Holding down the fort at #26 in the PocketFives.com Rankingsis North Carolina native Chris Big HuniHunichen (pictured). The three-year member of the online poker community is a two-time PocketFives.com Triple Crownwinner and has turned in over $2 million in tournaments tracked by the site. Recently, Hunichen took down the PokerStars$100 Rebuy for $48,000 and, back on July 4th, won the site’s Sunday 500 for $90,000. He debuted in the Rankings one year ago and this week is our feature guest on the PocketFives.com Poker Podcast.

Hunichen began his journey up the poker ladder as a college student and started making money during his third year in school. He told the PocketFives.com Podcast why he decided to make the game his career: “I knew deep down that this was what I was meant to do and what I loved doing. I really feel like this is where I could make the most money, so I figured poker was the best route for me.”

As you can tell by listening to the Podcast, Hunichen is very straightforward and speaks what’s on his mind, whether the answer is popular or not. He has a thick North Carolina accent and explained how his personality has translated to the virtual felts: “I’ve always been very outgoing, very outspoken, and aggressive with life. I think that’s helped me progress and learn. The game has changed so much. Nowadays, it’s all about aggression and selecting spots. I feel like school helped me a lot too learning about different scenarios and decision-making.”

One poster on PocketFives.com asked Hunichen for his recipe for success in mid-stakes multi-table tournaments, or MTTs. Hunichen shared, “When it comes to mid-stakes, I think one of the problems is that people start opening too much deep. When people have 15 or 20 big blinds and there are four or five stacks behind you with 15 or 20 big blinds, you just don’t need to be opening lightly if these guys are shoving you non-stop. You just have to tighten up your opening ranges, else you’re going to spew off your chips.” Hunichen’s dominance has led to him holding the 18th largest PLB score in the world.

As mentioned before, Hunichen holds a pair of Triple Crowns. However, many in the online poker community have questioned whether the award is as prestigious as it once was. After all, DoylesRoomBrunson 10 member Chris moorman1 Moorman (pictured) has 10, a record, while nine players hold four or more.

Hunichen weighed in on whether the PocketFives.com Online Poker Triple Crown has lost some of its luster: “I think it’s still hard to get. A lot of people talk about how it’s so easy. I’ve been playing for years and only have two. For one of them, I was the first person in PocketFives.com history to get a 24-hour Triple Crown. I’ve tried to go back and figure out how I did it. I’ve tried to get a Triple Crown… but just can’t win that third [tournament].” Winning a Triple Crown requires taking down three $10,000 prize pool non-satellite tournaments with at least 100 players across three sites tracked for the Rankings within the same seven-day period. Click here for details.

Hunichen added that his post-flop play has grown hand-over-fist in recent months. While he used to be focused on pre-flop play, his game has shifted to stress post-flop action: “One thing I’ve worked really hard on over the last year is my post-flop play. About a year-and-a-half ago, I was so much more pre-flop oriented. I learned a lot more about post-flop play and that’s really important in poker. I play a very different style than most people and my betting style is way different. I feel like it works out really well.”

Listen to the rest of this week’s PocketFives.com Podcastfeaturing Chris Big Huni Hunichen.