Love is in the Air: Jim & Christa Pryor Looking for Success at Golden Gates
One player in today��s field is playing her first-ever Mid-States Poker Tour Main Event. We��re talking about Christa Pryor. Along with her husband, Jim, the couple are easily recognizable on the circuit as both regularly sport Blue Shark Optics (BSO), which is fitting as they are members of Team BSO.
��Christa and I actually met at the poker table in 2009,�� Jim explained. ��I had admired her for a while, but we had never actually talked. Then one night at a game she was talking about her upcoming move from Colorado to Las Vegas. That's when I learned she had been a poker dealer in Cripple Creek, CO; and was moving to Las Vegas to start working as a dealer at the Rio.��
Jim tried to contact her in Vegas, but that proved easier said than done.
��Dealers aren��t easy to get in touch with during the World Series of Poker,�� he said. In Feb. 2010, Jim and Christa��s paths crossed once again at a poker tournament in Colorado Springs. ��We talked, flirted, and quickly began dating. That turned into a marriage in July 2011.��
Jim had a prior relationship with Kerry Karoutsos, owner and operator of Blue Shark Optics, and that lead to two spots on the company��s pro team, which made them the only married couple on the roster.
��One thing I quickly learned was that although I was a BSO team member, she was actually the best poker player in the house,�� Jim admitted. ��As her success at the game grew, Kerry took notice, and invited her to join the team in October 2013. We were officially the only married couple on the team.��
Indeed, Christa has recently found success at the Colorado Poker Championship when she finished runner-up in a no-limit Omaha event and sixth in a no-limit hold��em tournament.
��We have set a goal for Christa to get her at the tables for a variety of regional and national tours,�� Jim said of his wife. ��That all starts with this Mid States Poker Tour event here at the Golden Gates.��