Jason Somerville Announces Departure From Pokerstars

"Next Chapter" For Somerville Seems To Involve Sports Betting

Published on January 7th, 2020 3:35 pm EST

A popular streamer enters free agency with horizon-expanding ideas.

Jason Somerville, who was the first really big poker streamer on Twitch.tv, announced earlier this month that he was amicably cutting ties with Pokerstars.

The partnership between Pokerstars and Somerville started in February of 2015. The signing was particularly notable at the time, as it was the first time that a streamer parlayed their popularity on Twitch.tv into a poker sponsorship deal. In 2020, there are dozens of players who have followed in Somerville's footsteps and done the same.

Pokerstars has been trimming down their sponsorship deals as of late, as Somerville joins names such as Daniel Negreanu and Liv Boeree as formerly sponsored players.

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Somerville has a number of irons in the fire, including his Run It Up brand and a production company.

In addition, Somerville still has a massive following on Twitch, and his free agency will allow him to stream his games on any poker site that he wishes. Somerville said that he was quite limited in what he could stream, as he is located in the United States.

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Somerville implied on his Twitter announcement that he was going to be diving more into sports betting going forward.

Licensed and regulated sports betting is quickly spreading throughout the United States following a key Supreme Court ruling in 2018 that struck down federal prohibition.

Poker has been stagnating in the United States, though sports betting is growing in leaps and bounds, and Somerville diversifying his brand into sports betting seems like a good idea.

Here is Somerville's statement: