Fargo resident Adam Laskey takes first place at the Venetian $560 Pot Limit Omaha tournament on June 8th. Here’s a conversation I had with him after his win.
Ryan McDonald: First off, can you give me a short background on your poker career?
Adam Laskey: I started playing online back in 2005 at micro limits and had success but didn’t take it seriously until I decided to give it a go at the start of 2009.
Adam Laskey: My first real poker playing came in 04-05 in the dorm room poker games at Arizona State
Ryan McDonald: What have you been doing lately with your poker career?
Adam Laskey: Starting in 2009, I decided to try poker as a main source of income at lower stakes and I moved up fairly quickly. Since then, I have been spreading my time out evenly between PLO and NLH cash games and MTTs. I am working on a degree at North Dakota State University, so I don’t have as much time for poker as I like, but I still try to play as much as possible. The last few months have been primarily tourneys as I tried to gear up for Las Vegas.
Ryan McDonald: What was the tournament you won?
Adam Laskey: $560 Pot Limit Omaha at the Deepstack Extravaganza at the Venetian
Ryan McDonald: What were your thoughts entering that tournament?
Adam Laskey: I have always thought of PLO as my best game and the one I have the biggest edge over. I looked at this tourney as my best shot for a decent score.
Ryan McDonald: Did you have a pre-determined strategy entering the final table?
Adam Laskey: Myself and the other chip leader had double the chips of the next closest so my first goal was to try and stay away from him until I had a better idea how he played. As for the rest of the players, my goal was to just try and apply a lot of pressure in position and try and use my big stack to bully the table by pushing my draws and made hands the same.
Ryan McDonald: What was going through your head on the last hand?
Adam Laskey: Oh boy. We were both tired and he misread his hand and called my shove, I misread his hand when he flipped it over. So when the turn brought the Ten, I thought he hit his set, but I didn’t realize one of his tens was a nine. I went over to my friends on the rail and told them I lost the hand. Next thing I knew, he was over shaking my hand. I spent my winning moment thinking I lost.
Ryan McDonald: How much did you win and what do you plan on doing with the money?
Adam Laskey: I won $30,920. I plan on putting part of it toward life costs, save some of it, and put the rest back into my bankroll to continue playing more and higher in the future.
Ryan McDonald: What are some other tournaments your playing during your time in Vegas?
Adam Laskey: I’ve tried to play any $350 or $560 at the Venetian and I have played all the $1k’s at the WSOP.
Ryan McDonald: Please rank in order of the greatest to the lamest. Jayz, Biggie, 2Pac
Adam Laskey: Eminem, Jay-Z, 2pac, Biggie
Ryan McDonald: I respectfully disagree with that list but to each his own.
Ryan McDonald: Is there anything else you’d like to get out there? Either about yourself or the tournament.
Adam Laskey: Hmm
Adam Laskey: Not off hand
Ryan McDonald: Thank you and good luck in the future!
Ryan McDonald is a professional poker player from Edina, MN who multi-tables $2/4 and $3/6 no-limit online. He also plays heads-up cash games and Pot-Limit Omaha. For poker coaching inquiries, email Ryan at mcdonaldcoaching@gmail.com