A Red-Letter Year For Women In Poker Continues At The NAPT Las Vegas

Yifrach Outlasts Boivin and Shahade to win the NAPT title

On Wednesday evening, as the sun was setting in Las Vegas, the embattled alleged money-launderer Gal Yifrach took down the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) $5300 Main Event after an unlikely comeback against Belgian highstakes beast Thomas Boivin who utterly dominated the final table until heads-up. After a bit of business, the Los Angeles pro won $543,025 and the trophy, deserved spoils after surviving an elite 738-runner field.

Chess player, author, commentator, podcaster and Pokerstars ambassador Jen Shahade came into the final day two of six, adrift of the rampant Boivin and in a very tough ICM predicament as she tried to outlast her shorter stacked tablemates. The Philly native avoided a knockout blow on numerous occasions as she navigated her way through the penultimate day and she ducked ‘n’ weaved beautifully down the home stretch, making the best of her card distribution to finish in third for a career best $291,800 payday.

Elsewhere in the tournament room at Resorts World, her fellow Pokerstars ambassador, author and podcaster Maria Konnikova, took down the $5300 Second Chance tournament for $66,350, a result which takes her career live winnings over the 7-digit mark. It was notable, in fact, how many ladies logged big results at the NAPT this year, cementing the idea that 2025 has been a red-letter year for women in poker.

The Margets Effect

Last Summer, the WSOP Main Event had its first female finalist since Barbara Enright in 1995. A statistical peculiarity, the monkey weighed heavy on the backs of today’s crop of crushers who routinely punch at their weight, given their smaller participation numbers, but still so desperately wanted and deserved a heroin to silence the game’s misogynists. That heroin came in the form of top Spanish pro Leo Margets who ultimately bowed out of The Big Dance in fifth.

Cut to four months later and poker’s top women came out in force to compete in another marquee festival a little farther down the strip. The NAPT might not get the numbers of the WSOP or WPT World Championship but the quality of the fields was noteworthy as Pokerstars brought their roadshow stateside for the third year in a row. Shahade and Konnikova might have grabbed the headlines but there were other wins and deep runs for the women in attendance.

Last week, Stephanie Hagberg took down the ladies event while Elaine Rawn claimed the ladies High Roller crown. In Open events, Paulina Loeliger finished 30th in the $1100 Main while Julie Marie Marriot came 7th in the $1100 Bounty and Tonya Baltazar got second place in the HORSE. This week, poker legend Jen Harman was runner-up in the $5300 8-Game, Kristin Foxen got 6th in the $10,300 High Roller and Lydia Cugudda completed a trio of final table results, getting 4th in the Mystery Bounty to go with her 6th in the Ladies event and 3rd in the Ladies High Roller.

Boivin Domination

As ‘spadies’ were given out with each passing day, the Main Event was progressing, its slow structure giving ample opportunity for the cream to rise to the top. By the end of Day 4, the huge field had crystallised into something more digestible - 16 players led by Boivin, whose understated table presence conceals a scalpel-sharp mind. With 3.365 million chips, he was not just navigating the field; he was plowing it.

Behind him, Richard Green, Baurzhan Akimov and Ekrem Bozkurt each sat on stacks north of two million, forming a second tier of contenders ready to pounce should the leader wobble. Far from faltering, he played flawless poker and by the end of Day 5, with 12.5M chips, he was the axis around which the remaining field revolved.

Shahade, the composed and deliberate Team Pro and chess champion fought her way back from a fraction of a big blind to bag 3M chips, a smidge more than Bozkurt (2.6M) and Yifrach (2.3M) with Michael Berk (1M) and Peter Mugar (700K) pulling up the rear. Boivin may have commanded the lead, but Shahade embodied the spirit of survival as she muscled her way to the front of the chasing pack.

The filming of Season 3 of The Big Game bogarted most of the feature table attention at the NAPT but come Wednesday afternoon, the lights and cameras focussed their attention on the denouement of what had been a gripping multi-day Main Event. The expectation for was Boivin to smush the competition in jig time but the livestream audience were treated to a drama with a few twists and turns.

