Poker pro Jason Somerville is to become part of the so-called Team PokerStars Pro, a team of professional players who are sponsored by the popular online cardroom.
Somerville is known to be probably the first poker player to be using the Twitch video platform for broadcasting his participation in online tournaments. It could be said that he enjoys great popularity among the users of the site, as, at present, he has more than 52,000 followers and his videos have more than 3,000,000 views.
Not long ago, Twitch was predominantly used for broadcasting video games. However, it gains more and more popularity among both players and fans of poker.
Somerville is not the only member of Team PokerStars Pro that is active on Twitch. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Randy “nanonoko” Lew have recently started broadcasting their online games as well. What is more, PokerStars has its own channel on Twitch, as well.
The sponsorship contract with Somerville has been the first major one for PokerStars for quite some time.
Kirsty Thompson, currently taking the position of a Head of Pro & Celebrity Markting for PokerStars, shared her comments on their new deal. She said that Somerville, who is an extremely experienced both online and live poker player, has managed to bring some sort of an innovation to the game via his Twitch channel. Ms Thompson also pointed out that she believes he will be a “great ambassador” for their company.
PokerStars hopes that Somerville will significantly contribute to the platform’s introduction to a wider Twitch and YouTube audience.
Recently, the poker pro has repeatedly hinted that he might be able to take part in major tournaments every day and all day long in the months to come. Somerville will be broadcasting his play, resuming his popular Run it UP! series on Sunday, and will have a chat with his followers.
He will also represent PokerStars on live tournaments and poker-related events. His first appearance as a member of the Team PokerStars Pro will be at the American Poker Awards, which will be held tonight. Somerville has been nominated in the Poker’s Best Ambassador category along with poker pros Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Mike Sexton. Furthermore, his Run it UP! series has been nominated for Poker Media Content of the Year.
Somerville is a one-time WSOP bracelet winner and has cashed more than $6 million from both live and online tournaments. He scored his best live cash last year when he finished fourth at a Super High Roller event in Las Vegas and was paid $1.3 million.
