There had to be a deal here!

[WinBig]

Erik Seidel won $218K when he beat Layne Flack heads up for the title in the $3000 NL tourney at the Bellagio. This is part Festa al Lago III tourney series leading up to the $10000 WPT event. Flack won $96K so there was a sizeable difference between 1st and 2nd. Here's the writeup for their match:

Erik Seidel and Layne Flack have been in this position so many times there was no need to prolong the confrontation. "I'm going all-in on the next hand," Layne says. "If you do, I'll call you," Erik replied. What they meant was that neither of them would look at their cards first. This is hand 76. Erik and Layne have only played 19 hands heads up and already they are bored with it. Besides Erik is winning every hand and has a 4-1 chip lead. What does Layne have to lose? Flack turns over the J 4 of Diamonds for his no-look all-in hand. Erik flips up 7 5 offsuit. Unbelievably, the flop comes 6 4 3 to give Erik the nuts and the title. Hearty laughs for the friendly foes.

??? Does $100K mean that little to these guys that after 19 hands they would go all-in blind pre-flop? What a joke. Either they made a deal that they didn't talk about in the summary or these guys don't care about money. Very odd.

[CrisBrown]

Hi WinBig,

And if there had been a deal ... so?

Cris

[augie00]

I think with activity like this, there was almost certainly a deal. No poker professional would throw away 100k because they were bored.

So, if there was a deal here, what are you trying to say?

Are you opposed to professionals quitting after hours of play, just because of a deal? Are you opposed to the idea of a deal in the first place? Please elaborate!

[B Mando]

100,000 to the top pros like Erik and Layne probably isnt THAT much, sure its not toilet paper but they all play in big games where that is won and lost in a night. Also considering that Erik had a huge chip leader Layne probably knew he wasnt going to fight his way back unless he got lucky...so he tried to double up and he missed. I hate to say this too but from what I hear Layne likes to drink while he plays...A LOT! So he might not of cared much at all....who knows though...

[WinBig]

It appears the posters here ignored the point I was trying to make. I'm not opposed to deals and I didn't say that here. What I did say was that I hoped there was a deal that the writer completely ignored in his summary because it looks very bad in my opinion for two poker pros to start playing hands all-in blind when there is over $100K at stake. I guess I should have spelled that out a little better. If a deal is made I think it would be better to show that in the summary so that casual observers aren't misled into thinking pros are doing stupid things at the final table heads up in a $3000 buy-in tourney.

[Rick Diesel]

Actually, rumor as it that Layne was in rehab a little while ago (not sure of the time frame) and that he has since quit drinking.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
Layne probably knew he wasnt going to fight his way back unless he got lucky...so he tried to double up and he missed. I hate to say this too but from what I hear Layne likes to drink while he plays...A LOT! So he might not of cared much at all....who knows though...

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats all well and good. (Remember Dewey Tomko vs Paul Philips from the WPT last year? He was using a an all-in and hope to get lucky strategy when he was way outchipped) But there is no way Erik would call him blind and risk making it close unless there was some sort of deal.

[2005]

Mike Paulle writes all tournament summaries for the WPT. He is bound by contract to not mention any deals that take place in preliminary events to WPT tournaments. This is why there was no deal mentioned.

Gavin Griffin

[3rdCheckRaise]

Why is WPT so against reporters writing about deals?

[Ryner]

Kind of takes away the excitement of the event, dont you think?