Poker News Daily: When you first started playing poker, did you have any aspirations of it becoming anything more than a recreational game?
Laso: Definitely not. During my freshman year in college, I started moving up in levels a bit. During my sophomore year, I started taking it more seriously, so I dropped out of school. When I first started playing poker, I was a sit and go player. Then, I started playing tournaments. Then, I went on to cash games and got up in the higher limits. I met Annette Obrestad and she started teaching me how to play tournaments.
PND: What did Annette teach you early on that helped you move up to the next level?
Laso: She opened my eyes as to how to play more aggressively. She told me to stop limping and stop calling so many raises. She taught me to be the one who raises and re-raises more.
PND: How did your relationship with Annette begin?
Laso: We played a couple of times in sit and go tournaments together. We met in the CardRunners chat room two weeks before her 18th birthday and we started talking. We met in Aruba for the first time and have been friends ever since.
PND: What job would you likely be doing if you weren’t playing poker?
Laso: Back in high school, I worked at Starbucks. I don’t think I’d mind that job very much.
PND: What do you like the least about playing poker professionally?
Laso: The game takes you away from real life. It occupies so much of your time that you don’t have time to go out and have fun.
PND: What part of playing poker professionally do a lot of recreational players not realize?
Laso: The swings. You hear about people winning thousands of dollars and it sounds really glamorous, but you don’t hear about all the people losing a lot of money. It’s brutal on your mindset. It hurts you in real life. It’s something that most recreational players wouldn’t understand.
PND: What qualities are often overlooked when considering what it takes to be successful in poker?
Laso: The most important quality that any poker player can have is money management. There are so many players that have one big score and then start playing high-stakes poker. Money dries up fast in poker. The most successful players out there are ones who practice good bankroll management.
PND: Describe a healthy bankroll management strategy for multi-table tournaments.
Laso: I would say that you’d want to have 100x the buy-in for MTT’s and 300x the buy-in for rebuy tournaments. If you ever watch the $100 rebuy on PokerStars, I guarantee you that two-thirds of the field isn’t following that.
PND: What attributes have made you successful so far?
Laso: For the most part, I manage my money really well. I had one month where I lost it. I wasn’t playing out of my bankroll, but I was playing high-stakes and wasn’t doing very well. I’d wager that I’m in the top 200 tournament players online in terms of bankroll and I still cringe at the thought of playing the $100 rebuy or $2/$4 no limit.
PND: What separates successful online tournament players?
Laso: The number one thing is aggression. Online players can manage that better. Live players tend to let themselves get too short and, when they get short, don’t know what to do. They keep letting themselves get blinded down until they get a premium hand. Online players know that, if the situation is right and they’re sitting on 8-7 offsuit in early position with seven big blinds, they have to shove. Aggression is definitely the biggest attribute. However, online players are way too cocky. They think that live players are terrible and they’ll try too hard to call every raise and be in every pot.
PND: What live tournament players have you been most impressed with?
Laso: I’ve played with the Mizrachi brothers, Michael and Robert, and they’re both really good players. Another player who I’ve played online with a lot is Theo Tran. He is really good as well.