Gal Yifrach took a couple days away from the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) recently to compete in a $200/$400 NLH game on Hustler Casino Live in Los Angeles against Phil Ivey, Garrett Adelstein, and Matt Berkey. In that monster cash game, he was put in a tough spot for a $300,000 pot against Mikki, a loose cannon.
Yifrach finished third in WSOP Event #38: $50,000 High Roller for $495,305 two weeks ago. Last Tuesday, he entered Day 1 of Event #51: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em and spoke with PokerNews during a break to discuss the memorable hand he played on HCL.
Action Flop Turns into Massive Pot
Yifrach had just arrived at the table when he tangled in an interesting hand against Mikki, an avid gambler. The hands dealt were as follows:
Gal Yifrach: a♥️
"Lucky," a loose action player, was also in the pot three-betting preflop with the 4♥️
With action back on Yifrach, he went for a re-raise to $11,000, eliminating everyone from the hand except for Mikki and Lucky. The flop came out 6♠️a♠️q♠️. Lucky, despite completely whiffing on the flop, led for $14,000. Yifrach raised to $36,000, Mikki called, and Lucky got out of the way.
The turn was a meaningless 2♦️, and Yifrach was in a tough spot. His hand was either well ahead or he was behind with outs (nut flush draw). What should he do in this spot with Mikki having about $93,000 behind? He opted to shove, but admitted he could have played it a bit differently.
"Obviously, I did not put him on a set, that was not the range that I put him on," Yifrach said when asked what was going through his mind prior to shoving on the turn. "He could have had any ace-rag, any two-pair in his hand, which my shove would have worked, he would have shoved any two-pair in that spot."
Yifrach is likely correct that he would have gotten Mikki off two-pair given that Mikki went in the tank for a couple of minutes with a set before calling.
"Yes, I could have maybe slightly played it differently," he admitted. "I could have maybe made it bigger preflop."
Perhaps, his four-bet to $11,000 could have been larger preflop, like he says. But, as he mentioned in the interview, he had just arrived in the game and doesn't have much experience playing against Lucky and Mikki. And, even so, would Mikki have folded to a raise of, say, $15,000 with a small pocket pair?
In the end, Mikki scooped the $310,000 pot after winning both runouts on the river. Yifrach would end up battling back before the high-stakes cash game concluded.
