Moment of the Week: Mackey and Yifrach Blast Away with River Three-bet
After an added fourth day of action on Saturday, Gal Yifrach took down Event #28: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed for his first WSOP bracelet and $461,798 first prize. A huge hand developed late in Day 3 with four players still remaining – James Mackey, Gary Hasson, and Aaron Mermelstein – that made a big impact on the tournament. That hand is our Global Poker Moment of the Week.
No stranger to big final tables, Mackey had $3.8 million in tournament winnings going into the tournament and was hoping for his second bracelet. Yifrach had a bit over $471,000 in tournament winnings and now almost doubles that with the win today. Along with a bracelet, he won a WSOP Circuit ring at the Bicycle Casino for $90,005.
In Level 30 on Friday, with blinds at 50,000-100,000 and a 10,000 ante, Yifrach opened for 325,000 in the small blind and Mackey called from the big blind. The flop ran out 10♥Q♠10♠ and both players checked.
The A♥ fell on the turn and both checked again. The 2♥ appeared on the river putting three hearts on the board – and plenty of action ensued. Yifrach made a 400,000 bet. Thinking his flush was probably good, Mackey raised to 950,000. Yifrach then came over the top for 2 million – plenty of fireworks on a board that was checked through until the river.
Yifrach: “I think if I bet anything bigger than what I bet on the river, he wouldn’t have called."
Mackey went into the tank, but eventually called. Yifrach tabled 10♦Q♥ for a flopped full house while Mackey mucked Q♥8♥ with a look of disgust. His flush was no good and Yifrach vaulted to a hefty chip stack and ended the day with about 7 million chips. Mackey dropped to third in chips immediately after the hand but was able to rally and move back into second position by the end of the day with 3.1 million.
As the fourth day of action got underway on Saturday three-handed with Hasson also still alive, both players spoke about the action.
Looking back, Mackey says he should have folded, but it was very tough because there were very few hands he could have lost to. He believed Yifrach would have bet aces or ace-ten on the flop, so he eliminated those from Yifrach’s possible holdings. The only other hands he could have lost to then were Qx10x, 10x10x, or QxQx.
“But Gal hadn’t been bluffing the whole day, so when it got to three bets on the river I probably should have just folded,” he said. “But I was getting such good odds. It was tough.”
For his part, Yifrach knew he couldn’t be too aggressive and had to try and reel in his opponent after he hopefully caught a decent hand. His ploy succeeded.
“First of all being short-handed, I was hoping that he had anything at all or hoping that he might go for a bluff even though he’s a very tight player,” he says. “He actually flopped a pair and we checked it all the way down to the river. He made a runner-runner flush, so I was lucky that he actually made a hand. I was fortunate enough to squeeze the maximum out of it.”
Yifrach says his bet size was just enough to make Mackey feel like he had to call.
“I think if I bet anything bigger than what I bet on the river, he wouldn’t have called,” he says.
The hand has been a source of reflection for Mackey since then – even in the middle of playing other hands.
“I was running it over in my mind at the table,” he says laughing. “I really regretted it after calling. I was really close to folding and was in the tank for a good three or four minutes, which is pretty long for me.”
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.
In this Series
- 1 Moment of the Week: Two WSOP Former Main Event Champs Clash at Final Table
- 2 Moment of the Week: Doyle Brunson Making Moves in Last Ever WSOP Event
- 3 Moment of the Week: Mackey and Yifrach Blast Away with River Three-bet
- 4 Moment of the Week: Deeb Takes Over 2018 WSOP POY Lead w/ $25K PLO Win
- 5 Moments of the Week: Ramdin Doubles First Hand in WSOP Main, Strelitz Hits One-Outer
- 6 Moment of the Week: Vanessa Selbst's 2018 WSOP Main Event Early Exit
- 7 Moment of the Week: Jeff Trudeau Hero Calls to Bust One in the WSOP Main
