Layne Flack Quit His Job to Play Poker

Would you stop doing your hobby when it starts to affect your career negatively? Well, for most people, the answer is probably yes. Most people cannot afford to lose their job which is why they would rather sacrifice their hobbies to save their professions. It is, however, different in the case of Layne Flack. His passion for poker started to affect his work that he decided to quit� No, not quit from playing poker but quit from his job.

Born in Rapid City, South Dakota on May 18, 1969, Layne Flack was introduced by his grandparents to the game of poker at a very young age. This was during his formative years in Montana. However, his real passion for poker developed when he was already working as a dealer and cardroom manager at a casino. After work, he would always visit another casino to participate in poker games. His frequent visit to other casinos started to affect his job as a manager, which made him decide to quit his job and focus on playing professional poker instead.

Since Layne Flack visited casinos almost on a daily basis, he became acquainted with several professional poker players. He also had the opportunity to be friends with professional poker player Johnny Chan who helped him enhance his poker skills. There was an incident wherein Layne Flack experienced a big loss from playing poker. He was then encouraged by Chan not to give up and he was informed about the importance of taking a lot of rest before participating in a poker tournament. Aside from Chan, professional poker player Huck Seed also became his mentor.

In a span of three years, Layne Flack proved himself as a credible professional poker player as he earned five World Series of Poker bracelets. In 1999, he won in the US$3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event. In 2002, he won in the US$2,000 No Limit Hold'em event and the US$1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. And in 2003, this professional poker player also won in the US$2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event and the US$1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout.

Layne Flack also participated in several World Poker Tour events. The first one was in 2002 when he placed second in the World Poker Finals and won US$186,900. The second time was when he won first place in an invitational tournament of the World Poker Tour, which earned him US$125,000 cash prize. In 2004, he once again placed second in the UltimateBet.Com Poker Classic event, in which he won US$500,000.

Despite his success in the poker world, Layne Flack also experienced some problems related to drug abuse in 2004. Fortunately, professional poker player Daniel Negreanu volunteered in sending him into a rehabilitation center. After being released from rehab, Layne Flack has sworn he would never go back to such vice. He also says that he will forever be grateful for the support shown by Negreanu.

This professional poker player is also passionate about '80s music as well as golf. But, of course, nothing will ever beat his passion for playing poker.