James Van Alstyne, after just missing his shot at his first World Series of Poker bracelet in Event #21 last week (finishing second to Zachary Fellows), would not be denied again and yesterday finally earned that elusive bracelet in Event #31- the $1,500 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. (Hold 'em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Stud Eight-or-Better).

Van Alstyne outlasted a strong starting field of 770 players to win the event, including many top professionals that also made it deep like Marco Traniello (56th), Joseph Serock (17th), Peter "Nordberg" Feldman (49th), Paul Darden (22nd) and Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso (19th).

The final table for Event #31 consisted of many tough players as well and oddly read like some sort of bad vocal training exercise, featuring a Schiffman, Schock, Soulier and Shannon Shorr.  Sadly, Sabic Sebastien came up slightly short, finishing 11th (such a shame).

This was Van Alstyne's third cash of this year's Series, which puts him suddenly tied for third with John Brock Parker, in the heated WSOP 2009 Player of the Year race.  It should also be noted that both this event and the event he previously took second in (#21) were H.O.R.S.E. events, perhaps making him a favorite to watch should he decided to enter this year's $50K H.O.R.S.E. World Championship later this month.

For this victory, along with his first WSOP bracelet, Van Alstyne earned $247,033.

The final table finish positions for Event #31- the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. were as follows:

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 Malcom- $39,183

7th.  Fabrice Soulier- $31,657

8th.  Ronald Schiffman- $26,780

For further details on Event #31 visit www.worldseriesofpoker.com, powered by PokerNews.


Story by Mark Anderson

Sweet Tweets* the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

DAY 3. 23 HANDED FOR HORSEament :glory - starting in a few minutes. 1x
-Bryan Micon

And we are off...day three...
-Vanessa Rousso

Just started over on green 150...at table with rousso, racener and rouhadi
-Shannon Shorr

19th is a bummer :( playin the 1500 nlh now...no rest for the weary ;)
-Vanessa Rousso

ah, river, I have such a love/hate relationship with thee (just scooped in o8 on river)
-Brian Malcolm

FINAL TABLE HORSEament! 354k in chips, about avg!!!
-Bryan Micon

Final table! weeehhh it was a long work!
-Fabrice Soulier

*A sampling of Twitter posts from Event #31, courtesy of the PokerRoad Nation.