Final-Table Takedown -- Adam Levy

Adam “Roothlus” Levy grew up playing games with his family, and found his way to poker through the card game Magic The Gathering. He’s also a big soccer fan, and enjoys playing FIFA with other players around the world. When he isn’t spending time at his home in Florida, he is traveling the tournament circuit while also playing the biggest events online. Levy has cashed for close to $1 million online, and also has $703,621 in live cashes, which includes a fifth-place finish in the World Poker Tour $15,000 Festa al Lago championship event, for $266,445.

Event Full Tilt Online Poker Series event No. 22
Players 500
Buy-In $500
First Prize $625,000
Finish Second

Key Concepts: Apply constant pressure when there is big money on the line; trust player-dependent reads; have a strong awareness of shove hand ranges.

Key Concepts: Apply pressure when there is big money on the line.

Craig Tapscott: Set up this final table.

Adam “Roothlus” Levy: This hand was intense, to say the least. We were five-handed with a ton of money on the line, and I was second in chips.

Roothlus raises to 28,750 from under the gun with the 7♠ 7♣. Utreg reraises to 91,000.

CT: What’s your read on this three-bet?

AL: I knew utreg would be looking for some spots to three-bet me light, and five-handed, 7-7 isn’t too shabby.

Roothlus moves all in for 698,222.

CT: Wow! What read did you have to be able to move in there?

AL: His three-bet raise size was rather large, so I thought that if he did have a hand, it wasn’t super strong. With all the money on the line, it’s tough to call off there in those spots. If I lost the hand, I still had nine big blinds left, which isn’t much, but you do have to factor that in a little bit. Although there had not been much history between the two of us, I just felt like it was a right situation, given the tempo and flow of the game.

Utreg folds. Roothlus wins the pot of 207,500.

CT: Well, let’s talk about bet-sizing. What are the determining factors that a player should evaluate to decide what size of bet to make?

AL: Let’s say that I have a really strong hand; I make it 2.5 times what was opened. But when you make a bigger reraise, like utreg did, it’s kind of saying that you’re committed to the pot. Usually, that’s with a strong hand like J-J or 10-10, but not A-A. But because we are both really good players, in this particular spot, I felt that he was making it look like he was committed to the pot. Sometimes I’m going to be wrong, but in that situation, it felt right.

CT: What would have happened if you hadn’t shoved but just reraised?

AL: I can’t just make another raise with 7-7 there … well, I could, to look a little stronger, but I don’t want any weird things to happen, like he flats [flat-calls] or something. Then, I have to play a flop like Q-J-2 with that hand.

CT: If his three-bet size had been smaller, would you have folded?

AL: Good question. It might have changed my mind, but it’s so situational. If he had made it less, I might not have shoved.

Roothlus raises to 38,750 with the K Q. Fyrtuk reraises to 112,000 from the small blind. Roothlus shoves all in for 1,478,052. Fyrtuk calls 700,205 and is all in, and reveals the 10 10.

Flop: 7 5 3 (pot: 1,648,410)
Turn: 6 (pot: 1,648,410)
River: 6 (pot: 1,648,410)

CT: Here we go again. Is this just the nature of the beast with online events — mostly preflop play?

AL: The tempo of the game called for it, because I was the chip leader and everyone else had considerably less in chips, and he was in second place at that moment. And I had seen him raise light there before. In this spot, it doesn’t really matter how strong I think his three-bet size is, because 95 percent of the time if he does that, I’m all in there. There is so much money on the line and he has to call his tournament life off, and I don’t hate my hand that much in that spot.

CT: If you win this race, you most likely finish first.

AL: Yes. If I win this hand, I win the tournament 80 percent of the time. If I lost, I had 600,000 left, and if I got called and won, I’d have 75 percent of the chips in play three-handed. Also, fyrtuk and I had been going at it from time to time. So, given that he was the only person who could really slow me down, I felt that was more reason to shove. I’m not going to win the tournament by folding. Sometimes you have to take a big chance. This was one of those times. On top of all that, I had just busted utreg and had started opening a lot of pots.

CT: What was your read on the other three players?

AL: The way the stacks were, the other two players weren’t getting out of line, and the only player who could really damage me was fyrtuk. It was just a matter of whether or not he recognized all of this, and to be honest, I don’t think he did. But, he was fortunate enough to pick up a hand in a prime spot like this. I seriously have no regrets about my shove, and if I lost, I was still comfortably in second place.

Fyrtuk raises to 38,000. Wu_Wizard shoves all in for 177,633. Roothlus moves all in for 597,847 with the A J. Fyrtuk folds. Wu_Wizard reveals the 4 4.

AL: This hand was the closest of all three. Wu_Wizard had been really tight and seemed like he was trying to eke up in the payouts. Now that he was really short, he had to take a chance, so I knew he would be shoving a little lighter than normal. The thing is, fyrtuk had been opening more than 50 percent of hands, given the stack sizes and the money payouts. So …

CT: What if he had a real hand in this spot?

AL: If he did happen to pick up a hand, that would’ve been disastrous. The worst-case scenario is that fyrtuk beats me and Wu_Wizard beats him, and I bust out in fourth place. It was fairly unlikely that this would happen, but even so, you somewhat have to factor in fyrtuk waking up with a hand, as well. Ultimately, I couldn’t see myself folding A-J offsuit four-handed, even with the large money jumps.

Flop: 8 6 4 (pot: 401,266)
Turn: A (pot: 401,266)
River: K (pot: 401,266)
Wu_Wizard wins the pot of 401,266.

AL: I lost my second flip in a row, and after that hand, we three short stacks found ourselves very close in chips.

CT: Still, you worked your way back to a great finish.

AL: Yes. Luckily, I was able to ease my way into second place after fyrtuk decided to bust the other two. Unfortunately, I got coolered heads up, 10-10 versus Q-Q, to bust out after doubling up. But this was by far my biggest cash ever ($387,500), so I will gladly take it.