WSOP Event #31: James Van Alstyne Finally Pulls Through

Event #31 was the first tournament of this year's WSOP that saw three women make it into the final day - in the end, Vanesso Rousso (pictured left) couldn't quite complete her good year with a bracelet yet, as all three of them had a below average stack and were eliminated before reaching the final table. Lana Maier did a little better, but was finally eliminated as the "bubble girl" before the last two tables were combined.

Things were looking better for Fabrice Schoulier, Schannon Shorr and Mitch Shock who entered the third day as the top three in chips. Their chip advantage carried them all the way to the final table, but in the end, it wasn't enough to make it into the heads-up.

James Van Alstyne - who had recently just barely failed to go the final step and take his first H.O.R.S.E. bracelet in the $3,000 Event - played another solid tournament and even though he joined the final table as second but last in chips, he managed to grind his way up and entered three-handed play as the dominant chip leader.
His quest to conquer the final table started when he eliminated the other short stack, Farzad Rouhani, on 9th place. In a hand of Stud-8, Rouhani raised and was re-raised by Van Alstyne.

Rouhani called both the re-raise and Van Alstyne's all-in bet on fourth street. He revealed () with the possibilites of a flush, a straight, two-pair, trips and a low, but Van Alstyne was ahead with his (). While the latter improved to queens full of jacks, Rouhini couldn't catch anything and had to take his leave.

Ron Schiffman was the next to go when he check-called his all-in on the river against an aggressive Brian Melcolm in a hand of Omaha-8. The board showed and Malcolm revealed for the nut-flush and second nut-low to scoop the pot.

Fabrice Soulier was the next player to be out of luck when he busted in a hand Razz. A good (57)3A95(X) failed to catch while Mitch Schock's catch with (A5)362Q(9) on fifth street left Soulier almost drawing dead.

At blinds of 25,000/50,000, 400,000 chips can be gone really fast - as demonstrated by Brian Malcolm in a hand of Stud. Calling down Mitch Shock, his burrowed pair of fives wasn't enough to beat Shock's split jacks.

In a following hand, a severely short-stacked Shannon Shorr mucks his hand in the big blind after another player... limped - burying his face in his hands in disgust when he realized the blunder. He was subsequently eliminated in a hand of Razz when his K-low was barely beaten by Mitch Shock's Q-low.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

It came down to three-handed play in a hand of Stud-8 when Bryan Micon got it in with a two-pair on third street - and lost out to Van Alstyne's aces up. The latter built up a decent chip lead when he took down Micon's final pot and had about half of the chips left in play.

In a cautious and slow-paced fashion, James Van Alstyne (pictured left) picked the right spots to wound his remaining opponents. Considering their relatively short stacks, they might have been happy about this, but Van Alstyne's constantly managed to increase his lead, leaving them with less and less hope to contend for the bracelet.

When Mitch Shock finally picked up a hand to make a stand with his burrowed jacks, Van Alstyne made a 7-high straight which was enough to scoop the pot against Shock's unimproved pair.

In the following heads-up, there seemed to be just no stopping Van Alstyne. As Tad Jurgens picked up unplayable hand after unplayable hand in Razz and had to constantly pay the bring-in, he was soon left with a mere 200,000 in remaining chips.

His demise finally came in the following level of Stud when he decided to make his final stand with a split pair of deuces. He didn't improve, though, and his () lost out to Van Alstyne who managed to catch one of his many outs with ()(). In the end, James Van Alstyne won a well-deserved H.O.R.S.E. bracelet after an impressive performance on the final table.

World Series Of Poker Event #31 Results
Place	Name	Prize
1st	James Van Alstyne	$247,033
2nd	Tad Jurgens	$152,654
3rd	Mitch Schock	$100,165
4th	Bryan Micon	$69,505
5th	Shannon Shorr	$50,881
6th	Brian Malcolm	$39,183
7th	Fabrice Soulier	$31,657
8th	Ron Schiffman	$26,780
9th	Farzad Rouhani	$19,265