Ken Flaton June 28th 1940 – Nov 7th 2004

Formerly a professional card counter, Flaton turned to poker instead after being banned from playing blackjack in the Nevada casinos. Final tables for five consecutive years at the WSOP in the early 1980s proved that he had made the transition successfully, collecting one bracelet in his favoured game of seven card stud.
Of the many other tournament results posted by Flaton over the years, probably his finest moment came when he won the 1996 United States Poker Championship for half a million dollars.
He died following a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 64.
(Adam Noone Jan 2009)