To say that the last year has been a rough one for Maria Maridu Mayrinck (pictured) would be an understatement. Anxiety attacks, the passing of her mother, and largely walking away from poker all occurred in the last 12 months for the popular Brazilian, who was camped out in Las Vegas seeing friends and trying to relax as much as possible. With that in mind, let’s get on to the interview.

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PocketFives: Thank you for joining us. Tell us about the last year.

Maria Mayrinck: The last year has been proof that no matter how much you prepare and discipline yourself for the future, things don’t always end up how you think they will. In March 2012, I started having panic attacks and had never had those before. I had one on an airplane on the way back from London to Vegas. Since it was my first, I thought I was dying. I bit a stewardess’ hand. That’s how out of control I was.

I didn’t want to get on a plane after that. I played out the WSOP and wasn’t focused at all. In August, I managed to get back to Brazil to start treating it and am being treated by one of the best psychiatrists in Brazil. Poker enhances conditions like anxiety and bipolar disorder. Poker is a very strong stressor and my doctor said I should take some time off. I couldn’t focus on poker anyway.

So, I joined a rowing team in Brazil. One day while I was training, I hurt my knee and had to have surgery. As I was recovering from knee surgery and treating my anxiety disorder, my mom, who was tall, blonde gorgeous, and only ate greens and worked out, passed away. She knocked on my door, said she was dying, and fell into my arms. The whole thing took three minutes and then she was dead. It was a complete cluster. I couldn’t accept it. It was too surreal. It took 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and for the whole 40 minutes, I was doing CPR.

She died out of the blue. There wasn’t any heart condition or anything. I went completely nuts. I started calling everyone I knew at 2:00am saying we had to go to the cemetery and unbury her. I couldn’t be left alone for a minute.

We brought in a grief psychiatrist and they considered institutionalizing me. However, I have a great set of friends and family, so they put a nurse with me 24/7 and there was always a family member with me. I was on heavy medication and was a zombie for like a month. I was taking eight narcotics a day prescribed by doctors – everything you can think of for anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.

In February, I moved out of my mom’s house into my own apartment and that’s when things started getting better. My doctor removed my meds here and there and I started to feel myself coming back.

PocketFives: Why did you decide to go to the WSOP this year?

Maria Mayrinck: In the beginning of April, I started thinking that the WSOP was coming up and that I should go. I stopped playing online for a year. They finally took me off my meds and I am down to three now, so I felt total progress. I was able to get on a plane alone and come to Vegas and stay with my aunt here. The days I’m playing are ones in which I wake up and feel good. There’s no pressure here. I don’t think I’ll be coming back to a WSOP for a while because I closed a TV deal and will go back to being a writer and a director in Brazil. I also closed a book deal.

PocketFives: How did your boyfriend, David BakesBaker (pictured), take everything?

Maria Mayrinck: When I talk about him, it makes me want to cry. He’s so wonderful. He’s so mature. He’s disciplined. Nothing gets to him when it comes to poker and I believe that’s why he’s so good. There are just some people who have that quality. You look at Phil Ivey too – they don’t have to try to fight tilt or emotion. When you look at Bakes, when he won his two bracelets, he won, he grabbed my hand, we went home to sleep, and it was business as usual.

With everything with my mom, I told Bakes he didn’t have to come to Brazil because I didn’t have room for him because I had too much going on. He totally respected that. Finally, when I said I was in a place where he could come, he came down and took down a SCOOP tournament. It was amazing to see him help me out, play, win, and not celebrate or anything.

There are no words to describe how Bakes has been. He is the best person I have ever met. He’s good. He’s humble. He works very hard. He deserves the good things that have come to him. People don’t see the effort he puts in. He doesn’t get lazy with his game. He works on it daily.

PocketFives: What can you tell us about your book deal and writing/directing career?

Maria Mayrinck: I have wanted to go back to writing for some time now. I kept getting offers and think a book and film about poker would be great in Brazil. It’ll be a mini series based on my life. We’re starting to write it now. It’s the story of a girl who starts to see the world differently and is very smart. The book and the mini series will be similar.

I have another book that I wrote when I was 19 called “The Soulmaker” that I’m rewriting for production. That has nothing to do with poker. My psychiatrist and family wanted me to have something more stable than poker. The game really enhances and triggers all of these conditions that have been troublesome. Gladly, I caught mine, so why push it? My grief psychiatrist says that when you go through such a profound grief, it’s horrible, but you have the capacity to mold yourself into a new person, like clay. Your soul becomes so soft that you can mold yourself into something new.

PocketFives: Do you think you’d ever go back to playing poker full-time?

Maria Mayrinck: It’s hard to answer because it’s part of my life right now. My dad was a player and that’s how I got started. I see poker as being part of my life for the rest of my life. If you mean traveling the circuit, I don’t see that happening ever again. I want to be home. I want to be near my friends. I think I’ve given up so much for poker already and don’t want to miss those things anymore. I see myself eventually coming to the WSOP or London for EPT at some point because my brother lives in London. If there were family involved, I’d go. I just don’t want to be away from family ever again.

PocketFives: Do you have a few parting words for us?

Maria Mayrinck: Yes. It’s okay for poker players to have problems. Don’t be afraid to show your downswings. It’s normal. It’s human. If you need help, get it before it’s too late. So many poker players are just locked at home playing on their computers. That can trigger a lot of things you might not notice. It’s okay not to be winning all the time. It happens. Variance affects your bankroll and your life. You have to be open and honest about what’s going on.

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