If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Especially when it comes to poker.

Just three days after finishing in second place in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, poker pro James van Alstyne has finished in first place in a H.O.R.S.E. tourney at the ‘09 WSOP.

The victory came in Event #31, a H.O.R.S.E. tourney that had a buy-in of $1,500, a prize pool of about $1 million, 770 entries and 72 payouts.

The win earns van Alstyne, 42, of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, $247,033 and his first career WSOP championship gold bracelet.

The runnerup in the tourney was Tad Jurgens of Long Beach, California, USA, snagging $152,654.

Taking third was Mitch Schock of Bismarck, North Dakota, USA, picking up $100,165.

Top poker names cashing in the tourney include Shannon Shorr in fifth place, Vanessa Rousso in 19th and Andy Black in 28th.

Just three days earlier, van Alstyne finished in second place in 2009 WSOP Event #21, a $3,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament, and earned $192,866.

(H.O.R.S.E. tournaments involve playing five kinds of poker: Hold ‘em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight-or-better stud.)

At a press conference after winning Event #31, van Alstyne said: “It feels really good to win. Last time, I was a little bit disappointed. Also, you do not want to have the chip lead when we get down to two players and then not win.

“With closing this out, I feel a sense of relief. A lot of the other games are full of specialists, particularly hold ‘em. But in H.O.R.S.E., you can see a lot of errors being made. I know I make my own errors, of course.

“But throughout the tournament, there are a lot of mistakes being made. But in no-limit hold ‘em, you see a lot of really good play.”

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)