A Poker Life – Jason PotterPotter Talks About His Background, the Aussie Millions Incident, and His Stellar 2010 |
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Jason Potter remembers the Australian media frenzy quite well. His name was all over the TV, radio, Internet — it seemed like it was everywhere. Unfortunately, the story that was being told wasn’t a pleasant one. What should have been an exciting night in his young poker career had turned into a night he’d remember for all the wrong reasons.
It was at the 2008 Aussie Millions and Potter had just cashed in 31st place. Around 4 a.m. he left the casino to walk back to his hotel with more than $30,000 in cash winnings hidden in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. He hadn’t gone far when he heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind. He was struck on the back of the head and mugged at knife point by two men.
“I was pretty naive at that point and didn’t understand the danger,” he recalls. “The guys followed me from the casino, hit me in the back of the head and took my money. I was surprised at how huge of story it became in Australia. It was all over the Australian media. It was crazy. Still to this day, there are people who only know me from that, which is kind of unfortunate.”
But to most, the 25-year-old is more recognizable as a player who always seems to find himself deep in the world’s biggest tournaments. Since the Aussie Millions incident, he has compiled an impressive list of poker accomplishments, including just recently winning his first PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) title. And he shows no signs of slowing down.
From Future Lawyer to Gambler
Born June 21, 1985, Jason Potter originally got into poker in high school, playing cheap home games with friends in Oklahoma. A huge sports fan, he became more interested in poker when the World Poker Tour started being shown on TV.
“That’s when I really got into it seriously, and me and my friends starting putting more money on it,” he remembers.
When he headed off to attend Oklahoma State University he had one plan for his future — he’d go to law school and become a lawyer. But things weren’t that simple. His major changed repeatedly, often back and forth between political science and something else. He admits that he was doing the bare minimum in class, just enough to skate by. But while his academic studies were shaky, his poker studying began to take off to new levels.
“In college I started playing online on Party Poker. I was still really bad back then. I didn’t put a lot of thought into the game. I went boom and bust for maybe three years in poker. I was playing mostly cash games until that point. Then I found tournaments in 2007 and got 14th in an event for like $30,000 or something, by far the most money I’d ever cashed for. I got the tournament bug and since then I’ve played almost exclusively tournaments.”
Potter says he had a sick end to 2007, running really hot, and from that point on he had a different plan for his future. He started posting in poker strategy forums and became friends with some top players. Those moves he credits as being the biggest catalysts for him to think about the game in the correct way.
“I think what really got me hooked on poker was the tournaments. The end game, the competition — when you get to the final table of tournament it’s a great feeling.”
After three years of college, he dropped out for his new career. According to the Card Player database, he already has more than $1,800,000 in tournament winnings. He has since moved to Austin, Texas and loves traveling around the world for the high buy-in tournaments. But even with his newfound success, he says he never regrets his college experience, and the idea of returning to school is something that runs through his mind often.
“I’ve had a lot of personal strife about that," he admitted. "I’ve really gone back and forth throughout the last few years. I just don’t know if at this point, after living the poker lifestyle for so long, that I’d be able to get back in the academic grind and eventually go to a 9-5 job and work for someone else. I just think it’d be difficult for me. In the end, I really do love to play poker and to go to the tournaments. For the next few years I can’t see myself doing anything else. I’m not burned out at all.”
On the contrary, it seems like he’s just now catching fire.
Catching Fire
Potter, known as “JP OSU” on PokerStars, recently won his first WCOOP bracelet on September 17 when he took down event no. 36, Omaha eight-or-better. Most of his previous success had come in no-limit hold’em, but his big win in a different game was something he has been working toward.
“I really had been playing a ton of mixed games recently, so I thought it was possible. A couple years ago I never would’ve expected it. I really got into playing 8-game, and I feel like I’ve made a ton of strides.”
Of course, it wasn’t easy. In the field of 641 players, Potter eventually found himself heads up against the always-dangerous Bryn “BrynKenney” Kenney, a player he had played with before and whom he considers an excellent player.
“I would’ve been really disappointed to take second. I just wanted a bracelet so bad,” Potter said. “At the beginning of the heads-up match I lost a couple pots and was down around 3-2 in chips and started getting discouraged. Right after that I won pot and sort of steamrolled him after that.”
Potter captured the event for his first WCOOP title and $75,200, the largest online cash of his career. The win also gave him momentum that was apparent in his 10th-place run in event no. 43, a 5th-place finish in the second chance event no. 52, and a 21st-place finish in event no. 62: the two-day $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event.
“I feel like I had a ton of confidence after taking down the bracelet. Of course, I wish I could have gone a little deeper in those other events. But it’s amazing how much better I’m playing when I’m confident.”
Striking Gold in 2010
Potter ranks his WCOOP bracelet win among his top three poker accomplishments for his career. The other two come from some significant live tournament success. He says the first thing on that list is probably the World Series of Poker $1,500 no-limit hold’em final table he made it to in 2009. Out of a massive field of 2,641 players Potter finished fourth, earning $185,444 for his largest ever live tournament cash.
“It was my first World Series of Poker final table. That was a really fun experience and obviously it was for a lot of money.”
The other one was a L.A. Poker Classic prelim event he won in February of 2010, for which he took a chopped portion of $120,000.
“That was the first outright win I had in a major tournament. I had a dry spell for a while up to that point in live poker.”
Potter proceeded to make another WSOP final table this year, where he finished 6th in a $1,500 limit event.
“That was as an unbelievably tough final table with Terrence Chan and Matt Matros. I was probably the fourth best player at the table, and I’m not used to admitting that. But I learned so much in that event. I’m grateful I was able to go deep.”
Having gained a wealth of experience in 2010 and earned both his largest live cash and online cash of his career, Potter now has his eyes set on loftier goals.
“To get to a point where I could travel and play all the big tournaments and not have to worry about money would be a lot of fun. I just want to get to the point where I never have to work for anyone else, and I can do whatever I want and not worry about the repercussions.”
“I’d love to win a WSOP bracelet. That’s probably my number one aspiration.”
That’d be a headline he’d be happy to see.
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