The Final Table

With the stage set and the tension high, one man sat with a mountain of chips and a target on his back, surrounded by players desperate for a pay-jump and praying for a premium. Boivin didn’t need cards to apply pressure but he actually woke up with them. Jason Koon’s smooth, detailed analysis from the booth gave us an insight into the endgame procedures of a player who understood the levers he could use.

On the other side of the table, Shahade and co were in ICM jail, aware that every decision put them on the precipice of elimination. Something would have to give and it did when Mugar shoved his King-Three into Yifrach’s Ace-Eight. The experienced Berk doubled and looked momentarily dangerous but he would fall next, his Ace-Nine suited succumbing to Boivin’s King-Queen in a standard blind versus blind confrontation. Soon after, Boivin sent Bozkurt to the rail in fourth place, his King-Seven outflopping the Ace-King of a shell-shocked Bozkurt.

The remaining trio took a short break, during which a deal was briefly discussed. Shahade was quick to dismiss the idea of surrendering equity from her ICM number and play continued with the payouts unchanged. Unfortunately for her, a cooler was dealt soon after as she peeked down at Ace-Queen suited when the rampant Boivin found Kings. A clean board meant curtains for the Pokerstars ambassador who was ever gracious as she walked away with a sizeable chunk of change.

Heads-Up

Heads-up, Yifrach had a mountain to climb but he set about his task one step, one hand at a time. Boivin had 83% of the chips and an aura of invincibility but, for a time, Yifrach was dealt the better hands which helped him get to parity. He turned a flush when Boivin flopped two pair to double. Boivin lost more chips, betting his top pair on the river when Yifrach had two pair.

The lead yo-yo’d back and forth for a while. Boivin retook the lead when Yifrach bluffed into a full house. Yifrach strangled it back, turn-rivering two pair, getting value from Boivin’s pair of queens. With a 60-40 lead, Yifrach gave Boivin an even chop, $518,575 apiece and the two played on for $24,450 and the title.

Soon after, Boivin raised on the button and instantly called for his last 7,675,000 after Yifrach shoved. Boivin was ahead with pocket tens against Yifrach’s Ace-Nine, but the flop gave Yifrach a pair and flush draw, turning it into a 50-50 showdown with two cards to come. The flush competed on the turn, leaving Boivin drawing dead and forced to settle for a bittersweet runner-up finish.

Game-Changer

It was undoubtedly an impressive comeback from Yifrach who needed and had more than his fair share of luck to complete the upset. However, for the poker media (myself included), it meant completely re-writing our articles on the event, abandoning our Boivin-centric headlines and narratives. Not only that but we were forced to reckon with just how positive we could really be about a man who is mired in so much legal trouble.

Fortunately, there was another story-line and it was one worthy of celebration. It was genuinely heartening to see so many ladies crush it at NAPT and for the woman who won the most, she pointed to the supportive environment but also her own discipline and performance under pressure:

“My run in the NAPT Main Event brought me the most joy I’ve ever felt in poker. From the belly laughs and singing at the table on Day 2 to the final table rail, filled with old friends and new. Beyond all the fortunate runouts, spots and pay jumps, I was very ‘locked in’ through the event - all my major chess titles were won in large part because I brought elite levels of focus to the table. However, I have not always executed that in poker. That changed at the NAPT.”

It’s fitting that the NAPT changed the game for Shahade because she has always been a game-changer.

Photograph by Rachel Kay Winter

David is a professional poker player, writer and commentator. He has written over 750 blogs and articles on poker; including news, opinion and strategy. He is the producer and host of the 3-time GPI Global Poker Award winning podcast ‘The Chip Race.’ In 2025, he was nominated for the GPI Global Poker Award for journalism. David was a brand ambassador for Unibet Poker from 2017 until 2025. He is currently a brand ambassador for WPT Global.