Somerville Comes Out & Negreanu's Epic Video Blog

February 17th, 2012 | 2:24 am

World-class poker pro Jason Somerville has become the first openly gay male poker pro, and Daniel Negreanu has some scathing words for former Full Tilt pros on his video blog.

By Matt Kaufman, Rakeback.com Poker News Editor

Jason Somerville is one of the most talented young poker players in the world, with massive success both live and online. At the age of 26, his career highlights include a WSOP bracelet and a victory in the PokerStars Sunday Million. In total, he has accumulated over $1.7 million in live tournament earnings and over $2.1 million in online earnings.

While he has gained notoriety throughout his career for his results on the tables, this week he'll add to his legacy for a different reason - Somerville has revealed in his blog that he is gay, making him the first openly gay male poker pro.

The poker world is inherently one where players are treated fairly at the tables, and even away from the tables there is seemingly less prejudice than in other communities. It doesn't matter who you are as long as you have the money to buy into a game. Somerville recognized this and concluded "for there to be zero high-profile openly not-straight men in poker seems... bad. Archaic. Reflective of a community that isn't open to all, when we actually are one of the most open communities in existence."

Until now, Vanessa Selbst was the only openly gay world-class poker pro, but perhaps Somerville's revelation will encourage others to follow suit and not fear being open about who they are.

Negreanu's Video Blog

Daniel Negreanu has released a video blog in which he discusses his thoughts on several topics, including Somerville's blog and Negreanu's own travel plans. By the end of the video, however, he gets quite flustered during a blistering rant at the expense of several former Full Tilt pros.

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