Wednesday, March 15, 2017 7:42 AM Local Time
Gal Yifrach wins Bike high roller
Entrepreneur and poker enthusiast earns biggest score in High Roller victory.
Bell Gardens, Ca. (March 15, 2017) — Gal Yifrach took home the biggest payday of his casual poker career on Tuesday night at the Bicycle Hotel and Casino. He defeated a field of 100 players in the $3,250 no-limit hold’em high roller event to win a ring and $90,005.
Yifrach is a self-described entrepreneur that plays more cash games than tournaments. Poker is secondary in his life and most of his action is spent in the high-limit Los Angeles cash games, but when he does hop in a tournament, he enjoys playing in the types of fields that high rollers draw.
“If there’s a big one somewhere, I’ll travel for it,” said Yifrach. “But I like the big buy-ins and the small fields. I came pretty close in an event at Commerce, a $5K buy-in event. I got third and came real close.”
He enjoys the smaller fields, but mostly Yifrach prefers the bigger buy-ins. You won’t find him in many, if any, prelim events, and even in this series he came for the main event and the possibility of a six-figure score.
He didn’t even plan on playing the high roller. If it weren’t for a poker friend informing him about the tournament, Yifrach would’ve missed out on his biggest poker accomplishment to date.
“I busted out of [the main event] yesterday and I was just going home,” said Yifrach. “One of the guys that I know from here was like ‘Oh, you’re not playing the high roller?’ and I was like “There’s a high roller? I didn’t know.’ So, I went home, rested a little bit, took a shower, and bought in late and that’s it. I came in at like seven o’clock last night and bought in.”
Besides winning his first ring, Yifrach denied Kyle Cartwright his seventh. Cartwright seemed to be the favorite to take it all as the field got shorter. Both the size of his stack and his experience seemed to favor the six-time ring winner. Yifrach was short stacked, but found a way to persevere and come out on top.
“I was short stacked three-handed,” said Yifrach. “And they were both switching stacks between them. They both had over a million and I had only 250,000. So, I just grinded up a bit. I doubled up two times and that was it. I was winning pretty much every hand [heads-up]. I showed him a couple bluff, so he got tilted.”
Aside from having to overcome a massive chip deficit, he also had to overcome a pro-Cartwright rail. Yifrach embraced the away game feel of the match and used it as motivation to succeed.
“I was actually feeling it,” said Yifrach about the rail being outwardly supportive of Cartwright. “I knew it was going to happen. I knew I was going to win, so I just kind of felt it.”
He felt his win and he feels some future tournament success coming on. After taking last summer off from taking shots at bracelet events, Yifrach is planning on spending a good chunk of time bracelet hunting this summer in Las Vegas.
“I’m probably going to stay for at least a month,” said Yifrach about the 2017 World Series of Poker. “We’ll see what happens.”
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 11:15 PM Local Time
Gal Yifrach
Gal Yifrach raises to 125,000 and Kyle Cartwright moves all in for around a million. Yifrach calls with and Cartwright trails with .
The flop pairs up Yifrach, but the on the turn does give Cartwright a flush draw.
The river brings the and Yifrach makes aces up to take the pot, the tournament, and his first Circuit ring! Yifrach also earns his biggest WSOP score to date, worth $90,000.
Cartwright is denied a seventh career ring, but does take home a nice second-place payday of $55,625.
Yifrach bested a field of 100 tough players in one of the biggest field $3,250 Ring events of the season and gets both the trophy and the bragging rights that come with beating one of these stacked final tables.
Here are the complete final table results:
1st: Gal Yifrach - $90,000
2nd: Kyle Cartwright - $56,625
3rd: Stoyan Obreshkov - $39,605
4th: Tim Cramer - $28,770
5th: Hung Le - $21,310
6th: Phong "Turbo" Nguyen - $16,090
7th: Michael Comisso - $12,375
8th: Lee Gale - $9,696
Kyle Cartwright
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 11:03 PM Local Time
Level: 27
Blinds: 25,000/50,000
Ante: 5,000
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 11:03 PM Local Time
Gal Yifrach raises to 80,000 and Kyle Cartwright calls in the big blind. The two players check the flop, then the turn brings the . Cartwright checks, then Yifrach bets 100,000. Cartwright check-raises to 260,000 total.
Yifrach announces he is all-in and Cartwright hangs his head before folding his hand.
Gal Yifrach - 1,950,000 (49 bb)
Kyle Cartwright - 1,050,000 (21 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:54 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright raises to 80,000 and Gal Yifrach moves all in. Cartwright eyeballs his chips and calls with . Yifrach has him bested with . Yifrach's hand holds on the board and Yifrach doubles up to take this match very close to even.
Gal Yifrack - 1,410,000 (35 bb)
Kyle Cartwright - 1,590,000 (40 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:44 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright raises to 80,000 on the button and Gal Yifrach calls in the big blind. The flop comes and Yifrach checks. Cartwright bets 60,000 and Yifrach calls.
The turn brings the . Yifrach checks, Cartwright bets 110,000, Yifrach check-raises all in, and Cartwright quickly folds.
