Seat 2: Gal Yifrach, 39, Los Angeles, California (2,280,000)
Gal Yifrach hails from Israel but lives in Los Angeles. His poker pedigree features an impressive $2.3 million in live tournament cashes, which he’s been racking up since 2011.
Yifrach has two victories to his name, including one from the 2018 WSOP $3,000 6-Max bracelet event for $461,798. Three years later, he would top that payout with a $495,305 score for third in a WSOP $50,000 High Roller.
On Day 5, Yifrach was near the bottom of the leaderboard, but he bounced back with a double through Ekrem Bozkurt, hitting a king on the river to extend his quest for the NAPT title.
While playing well over a decade, Yifrach has been visiting almost exclusively events in North America. He made an exception in 2019 when he showed up in Monte Carlo. A modest €9,360 cash from an EPT side event remains his only notch in a PokerStars-sponsored live tournament, but that’s about to change.
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/PokerStars
Tournament Progression
Day 1: 206,500 (8/107, 1b)
Day 2: 200,000 (51/84)
Day 3: 269,000 (32/40)
Day 4: 900,000 (8/16)
Day 5: 2,280,000 (4/6)
Career statistics
Career earnings: $2,390,620
EPT/NAPT cashes: None
Best result: None
Key hands
Yifrach was nursing a short stack much of Day 5, but two well-timed double ups secured him a place among the final six.
Yifrach first shoved for 430,000 with king-four and Ekrem Bozkurt called with ace-five. Bozkurt was ahead with his ace-high and picked up a flush draw going to the river, taking away some of Yifrach's outs, but Yifrach still hit a king to double up.
Yifrach then called for 1,165,000 from the big blind after Jen Shahade shoved from the small blind. He was ahead with king-ten, and the board ran out safe to earn him yet another double up.