One of the major headlines from last week was PocketFives.com member Randal RandALLinFlowers (pictured) taking down the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago in Las Vegas. The $10,000 buy-in tournament attracted 335 players and Flowers became the youngest two-time WPT champ in history at the tender age of 22. He bested fellow PocketFives.com member Michael benvo123 Benvenuti heads-up and pocketed an $831,000 top prize. PocketFives.com caught up with Flowers to break down his monumental live tournament score.

PocketFives.com: You were the table captain at the Festa al Lago finale and entered as the chip leader. Talk about your domination down the stretch.

Randal Flowers: I started out with a slight chip lead and just didn’t really lose any significant pots. I wish every final table could go as well as this one did. It was almost like it was scripted. I might have had two plays I made that weren’t too standard for me winning a pot.

PocketFives.com: In addition to Benvenuti, the Festa al Lago final table also featured Noah fouruhatersSchwartz, Jason JAKoon1985Koon (pictured), Andy Frankenberger, and Skip Wilson. Can you talk about the games of some of your opponents?

Randal Flowers: Andy Frankenberger, on my direct left, was going to be tough to deal with. He likes to see flops with marginal holdings with only 20 big blinds, which can put you in awkward spots post-flop out of position. Noah Schwartz is competent and not going to give away his chips. Skip Wilson, although probably the least known person at the final table, held his own and picked his spots well leading up to it. Jason Koon is a good player who is loose and aggressive. I knew going in that he was going to be the most active person at the final table along with Andy. Michael Benvenuti is not too loose, but is extremely solid. He is also capable of making plays.

PocketFives.com: You’re the youngest person ever to win two WPT titles. Talk a little bit about what that superlative means to you.

Randal Flowers: It doesn’t mean a whole lot to me, but I like the fact that it improves my marketability. The fact that it gets me more respect is nice too.

PocketFives.com: You’re a former winner of the PokerStars Super Tuesday, among other online poker tournaments. Have you been pleased with your performance online lately?

Randal Flowers: I think I’ve been playing well online lately. I’ve been completely trusting my instincts, which I hadn’t been doing while I was struggling a while ago. That’s probably the best thing about winning a big tournament: now, my confidence will be sky high when I’m playing online.

PocketFives.com: Can you remind us of how you got started in poker?

Randal Flowers: I was in the process of quitting baseball, something that was a lifelong passion of mine. I had also never had a job, so when I saw poker on television, I combined my passion for baseball with my need for a job. I found poker to be fascinating in that every day I’d learn something I didn’t know the day before, and that appealed to me. It seemed like I could do it forever since it was constantly entertaining me and I was learning every day.

PocketFives.com: Talk a little bit about how you approach Day 1 of a WPT tournament like the Festa al Lago.

Randal Flowers: For this particular WPT, we were extremely deep-stacked. I ended up eating a really good breakfast and missing the whole first level, so I decided to register after Level 1. During Day 1, I just try not to 3barrel off my stack too often. In Day 1 of this tournament, I got down to half the starting stack and then doubled up during the last orbit to end at 38,5000, which was 1,500 less than the starting stack. It’s just important to make it through Day 1.

PocketFives.com: Talk about being at the final table of a televised WPT tournament.

Randal Flowers: It’s definitely nerve-racking to play at a WPT final table that’s going to be on television. When you know that everything you do will eventually be scrutinized by someone you know, it’s a little bit weird. I definitely didn’t do too much or play too crazily, so at least the cameras didn’t make me spew.

PocketFives.com: You’ve been a member of PocketFives.com since the early days. Can you talk about some of your memories of the site?

Randal Flowers: I used to be a lot more active on PocketFives.com and still like the site. I guess most of my memories are just meeting my early friends in poker when I started. So, I’ll always remember PocketFives.com as where I met my first online poker friends.