The North American Poker Tour's $5,300 Main Event barreled to a close on Wednesday in Las Vegas, inviting the last six players to a livestreamed final to play for $650,050 and the PokerStars Golden Shard trophy.
In the end the final numbers were adjusted in a heads-up deal between Gal Yifrach and Thomas Boivin, awarding each of them $518,575 before they set aside a 10% and the trophy for the ultimate winner. That winner was Yilfrach after a stunning comeback, his first since his lone bracelet win in 2018. It added up to a final score of $543,025, a new high watermark for the California native.
Chasing Thomas Boivin
Yilfrach beat a field of 738, six of whom returned on Wednesday to play out the final table. Boivin was their overwhelming leader at the beginning of the Day 6 finale, holding more than half the chips in play. His nearest competitor, Jen Shahade, spun her way into the second spot after starting as one of the short stacks on Day 5.
Shahade, a PokerStars Ambassador and PokerOrg Player Advisory Board member, secured the largest win of her career before the final table started, locking up a minimum of $132K to best her $122K Open Face Chinese Pineapple win from the Prague Poker Festival in 2014.
Also in the running was Ekrem Bozkurt, another California native who started the day with $986,593 in career earnings, according to The Hendon Mob. He was followed in fourth on the Day 5 leaderboard by Yifrach, while Michael Berk and Peter Mugar rounded out the final six.
Belgium's Boivin's lead seemed somewhat insurmountable as the day started, a lead he leveraged with several raises in the early going. Mugar was the first to go, an early victim against Yifrach, who joined Berk in slowing the leader down with a couple of early pots.
Berk's comeback didn't last long, however, as he hit the rail in fifth place after Boivin took his stack on an ill-timed shove with king-queen. Bozkurt soon followed in fourth, handing more chips to Boivin on the way out the door.
Let's make a deal?
The final three of Shahade, Boivin, and Yifrach started to talk about a deal. Shahade, who was down to just 11 big blinds, took a look at the numbers and at the $291,800 she had locked up.
"I've made enough money," she said. "Let's play it out."
Play it out they did and Shahade picked up ace-queen. Boivin, however, turned over pocket kings. The ace never showed up and Shahade settled for the $291K.
The comeback
Heads-up play started with Boivin standing tall on a 18.2 million chip stack against Yifrach's 3.8 million with blinds at 100K/150K. Yifrach grabbed the first pot and it was 4.1 million. Then a rivered straight flush to double to 7.8 million. Another million-chip pot here and there and soon we were talking about real money, with Yifrach pulling near even after hitting flop after flop.
Yifrach then figured out a bluff and he had the lead, extending it even further a few hands later when Boivin fired 2.4 million with six-high. It didn't last long, however, and Boivin took the lead back with a full house. The two jockeyed for position some more and Yifrach bounced back into a small lead again. That proved too much swing for the pair and they cut an even deal with a few bucks set aside for the winner.
Play continued on for a short while and Yifrach pulled away until a big confrontation with 
against Boivin's 
. The board ran out with three diamonds and Yifrach sealed the Golden Shared with a flush.
2025 NAPT Las Vegas Main Event final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gal Yifrach | $543,025* |
| 2 | Thomas Boivin | $518,575* |
| 3 | Jen Shahade | $291,800 |
| 4 | Ekrem Bozkurt | $224,450 |
| 5 | Michael Berk | $172,650 |
| 6 | Peter Mugar | $132,850 |
| 7 | Abdullah Akbarpoor | $102,200 |
| 8 | Richard Green | $78,600 |
| 9 | Matthew Beinner | $60,450 |
* - denotes heads-up deal
Images courtesy of Rachel Kay Miller/Matthew Berglund/Danny Maxwell/Rational Intellectual Holdings, Ltd.
