 22 rebuys ($33,000) and needed to finish 12th or better in order to make any profit from the tournament. The $577,725 first place prize is the biggest tournament cash of Flack's career. Flack also said that although he has previously won five WSOP bracelets, he no longer has any of them. He gave three away to his brothers and father, he left one at a friends house where it has yet to resurface, and one was stolen in a burglary.