I think you can do what you want with a combination of DECODE and GREATEST.
Something like this maybe?

Select decode(greatest(num_trys, max_trys),num_trys, 'true', max_trys, 'false') from table

>Is there a function in Oracle that emulates what
>the VFP IIF() function does? The closest thing
>I have seen is the DECODE() function.
>
>What I need to do is as follows in a SQL passthru statement:
>
>IIF(num_trys > max_trys, 'True', 'False') AS fieldname