Gal Yifrach - 970,000 (24 bb)
Kyle Cartwright - 2,030,000 (51 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:24 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright - 2,175,000 (54 bb)
Gal Yifrach - 825,000 (21 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:23 PM Local Time
Stoyan Obreshkov
Stoyan Obreshkov moves all in from the button for his last 340,000 or so and Gal Yifrach calls in the big blind. Yifrach holds and Obreshkov trails with .
Obreshkov gets no help from the and he is eliminated. The players are taking a quick pause before heads-up play begins.
Gal Yifrach - 825,000 (21 bb)
Stoyan Obreshkov - Eliminated in third place for $39,605
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:17 PM Local Time
Level: 26
Blinds: 20,000/40,000
Ante: 5,000
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:13 PM Local Time
Stoyan Obreshkov completes the small blind and Kyle Cartwright checks his option in the big blind. The flop comes and Obreshkov bets 30,000. Cartwright raises to 85,000 and Obreshkov calls. The two players check the on the turn, then the river brings the .
Obreshkov bets 155,000 and Cartwright announces call right away. Obreshkov tables for aces up and Cartwright shows and takes the pot with a winning wheel.
Kyle Cartwright - 2,150,000 (72 bb)
Stoyan Obreshkov - 275,000 (9 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:08 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright moves all in from the small blind and Gal Yifrach calls for his remaining 335,000 from the big blind. Cartwright holds and Yifrach has . Yifrach's hand holds up on the board and he takes the pot.
Gal Yifrach - 685,000 (23 bb)
Kyle Cartwright - 1,775,000 (59 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 10:04 PM Local Time
Stoyan Obreshkov completes the small blind and Kyle Cartwright raises to 80,000 out of the big blind. Obreshkov calls and the two take a flop of . Obreshkov checks, Cartwright bets 70,000, and Obreshkov calls.
The turn is the . Obreshkov checks again and Cartwright moves all in. Obreshkov folds and Cartwright takes the pot.
Kyle Cartwright - 2,100,000 (70 bb)
Stoyan Obreshkov - 475,000 (16 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:53 PM Local Time
It is a limped pot pre and Stoyan Obreshkov and Kyle Cartwright take a flop of . Obreshkov checks from the big blind, Cartwright bets around 50,000 from the button, and Obreshkov calls. The turn is the . Obreshkov checks, Cartwright bets around 135,000, and Obreshkov calls.
The river is the . Obreshkov checks and Cartwright bets 445,000. Obreshkov thinks a minute or two, then folds.
Kyle Cartwright - 1,750,000 (58 bb)
Stoyan Obreshkov - 950,000 (32 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:45 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright raises to 60,000 on the button and Stoyan Obreshkov reraises to 225,000. Cartwright makes it around 475,000 to go, but the chips are barely in the middle before Obreshkov folds his hand.
Kyle Cartwright - 1,520,000 (51 bb)
Stoyan Obreshkov - 1,250,000 (42 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:37 PM Local Time
Level: 25
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 5,000
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:33 PM Local Time
Here are updated exact chip counts from the final three players while they take a break:
Stoyan Obreshkov - 1,525,000 (51 bb)
Kyle Cartwright - 1,205,000 (40 bb)
Gal Yifrach - 270,000 (9 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:23 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright raises to around 50,000 out of the small blind and Gal Yifrach calls in the big blind. The two players check the flop, then the turn brings the . Cartwright bets 60,000 or so and Yifrach calls.
The river is the . Cartwright checks and Yifrach bets around 100,000. Cartwright tosses in a chip to call. Yifrach shows for a busted draw and Cartwright takes the pot with for kings and fours.
Kyle Cartwright - 1,140,000 (48 bb)
Gal Yifrach - 285,000 (12 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:10 PM Local Time
There is over 200,000 already in the pot and the board reads . Stoyan Obreshkov bets 172,000 from the small blind and Kyle Cartwright has a decision in the big blind. He looks at the board and tells Obreshkov, "Maybe I can beat you in one of these hands."
He calls and mucks when Obreshkov shows for two pair.
Stoyan Obreshkov - 1,665,000 (69 bb)
Kyle Cartwright - 910,000 (38 bb)
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:05 PM Local Time
Tim Cramer
Stoyan Obreshkov raises to 52,000 from under the gun and Kyle Cartwright reraises to 120,000 on the button. Gal Yifrach folds the small blind and Tim Cramer gets a count on Cartwright's raise before moving all in for around 326,000. Obreshkov folds and Cartwright calls, tabling .
Cramer trails with and gets no help from the board. He is eliminated.
Kyle Cartwright - 1,200,000 (50 bb)
Tim Cramer - Eliminated in fourth place for $28,770
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 8:53 PM Local Time
Hung Le
Hung Le completes his small blind and Stoyan Obreshkov makes it another 60,000 or so out of the big blind. Le sits up in his chari and moves all in for around 400,000. Obreshkov takes a two-second pause before calling with . Le turns over . Le gets no help from the and Obreshkov busts another one.
Stoyan Obreshkov - 1,650,000 (69 bb)
Hung Le - Eliminated in fifth place for $21,310