Sam Laskowitz Wins PGT Venetian Las Vegas Classic High Roller #1 for $84,150

The first-ever PGT Venetian Las Vegas Classic continued at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, with High Roller #1: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em.

Sam Laskowitz emerged victorious and claimed $84,150, 84 PGT points, and the PGT gold cup for his outright win. This marked Laskowitz's third PGT title, having won a PGT Bounty Blitz event just one week prior and a PGT Last Chance event in 2024.

The first of three $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller events drew a 51-entrant field, generating a prize pool of $255,000. The final eight players finished in the money, and just missing out was Rick Mechammil, who was the unfortunate bubble boy after he got his short stack in with ace-king against queen-jack, and a queen appeared on the flop.

Laskowitz could not be stopped as he would go on to eliminate the final seven players in the tournament. He first scored a double knockout when he got pocket tens in preflop against Joey Weissman's ace-nine and Jonathan Little's ace-king. The runout changed nothing, and Weissman was eliminated in eighth place, Little was eliminated in seventh place, and Laskowitz held nearly 45% of the chips in play heading into the final table.

Next to go was Victoria Livschitz in sixth place when her suited ace-three couldn't catch up to Laskowitz's fives. Peter Mugar was gone in fifth place when his ace-seven fell to Laskowitz's ten-nine, and Adekunle Olonoh followed shortly after when he ran his suited ace-eight into Laskowitz's suited ace-king.

During three-handed play, Laskowitz check-called three streets and picked off a bluff with just fourth pair to cement himself as the clear chip leader. Jim Collopy hit the rail next when he lost most of his stack running ace-nine into aces before he found himself dominated and finished off by Laskowitz in third place.

Laskowitz held a sizable lead to begin heads-up play and chipped away to leave Aaron Messmer with around ten big blinds. On the final hand, Laskowitz jammed with four-three suited and found himself up against king-ten. A four hit the flop, and when the turn and river changed nothing, Messmer was eliminated in second place, while Laskowitz was the champion.

2025 PGT Venetian Las Vegas Classic High Roller #1 Payouts

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