James Van Alstyne

James Van Alstyne

James Gibson Van Alstyne (born 1966 in Columbus, Georgia) is an American professional poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Van Alstyne grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from Ben Franklin High School. After high school, Van Alstyne attended Stanford University, where he learned to play poker.

Van Alstyne used to be an engineer before becoming a professional blackjack player, using card-counting techniques to give himself an edge. He wore a baseball cap to disguise himself from casino security, and continues to wear the cap whilst playing poker.

Van Alstyne made three money finishes in Omaha poker tournaments at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) between 1994 and 1998. In 1999, he made his first money finish in the WSOP $10,000 no limit Texas hold 'em main event, finishing in 16th place.

In between 1999 and 2004, Van Alstyne moved away from poker, but lost over a million dollars on the stock market in the process.

In October 2004, Van Alstyne won the WPPA Championships of Poker, defeating a field that included Juan Carlos Mortensen and Kathy Liebert on the way to the $125,520 first prize. Later the same month, he won the first season grand final of the Ultimate Poker Challenge. He had previously won a qualifying tournament in which he defeated Todd Brunson in the final heads-up confrontation.

Van Alstyne finished in the "TV bubble" position (7th) of the World Poker Tour (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 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."

He made his second WPT TV final table in season 5 at the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. He finished in 4th place, winning $250,000.

Van Alstyne won his first bracelet at the 2009 World Series of Poker in the $1,500 HORSE event. A week earlier, he came close to winning a bracelet when he made the final table of the $3,000 HORSE event, fininshing in second place.

As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,400,000. His 13 cashes at the WSOP account for $726,075 of those winnings.

Van Alstyne is a music fan, and often wears music T-shirts when playing poker, including those of The Ramones and The Clash. He is also a fan of Echo & the Bunnymen and rates David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive as his favourite film.