Heads Up With Adam Levy

Adam Levy finished 12th in the 2010 World Series of Poker main event, for $635,011, taking his career tournament cashes to almost $3 million. Levy spoke to Card Player TV about three-betting, or reraising.

Card Player: It seems that a lot of beginning players are three-betting with only very big hands, but at the higher levels in live poker and online, you see players three-betting with a wide range of hands. So, what are the situations in which you should be looking to make this play?

Adam Levy: I think a lot of people do it rather recklessly; they do it because of their egos. They feel as if they have to three-bet because everybody else is doing it, but in reality, there are situations in which it is the best play. For example, if somebody is raising too many hands, it’s very simple. To take advantage of that, you are going to want to flat-call with a lot more hands, but there are certain hands that are not quite good enough to flat-call, but you don’t want to fold them, so you can reraise, hoping that your opponent folds, and if he calls, you still have some playability after the flop.

CP: And what is the follow-up play?

AL: It all depends on the texture of the flop. Lots of times when you reraise, you are trying to represent something bigger than what you actually have. So, you have to ask yourself: What would most credibly represent that hand? Should I check, or if I bet, will my opponent really put me on anything? You have to be able to credibly represent a good hand. ♠