Seat 1: James "Jeb" Hutton

By Sean Chaffin

Chip Count: 1,645,000 (20 big blinds)
Age: 44
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Twitter: None

Making the televised WPT Choctaw final table looked a bit dicy for James “Jeb” Hutton, He first entered the final table seventh out of nine players. Then, with seven players left, he was the short stack and just trying to hold on in hopes one more player busted. A timely battle at the table sealed his good fortune, and Hutton now finds himself returning to play for Tuesday’s finale.

As the second break of the day approached, Michael Stashin and Zachary Smiley were locked in a big hand. As the seconds until the break ticked by, Hutton made his way to the restroom early. Smiley was eliminated on the hand while Hutton was away.

“I knew they were playing the hand, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to go to the bathroom,’ so I split,” Hutton said. “Then I walked back in and I’d made the [televised] final table. My friends knew I had made the final table before I did. They were texting me while I was in the restroom.”

Entering Day 2, Hutton only had about 19,000 chips, which was less than 10 big blinds, but he continued to fight for chips and build his stack up.

“I felt good the whole tournament,” he said. “But honestly, this is kind of a surprise. I haven’t played a tournament in about a year and half. I took a lot of time off.”

Hutton has been playing poker for 15 years and learned the game playing with friends in college. He has almost $34,000 in career winnings and has made a few final tables in smaller buy-in events. This will be the biggest cash of his poker career.

Hutton described his play “tight-aggressive,” and noted that other players believe his play is “nuts.”

Away from the table, Hutton works as a financial advisor and venture capitalist, and his buy-in was certainly a good investment considering even sixth-place money will walk away with $117,761. He has an MBA from Rice University and certainly must be good with numbers.

Still on a short stack entering Tuesday’s televised final table, this finance expert is hoping that his luck continues, and that his WPT investment turns out even better.

Photography by Joe Giron of PokerPhotoArchive.com.

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