Who is Tyson Apostol?
Tyson Apostol is a cyclist, reality TV star, and amateur poker player from the United States. He was born in Provo, Utah, on June 17, 1979.
Tyson Apostol
Apostol made a living as a professional cyclist between 2003 and 2007. In the CBS reality show Survivor: Tocantins – The Brazilian Highlands, he was cast in 2009. Since then, he has appeared in three more seasons of the Survivor franchise, winning one of them (Season 27, Blood vs. Water).
In terms of poker, he is best known for his appearance in PokerStars’ #TestingTyson promotional campaign, which resulted in him winning a $30,000 Platinum Pass to the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He competed in the $25,000 Poker Players Championship but did not make money.
Apostol has been a long-time poker fan. Since 2016, he has won $21,822 in live tournaments. In 2018, he also appeared on CBS Sports’ Poker Night Live.
Important Career Dates
- 2003: Tyson Apostol became a professional cyclist.
- 2009: He appeared on CBS’s reality show Survivor: Tocantins – The Brazilian Highlands.
- 2017: In the $1,100 No Limit Hold’em – Thursday Thrilla Bounty event that took place at Run It Up Reno V, he finished in second place and won $11,555. It is the most money he has ever won in a single live tournament in his career.
- 2018: He appears in PokerStars’ #TestingTyson advertising campaign. He also receives a Platinum Pass to the 2019 PCA, where he will compete in the $25,000 Poker Players Championship.
The Life Career of Tyson Apostol
The Beginning
Apostol grew up in Utah, a Mormon state. He, too, is a practicing Mormon who served two years as a missionary in the Philippines.
Bringham Young University awarded him a swimming scholarship, but he did not complete his studies. He went to work as a professional cyclist instead and was cast on the reality show Survivor in 2009 after retiring from the sport in 2007.
In 2016, he was invited to Run It Up Reno, a yearly poker festival hosted by famous poker streamer Jason Somerville in Reno, Nevada. Apostol had previously played cards recreationally, but only with his peers in private games.
Live Tournaments
According to The Hendon Mob, Apostol has won $21,822 in live tournaments. That amount is the sum of cash from nine different events over the course of three years.
As previously stated, the first recorded cash on his profile is from Run It Up Reno II in May 2016. He finished seventh for $400 in the $85 NLHE – Six-Max Turbo event. Run It Up Reno events account for 7 of Apostol’s 9 live cash on his profile.
He finished fourth in the $1,100 NLHE Thursday Thriller Bounty tournament for $4,250 at Run It Up Reno IV in April 2017. Later on in 2017, in October, he competed in the exact tournament at Jason Somerville’s 5th texas hold’em series and finished in second place. He won $11,555 this time, the highest single live tournament score of his career to this point. Prabhjot Mall won the title in a heads-up match.
One of his only ITM finishes outside of Reno, NV, came in November 2016 at the PokerStars Festival in New Jersey. He finished 35th in the $1,100 buy-in Main Event, earning $1,576.
Poker World Series
Tyson Apostol has only ever won one Poker World Series event.
He finished 182nd out of such a massive field of 8,920 players in the $365 No Limit Hold’em – Giant event at the 2018 WSOP, earning $1,846.
Cash Games Live
During the month of June 2018, Apostol made an appearance on the CBS Sports show Poker Night Live, where he participated in a $5/$5 NLHE cash game. Poker Night Live was a spinoff of Poker Night in America that only lasted for a short period of time. On the show, celebrities and some professional poker players competed against one another in low-stakes cash games that have been live-streamed. The production placed a greater emphasis on table talk than usual.
Apostol appeared alongside fellow Survivor cast members Boston Rob Mariano, Kim Spradlin, and Jeremy Collins on the show. Jonathan Little was the poker pro at the table.
Little, the owner of a well-known poker coaching website, even posted a video analysis of a hand Apostol played against Poker Night in America host Joe Stapelton. Apostol made the decision to “go all in” despite having an off-suit 7-4 in his hand.
Online Poker
No account has been known to be affiliated with Apostol on any poker site found online.
Tyson Apostol as a Pro Cyclist
As was mentioned at the beginning of this section, Apostol had a professional cycling career cyclist between the years 2003 and 2007.
He finished ninth in the Giro del Lago Maggiore (also known as the GP Knorr) road cycling race in Switzerland in 2003. Between 2005 and 2007, he rode for the Austrian team Team Vorarlberg Santic at the pinnacle of his sporting career.
Survivor: Tocantins – The Brazilian Highlands
Apostol debuted on the 18th season of the American reality television show Survivor, which aired on CBS from February to May 2009. Survivor: Tocantins – The Brazilian Highlands was the title of that season. It was shot in Tocantins, Brazil, as the title suggests.
Contestants in the show are divided into “tribes” and compete in various physical and mental challenges. Every week, a contestant is voted off by their fellow contestants.
Apostol was cast as a Timbira tribe member. On Day 27, he was voted off.
He returned for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Season 20 as part of the “Villains” team and was the sixth player voted out on Day 15 of the series. When he returned in Season 27 (Blood vs. Water) in 2013, he was with his long-term girlfriend, Rachel Foulger. Apostol won the competition this time and received the $1 million first prize.
He also competed in Season 40 (Winners at War) in 2019, which was only open to previous season champions.
Sponsorships
Apostol was also featured in PokerStars’ #TestingTyson ad campaign in late 2018. He had to compete in five categories: discipline, patience, memory, math, and reading people. These are the qualities that Stars consider essential for an effective poker player.
For example, he had to sit quietly for the patience task while casual Survivor fans discussed his performance. He had to decide which statements were true and which were falsely stated by individuals in video submissions curated by Chris Moneymaker for “reading people.”
Apostol received a $30,000 Platinum Pass to the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure as a reward for his efforts. He competed in the $25,000 Poker Players Championship but did not cash.
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