This article first appeared in the Jul/Aug 2011 issue of World Gaming magazine.
James “Welcome Back” Potter now spends most of his time as Editor-in-Chief of World Gaming magazine. His background includes a plethora of gaming and journalism experience but it was in the field of poker that he made a name for himself long before the poker boom hit in the mid 2000s.
The first thing to remember about the ‘good old days’ is that they usually weren’t as good as you remember. I don’t dwell on the past but I don’t forget where I came from, even though I don’t spend the hours on the poker table that I used to. I hope you enjoy reading about how I came to love the game as much as I enjoyed living the experiences that have helped shape my life.
I remember watching my parents play seven card stud games when I was no older than seven myself. They played games like baseball, pass the garbage, black mariah and a host of other games where wild cards, hi-lo and other fantastic versions of poker were introduced to me. They had been taught these games from brash American friends who were frequently over for all-night games. My parents carried around a jar of coins and at the end of the night the chips were counted and they settled to the cent. A bad night would only leave them a couple of dollars down. My parents and their friends adhered to the concept that the game was played for fun, but it had to be played right. Poker is a game that simply must be played for money.
They played it tough, drank plenty of wine and most of all had a lot of laughs. I was lucky enough to watch and learn the game before I was marched off to bed. On a good night, much to her friends’ disgust and my delight, mum would let me play a couple of hands for her while she grabbed something from the kitchen or ran off for a bathroom break. I was hooked and I was destined to be a card player and a gambler from a very early age.
After years of playing with friends and family I started playing a reduced deck half-pot seven-card stud game at Casino Canberra well before I was eighteen. I also learnt to play an Australian poker game called ‘manila’ in one of the toughest games going around. I spent many long nights as a young man playing against old time card sharks with names like Pommy Pete, Arthur the Greek, Joe Bananas and Black Steve. At first I lost plenty. I was the small fish in a very small pond so I had to learn quickly. It wasn’t long before I was one of the gang who sat there all night waiting for fresh meat to come along and bleed some money into our pockets.
In the late ’90s I was working as a bookie for an internet bookmaking company when a friend introduced me to poker on the internet and the game of Hold’em. I then stumbled onto tournament poker and it was at that point I knew I had found my calling. I travelled between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra playing more and more poker and working less and less hours. In 2001 I came third in the Australasian Poker Championship (now the Aussie Millions) and pocketed AU$25,000 which was more money than I had ever seen. I then went to Adelaide and made numerous final tables prior to their room closing down that year. I had a bankroll, I quit my job and I was on my way.
Since then I have played all over the world, from smoke filled back rooms with gangsters to immaculate six star casinos and everything in between. I’ve paid my dues. I’ve had some big highs and equally big lows. Strippers, drinking, a crazy party scene and a faster-than-fast lifestyle was my day-in, day-out existence. Sleeping during the day and staring at cards through a glass of whisky all night was standard. The bigger the games the better and there were many nights that I risked every cent I owned because I thought the game was a good one. Racking up AU$15,000 hotel bills at Crown Casino in Melbourne when things were going well to taking a job unloading TVs out of the back of shipping containers to get back in the game were all parts of the journey.
James representing Australia at the APT Battle of the Nations in Macau in 2009
When I started I joined a very tight community. At that stage poker was a game played by a small group of people that loved the game and had been at it for years. I was a young kid in a world inhabited by underworld figures, rich businessmen and professional gamblers. When I sat at the table I was fair game, my money was just as good as anyone else’s but I have to admit that for the most part all I received was help and understanding. There are plenty of Gen-X and Gen-Y poker players now, but they all came to the game recently. Back in the ’90s I was in an environment that was struggling to attract fresh faces. I was the fast-talking kid back then not the dinosaur that I sometimes feel now!
I didn’t have the luxury of learning the basics of live tournament play by playing pub poker, or the advantage of playing thousands of hands for free on the internet. I learnt from losing and doing stupid things like getting drunk at the table and donating my money away. The game was about earning the respect of your peers by your play on the table and by your actions off the table. Some of the games I played could have seen you end up at the bottom of the harbour if you didn’t know when to politely nod your head, tap the table and shut your mouth after some toe cutter hit his miracle one-outer on the river.
I am not complaining about the poker boom of the last eight years. It saved the game I loved and brought it out into the mainstream. It made it easier to make money and created rewards that none of us could possibly have dreamed of 20 years ago. The downside is that the game now has its fair share of arrogant young kids (many of whom play very well) who really have no idea what it is to be a poker player.
I wouldn’t change the experiences I enjoyed being a young man. I lived a lifestyle that most people only dream about. I still love to gamble and I still love to party but I can’t do it day-in day-out like I used to, and nor do I want to. But I can walk into most poker rooms throughout the world and catch up with an old mate and have a drink and a laugh. When I talk about the ‘good old days’ I talk about my journey. Living in the past is a waste of time as you may as well be playing that big old poker game in the sky. Looking back at your history with fond regard is something that we all do. Remember the good and downplay the bad in your memory. Poker and the poker community has been a good friend to me and even though I don’t play as much now as I used to I will always feel at home on a green felt table having a laugh and a drink.
