Jason Somerville Latest Addition to Team PokerStars Pro Roster

When it comes to Team PokerStars Pros, more players have been leaving the ship than getting on it lately. But an announcement made earlier this morning at the PokerStars Blog came as a pleasant surprise for all poker fans out there.

Jason Somerville, a professional player who became very popular with his ‘Run It Up’ show, has been signed by PokerStars. Late last year, the man who goes by the online alias ‘JCarver,' terminated his sponsorship deal with Ultimate Poker, and with him on an open market and ‘up for grabs’ it was just a matter of time before someone snatched him.

After parting ways with UP, Somerville continued to stream on Twitch, and his Twitch channel was probably one of the most visited poker-related channels on the site, reaching several thousand viewers during nearly every broadcast.

With the growing popularity of Twitch and Somerville's viewership, one should not make a mistake thinking that Jason got really lucky to get this deal. The man is a catch as very few standalone players have such a big audience and PokerStars recognized this.

That is why Somerville’s deal with the company includes an agreement that he would play for 70 days straight, from March 1 onward, while broadcasting it all on Twitch so that all his fans out there can keep an eye on his progress.

That said, Somerville is grateful for this opportunity and he described the sponsorship deal with PokerStars as the ‘holy grail,' as he realizes that it gives him the opportunity to do what he has done so far, but much better. His Twitch endeavors have mostly been targeted at getting new players into the game, as well as those players who have been disillusioned by the game.

Somerville also admitted that at this point, although he was signed as a Team Pro, he’s never been less of a ‘pro.' His latest endeavors have mostly been directed towards Twitch and his ‘Run It Up’ show and the broadcasting has been taking up most of his time.

His outings to the world of poker videos started nine years ago when he began making videos for his home forum. From that point on, Somerville's love for creating video content and broadcasting has only grown and he became preoccupied with trying to present poker to a wider audience in a new light.

Somerville has, without any doubt, had more than a fair share of success in his broadcasting efforts, but as he explained in the interview with PokerStars blog, he doesn’t believe that it is anybody’s responsibility to be a poker ambassador if they don’t want to do it.

This is one of those deals that everyone will benefit from. Jason will receive the support he needs to keep running his shows and make them even better, PokerStars get the additional exposure they crave, and numerous poker fans out there get hours upon hours of great, fun content to enjoy for free.

For more of Somerville, head over to the PokerStars pages where you can find a lengthy interview with Brad Willis in which Somerville talks in-depth about what drives him, his future plans, and much more.