James Gibson Van Alstyne (born 1966 in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

) is an American professional poker player based in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. Van Alstyne grew up in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, and he graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School. After high school, Van Alstyne attended Stanford University, where he learned to play poker. Van Alstyne was formerly employed as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

before becoming a professional blackjack player, using card-counting techniques to give himself an edge. He wears a

baseball cap A baseball cap is a type of soft hat with a rounded crown and a stiff bill projecting in front. The front of the hat typically displays a design or a logo (historically, usually only a sports team, namely a baseball team, or names of relevant c ...

to disguise himself from

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

security, and continues to wear the cap whilst playing poker. Van Alstyne made three money finishes in Omaha

poker tournament A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a " heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of ta ...

s at the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

(WSOP) between

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, he made his first money finish in the main event, finishing in 16th place. Van Alstyne finished in the "TV bubble" position (7th) of the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

(WPT) Aruba Ultimate Poker Classic event in September 2005. He went on to make his first WPT TV final table in the season 4 championship event, finishing in 5th place, winning $439,475. In that event, James came in as the chip-leader, but lost the lead early—and almost 40% of his chips—on a

bluff Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

against Joe Bartholdi, who was second in chips. The bluff put Bartholdi in prohibitive chip position, and he eventually went on to win the event. A few more hits to Alstyne's stack followed, after which a visibly shaken Alstyne was knocked out in 5th place. In the post-game interview with Courtney Friel, Alstyne said, "I just feel horrible. This is the worst final table performance in the history of poker. This was just absolutely, unbelievably bad poker." As of 2017, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,800,000. Van Alstyne is a music fan, and often wears music T-shirts when playing poker, including those of The Ramones and

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

. He is also a fan of Echo & the Bunnymen, and rates David Lynch's film ''

Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...

'' as his favourite film.

World Series of Poker Bracelets

External links

Interview

Hendon Mob tournament results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Alstyne, James American poker players American blackjack players World Series of Poker bracelet winners Living people 1966 births People from Columbus, Georgia Date of birth missing (living people)