One of the 17 PocketFives members to capture World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets this year was Chris indariva Tryba (pictured), who came out on top in a $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event (#35) for $210,000. Tryba has been a card-carrying member of our online poker community since 2006 and resides in Sin City, the home of the annual WSOP. You could say he has a home court advantage."It's absolutely beautiful," Tryba told PocketFives about his gold bracelet. "It's unbelievable. I'm not even a bracelet fan, either, but it's a work of art. I'm wearing it every day. A lot of people don't notice it or don't say anything, but at one table I've been at so far, it has come up a bit. I catch people looking at it." Tryba is a fixture of the WSOP Circuit and is up to a half-million dollars in WSOP and Circuit earnings.
Mixed Hold'em encompasses No Limit Hold'em and Limit Hold'em, so players who are proficient in both games have a leg up on the competition. We know Tryba is solid when it comes to No Limit Hold'em, but what about Limit Hold'em? Does he have the goods?
"I'm much more of a Limit guy than a No Limit guy," Tryba confessed to PocketFives. "I started playing at Foxwoods a long time ago and all they had was Limit. They didn’t even have No Limit when I started playing, so it wasn't even an option. I started before 2003, so there was not a lot of No Limit anywhere. In this tournament, that experience gave me a big leg up. A lot of people were splashing around, while I recognized that you can’t splash around with a marginal hand."
Tryba also cashed in a pair of Stud tournaments in this year's WSOP for a combined $16,000. "I play a lot of Stud at Foxwoods and the Commerce Casino," Tryba told us about his East Coast and West Coast card exploits. "There are still a few pockets of Stud out there."
Heads-up on his home turf in the Nevada desert, Tryba faced off against Quebec poker player Erik Cajelais (pictured), who won a Pot Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha bracelet in Europe three years ago. We asked him to critique the Canuck's Limit Hold'em game: "He had the same take on Limit as I did. He didn't go too crazy and he picked spots. The other guys were splashing around like crazy."Interestingly, 2012 marks the first profitable WSOP for Tryba, who admitted that he's come close to being in the black a few times before, but had yet to get over the hump: "You can't just get close to profitable, you have to get there. I finally got there this year, so it's going to be a nice summer. I've lost about $50,000 the last five years and have never made a profit. $50,000 goes fast out there. Even though I've never profited at the WSOP, I've always had a profitable year overall."
Black Friday changed the online poker world forever. For Americans like Tryba, a tough choice had to be made and, in some cases, monumental life changes occurred. Tryba's post-Black Friday journey saw him qualify for the WSOP National Championship, although he ultimately didn't cash.
"I played on Merge a bit following Black Friday," Tryba recalled, "but it's not my favorite. I never really had any great success online. I've come close and won some things. I've always played poker live anyway and have played a lot more cash recently too. I wanted to make an attempt to drop weight, and that worked out well. It has just been an incredible experience and I am way past the overwhelmed point."
Tryba has also surrounded himself with a few successful poker players. He is a friend of Ronnie Bardah (pictured), who won a WSOP bracelet this year in a No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event, and chats with Huck Seed. The latter has four WSOP bracelets to his name and won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2009. When we talked to Tryba, he was trotting through the halls of the Rio saying hi to what could have been dozens of people.Finally, Tryba alluded to a weight loss journey. We're always interested in hearing about life-changing moments, so we asked the bracelet winner what sparked his interest in shedding the pounds.
"I had locked up my WSOP National Championship seat. I was at 298 pounds and in Atlantic City and stumbled upon a documentary about juicing foods. So, I tried it out and lost 70 pounds. I bought a juicer and started juicing. I got to hang out with my mom and juiced every morning. I lost 50 pounds the first two months and started feeling better, getting active, and playing tennis. I'm also doing Bikram Yoga."
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