The legalization of online poker in California has been a hot topic for quite some time now. And while involved parties and legislators have been quarreling and putting off hearings on the matter, PokerStars, one of the world’s biggest online poker card rooms, has decided to take things into its own hands.
Not long ago, it announced that some of the most popular members of its Team PokerStars Pro would hit the road in an attempt to promote online poker, to lobby for the legalization of the game on the territory of California, and to draw lawmakers’ attention on the matter.
Let California Play!, as the tour is called, will give residents of the state the opportunity to voice their opinion and to play some poker with professional players who have major contributions to the overall popularization of the game.
The Team PokerStars Pros that will be seen at a number of California casinos this summer are Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Somerville, Liv Boeree, and Vanessa Selbst. And it is not a surprise that PokerStars has chosen those five people to promote its cause. All five of them are quite successful online and live tournament players and are known to have changed the game for the better.
Let California Play! has already kicked off on July 17 at Palomar Card Club in San Diego and will run through August 9 with a closing event at Turlock Poker Room in Turlock.
On Sunday, July 19, California residents will have the chance to meet Daniel Negreanu and Jason Somerville at Seven Mile Casino in Chula Vista. There will be a special Q&A session with the players, starting at 9:00 am loaal time. At 10:00 am, a $30 buy-in tournament is set to start and players at the casino will have the chance to face two of the world’s best poker pros.
Daniel Negreanu is a person that hardly needs introduction. A six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and the most profitable live tournament player of all time with winnings of more than $30 million, he became a Team PokerStars Pro in 2007. Currently, Negreanu is among the keenest ambassadors of the game.
Jason Somerville is among the latest additions to the PokerStars Pro roster. He has won one WSOP gold bracelet and has more than $3.5 million in live tournament earnings. And his online achievements are quite impressive as well. The player has collected more than $2 million at PokerStars and Full Tilt online tables.
It could be said that Somerville brought poker broadcasting to new heights, as he started streaming his Run it UP! series on Twitch. His channel on the popular platform gathered popularity quite quickly and at present, it has more than 7 million total views. Somerville in a way unleashed wave of professional poker players joining Twitch and streaming live from online poker tables.
