Gal Yifrach had his 39th birthday on November 8 and decided to ring in his celebratory weekend by entering the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas $5,300 Main Event. The present paid off, as the Los Angeles pro was the last man standing over a 738-player field on his way to lifting the PokerStars Golden Shard trophy and taking home the $543,025 top prize.
“I was happy to come here because it was a good reason. It was my birthday on the 8th, so I figured, you know, I’ll come to Vegas. I’ll play the tournament,” Yifrach said. “I enjoy playing cash, obviously, but tournaments are a lot of fun when you run deep. And it’s very miserable when you run deep but not deep enough. But everything worked out. I don’t know if it’s birthday run good, if it’s anything else. My mom came here, surprising me for my birthday. So everything was perfect. I can’t complain.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gal Yifrach | United States | $543,025* |
| 2 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | $518,575* |
| 3 | Jen Shahade | United States | $291,800 |
| 4 | Ekrem Bozkurt | United States | $224,450 |
| 5 | Michael Berk | United States | $172,650 |
| 6 | Peter Mugar | United States | $132,850 |
| 7 | Abdullah Akbarpoor | Turkey | $102,200 |
| 8 | Richard Green | United States | $78,600 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
The chances of Yifrach, or anyone else, earning the title at the start of the day seemed remote. It wasn’t for lack of talent. Yifrach had assembled a career resume that included more than $2.3 million in live earnings. He won a WSOP bracelet in 2018 and also finished third in the $50,000 High Roller at the 2021 WSOP. And that’s not even factoring in his cash game prowess, where he played in some of the biggest games around, including Hustler Casino Live and Live at the Bike.
The reason for pessimism, rather, was the man at the top of the leaderboard. Thomas Boivin, the Belgian who's quickly establishing a reputation as one of the top MTT and high roller pros, came into the final table in full command with more than half the chips in play. Boivin seemed poised to run away from the field and already had one hand on the trophy before a card was dealt at today’s final table.
But then Yifrach found a double up. Then another. Suddenly, he began to close the gap on Boivin until he seized the chip lead heads-up. Yifrach, defying all odds at the start of the day, ended up turning the nut flush to best Boivin’s pocket tens and was the one who ultimately was showered in confetti, the gold-plated trophy firmly in his grasp.
“This is amazing. I came in fourth in chips, obviously. The chip leader had a massive chip advantage on all of us. I thought it would end super quick. I thought it would be just like a circus of shoving. But, you know, things change,” Yifrach said.
“I got a couple of hands. I doubled up one time, and then I was able to stay in the game. And then, you know, a couple other all ins that gave us a few more money jumps, and then we were heads-up, and everybody saw what happened. Obviously, my opponent…he’s a very, very good player, but I was able to, you know, get the best of him. Twice. So I’m happy.”
Despite his long record of results that extends back nearly 15 years, Yifrach had seldom played PokerStars-sponsored events. His only prior cash was from a side event at EPT Monte Carlo in 2019. But his opinion was changed dramatically this week, as the deep structure of this event perfectly suited his skills honed from cash games.
“This structure is really, really good. Ninety-minute levels gives you that vantage to maneuver and being able to do a lot more things. If you’re playing 40-minute levels, that’s not, you know, you don’t have the same opportunities. So it actually worked to my advantage because, you know, when I play cash you lose, you rebuy, it’s done. In tournaments, every decision matters,” he said.
“When I play cash, especially for a lot of money, some of the time, you don’t always get a full ring game. So a lot of times we’re playing two to three hands, four hands max, sometimes even heads-up. And heads-up play actually helped me a lot. And when you’re playing, when the structure is really good, you’re actually able to treat it like a cash game, so that worked to my advantage.”
Final Table Action
The final six players returned to Resorts World Las Vegas at 12:30 local time to play for the trophy. Boivin entered with 12,545,000, more than half the chips in play and a nearly 10,000,000 chip advantage over his closest challenger, PokerStars Ambassador Jen Shahade.
Peter Mugar came into the final table with just seven big blinds and quickly got his stack in with king-three against Yifrach’s ace-eight. Yifrach hit a pair on the flop, and Mugar couldn’t catch up on his way to the rail in sixth place.
Boivin, meanwhile, took full advantage of his massive chip lead, raising nearly every pot and applying maximum pressure on his shorter-stack opponents. Michael Berk was the first to slow him down, waking up with two aces against Boivin’s ace-king to double up for 935,000. Yifrach then picked up two jacks against Boivin’s pair of sevens and improved to top set on the flop to take some more off the chip leader.
Action then folded to Berk in the small blind and he jammed for 2,365,000 with king-queen. Boivin looked down at ace-nine and took a minute before calling. Berk didn’t improve on the board, and he was eliminated in fifth place as Boivin extended his lead.
Boivin also took out Ekrem Bozkurt in fourth place, his king-seven outflopping Bozkurt’s ace-king. The three remaining players then went on a 20-minute break, Boivin holding 15,765,000 to Yifrach’s 4,730,000, while Shahade had fallen to a short stack with 1,615,000.
After failed deal discussions, Shahade moved in with ace-queen, but Boivin had picked up kings in the big blind. “That’s not fair,” her passionate rail said as they began chanting for an ace, but Boivin remained in front and Shahade busted in third place, her prize of $291,800 still good enough for the largest of her poker career.
Boivin led Yifrach 18,275,000 to 3,825,000 at the start of heads-up. Early in the match, Boivin flopped two pair and shoved the turn. Yifrach, though, had turned a flush and called for 3,450,000. Boivin needed to fill up or hit another heart on the river to make a higher flush and secure the trophy, but while he did see the six of hearts fall, the same card gave Yifrach a straight flush and the double up.
Yifrach took the chip lead for the first time when he called Boivin’s bet of 750,000 on the river with two pair. Yifrach then tried a bluff for 3,000,000 on the river with just king-high, but Boivin had made a full house and snap-called to retake the lead.
Yifrach moved back in front after making a running two pair, firing 2,000,000 on the river as Boivin called with a pair of queens to relinquish the lead once more. The two players then agreed to a deal, each taking $518,575 and leaving $24,450 for the winner.
Soon after, Boivin raised to 750,000 on the button and instantly called for his last 7,675,000 after Yifrach shoved. Boivin was ahead with two tens against Yifrach’s ace-nine, but the flop gave Yifrach a pair and flush draw, leaving it a perfect 50-50 coin flip going to the turn. Yifrach didn’t waste any time, completing the nut flush on the turn to leave Boivin drawing dead and forced to settle for a bittersweet runner-up finish.
Despite the enormous odds he and the rest of the table were facing at the start of the day, Yifrach took heart in a hand he played against Boivin yesterday to give him confidence he could compete with the Belgian high roller.
“I tell you, we had a big hand playing the day before. I had an opportunity actually to bust him,” Yifrach said, harking back to Boivin’s double up yesterday when he hit the nut flush on the river against Yifrach’s set of fives.
“I was devastated, but, you know, I had a couple quick all ins, stealing blinds here and there, and then I was able to manage and stay in the game. Playing against him, obviously, I’ve had some play with him but obviously not too many hours. But we had some play during the day before the final table. So I had an idea a little bit, but obviously, heads-up is a total different play, but it worked out. So I’m happy.”
He overcame being a short stack and a supremely talented opponent, threatening to leave the field in his wake. Yifrach defied all the odds today, proving that no chip lead is safe until the final card is dealt.
