Ryan Laplante was barely in high school at the height of the poker boom, but even at that early age, he knew he wanted to be a professional player. The Brainerd, Minnesota-native was so dedicated to poker that he would walk two miles each way to his college campus so that he could play online after his laptop broke. After a rocky start that included some tilt issues, backing troubles, and the rough side of variance, Laplante hit his stride with his game.

The 28-year-old has since pocketed just under $2 million in live tournament earnings, along with another $2 million or so won online. In 2015, he topped a massive field of 2,483 to win the World Series of Poker $565 'PLOssus' event, banking the $190,328 first-place prize. The next day while accepting his first bracelet, in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Laplante delivered an emotional speech to the room saying he was proud to be "an openly gay man," encouraging people to "be proud" of who they are.

Highlights from this interview include the subtle difference between a solid year and an incredible year, how emotions can help your poker game, tilt issues, having no time to fly, a three-day Mario session, walking four miles a day for poker, the one college class he showed up for, a bad downswing in Canada, why you shouldn't watch all-ins, forgetting the details, giving his bracelet winner speech, the diversity of live poker, why poker pros are more open-minded, why he loves poker coaching, giving away the keys to the house, adjusting from GTO play, the skill of looking busy, the pros of working at Subway, the realities of deal-making, and preferring Hemsworth with two eyes.