Recently taking down the PokerStarsSuper Tuesday was none other than Steve 19FMzadesterLevy (pictured at right). No, he’s not Adam RoothlusLevy’s brother, so save your breath. Levy’s Super Tuesday win came at the end of August and was worth $65,000. His tournament resume also includes a previous win in the Super Tuesday and a victory in the Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday. He recorded a deep run in the inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event for $27,000 back in April. The PocketFives.com member from Massachusetts sat down to discuss his recent run.

PocketFives.com: Congratulations on your second win in the Super Tuesday. Tell us about a few key hands.
Levy: I doubled up with 8-8 against A-10. My opponent shoved for about 30 big blinds and it was for half of my chips. I won that coin flip to put me in the chip lead. I also won a big coin flip against Roothlusat the final table.

One weird hand that came up was against a guy I didn’t have much experience with. He opened to 5,000 with blinds of 1,250/2,500 and I made a really unorthodox play by just flatting out of the small blind with A-K. I felt like being tricky and I also figured that since we were still nine-handed and he was in early position, he wouldn’t 4bet with A-Q or worse. I figured that if I flopped an ace or king, he’d try to represent it. My hand would be disguised and I’d get a lot of value from him bluffing or being out-kicked.

The flop came 10-J-Q, all spades, and I didn’t have a spade. He bet the pot and I just felt like the guy was weak. If he had a smaller spade in his hand, he might check back for pot control. If he had Q-K, I figured he’d check it back. I decided to just flat hoping he’d bomb the turn. A lot of people in my spot would have been nervous that a spade would fall and so would raise big or push. The turn was an ace and I checked. He bombed huge again. At this point, there was so much money in the pot compared to what was in his remaining stack. I pushed and he snap-folded. That pot chipped me up significantly.

PocketFives.com: Did you celebrate the win?

Levy: I am backed, so I didn’t get all of it, but it’s always cool to have a big score. It was 2:00am when I won. I was pretty pumped, but most people I knew were asleep. I’m sure I’ll spend my money and take shots randomly backing my friends. I actually have to buy a car soon and just got my own place, so I have to furnish it.

PocketFives.com: How did the field in the SCOOP Main Event, which had a $10,300 buy-in, compare to the Super Tuesday?

Levy: That tournament had a decent number of soft spots in it. The $1Ks are always tough fields, but they also attract a decent number of fish. It’s appealing to a fish to be able to win almost $100,000 and only have to get by 300 or 400 players. They don’t take into consideration how tough the competition is and how much $1,000 at a time is going to add up before they ever get to a final table.

PocketFives.com: How did you get started in poker?

Levy: Through a $10 home game every Thursday night. The first time I played Hold’em was at my brother’s apartment in Gloucester. He had a place close to the beach and asked if I wanted to throw down $10 playing poker. I had no clue about the rules, but I was all for it right away because I loved to gamble as a kid. We were all terrible, so it was a good thing that my brother and a couple of his friends knew the rules.

PocketFives.com: You’ve had back-to-back deep runs in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Tell us about your WSOP experience this year.

Levy: I felt like I earned my chips all six days. I coolered someone on Day 5 with A-A against A-K, but had plenty of chips every day. On Day 5, I played a 700,000 chip coin flip when I had one million behind me and the average stack was 900,000. I had A-K and my opponent hit a two-outer on river. I went into Day 6 with above average stack and lost a pot where I made top pair, top kicker against a set. Then, I ran 10-10 into A-K for 1.3 million chips. It all just unraveled from there.

PocketFives.com: Tell us about playing against Cliff JohnnyBaxJosephy (pictured at right) and Eric sheets Haber three-handed in this tournament before.

Levy: I won it for $80,000 against them, which was very cool. It was cool to be three-handed with Bax and Sheets. When I was just getting into online poker, I would watch them play and I looked up to Bax a lot. They’re great players and great people.