Chris Tryba Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Hold'em

Making a straight flush is rare in poker. Winning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet is also quite improbable. Chris Tryba accomplished both feats in one hand when he topped a 393-player field in the $2,500 mixed hold’em event to win his first WSOP gold bracelet, the $210,107 first place prize and 900 Card Player Player of the Year points.

With a board of Q94J8 on the final hand, Tryba held the 109 in the hole for a queen-high straight flush. He slid out a bet of 250,000 and just hoped that his heads-up opponent Erik Cajelais had a good enough hand to play a big pot.

“I knew he was going to raise. I thought ‘I know it’s all going in and I know he can’t beat me. This is awesome,” said Tryba. “I led into him and I was just hoping he had a big enough hand… to come over the top.”

Cajelais did indeed shove all-in and revealed the K10 for the nut-straight made on the turn when Tryba called, but Cajelais’ hand was second best to Tryba’s straight flush, and he was sent to the rail in second place with $129,766 while Tryba secured his first WSOP title.

Tryba went on a health kick before the Series, eating better and doing Bikram yoga. He lost 60 pounds ahead of this year’s WSOP, preparation that eased his persistent back pain and helped him feel ready to play.

“If a person hasn’t played these tournaments for the whole summer, you can’t really explain it, its just so mentally and physically exhausting. You have to be ready for it, and this year I wanted to put my best foot forward and be ready for it. I think I was ready,” said Tryba with a smile.

Tryba probably needed to be as sharp as possible because the final nine he faced was star studded, with Cajelais, recent bracelet winner Michael Gathy (5th – $50,640), and Phil Ivey (8th – $21,699) all joining him at the ESPN final table stage.

This was Ivey’s fifth final table appearance at the 2012 WSOP, cashing for $572,933 between June 8th and June 20th, including third place and runner-up finishes.

With this unbelievable run in the span of two weeks, and a massive win in the Aussie Millions $250,000 super high roller, Ivey has moved into sixth place in the Player of the Year race, compiling $2,723,393 in tournament earnings already in 2012.

Michael Gathy also made jump up the POY leaderboard for his fifth-place finish, earning 375 points and moving into 20th position in the overall standings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

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