Online poker pro Jason Somerville is a very busy—and very popular—man these days. Last week, the 28 year old signed yet another sponsorship deal with one of the largest Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) sites in the world, DraftKings. That brings his current sponsorships to three, including his Twitch Poker webcasting contract and PokerStars Pro status.

Somerville fist gained universal recognition after Ultimate Poker went live in Nevada, becoming the first regulated online poker site in the US. Jason was a key ambassador for that brand, helping to build awareness and player retention by hosting a regular web show called Run It UP.

Ultimate Poker eventually dropped the young poker pro in September of 2014, just two months before closing its virtual doors forever. But his time at UP, and his RIU web show, made him extremely popular among the online poker community. That opened the floodgates for other operators to pick him up, and PokerStars wasted no time in knocking on Somerville’s door.

Since then, he’s taken his Run It Up episodes to the live streaming channel known as Twitch.tv. His moniker, “jcarverpoker”, quickly wrangled up a mass of over 100,000 followers, inciting another sponsorship deal to promote Twitch Poker.

Now, young Jason has inked a contract with DraftKings to promote the DFS wagering giant on his RUI webcasts.

As part of the deal, DraftKings will be hosting a series of online satellite competitions leading into a special Run It Up Reno poker series slated for October. Taking place at the Peppermill Casino, the 6-day event will include a number of $125 buy-in tournaments, followed by a $565 RIU Reno Main Event. Projecting a field of at least 500, Jason Somerville will also be on hand, of course, hosting poker seminars along with “surprise celebrity guests”.

UFC Merges RIU with DFS

In an exclusive interview with LegalSportsReport, Somerville said that he’s not a big DFS bettor and only signed up an account with DraftKings a few months ago. Thus he was very hesitant to sign the deal, fearing the incorporation of DraftKings into RIU wouldn’t “be authentic”.

However, Jason was eventually swayed by the operator’s recent affiliation with UFC. As a longtime fan of UFC who frequently vocalizes that fact on RIU, he felt he would have no problem bridging the gap between his online poker livestream webcast and DFS sports betting.

The poker pro admitted that the majority of his viewers have probably never dealt in daily fantasy sports, but that he believes some of his fans will be intrigued by the possibilities, just as he was when he joined DraftKings earlier this year.

Somerville predicted that “a pretty decent amount” of his viewers would try it out, despite the majority of Twitch viewers not being sports fans, per say. When you consider that a whopping 1.4 million Americans tuned in to watch his most recent livestream, even a minuscule percentage of that would be an impressive turnover for the DFS site.

No Conflict of Interest between PokerStars & DraftKings

Interestingly enough, while DraftKings and FanDuel battle it out for the position of #1 DFS site in North America, the 3^rd place position (sitting upon a rung of the ladder far below the top two rivals) is Victiv, which just happens to be owned by Jason’s other sponsorship partner, PokerStars.

Despite promoting a rival brand, there should be no conflict of interest between his ambassadorships with PokerStars and DraftKings. DFS and online poker are very far apart in terms of skillsets. And besides, realistically speaking, being one of the world’s largest online gambling companies, Somerville’s promotion of DFS could feasibly draw players to the PokerStars-owned DFS site as well.

The great state of California has spent so many years debating online poker regulation without any real progress that I’ve found myself groaning each time another news story on the issue hits the presses. But this year, unlike all others, a bill has actually moved beyond the first phase of reading, and Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and Jason Somerville are doing their part to ensure it continues to see progress.

PokerStars has lobbied hard for passage of an internet poker bill in the Golden State—preferably one that allows the world’s largest poker operator to participate—and who better to represent the campaign than two of the most popular and prolific poker pros of our time? Negreanu and Somerville have agreed to host an iPoker Awareness conference in Sacramento, California on Thursday, May 21, 2015.

The terrific twosome will kick off the event in the Compagno Room of the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento. Negreanu and Somerville will be on hand from 10am to 12 o’clock noon. All in attendance will be able to talk with the poker pros about online poker and the political side of the debate, as well as play a little online poker with them (for free-play, of course) if interested.

PokerStars chooses Crème of the Crop to Represent

PokerStars couldn’t have possibly picked a better team to represent their interests at tomorrow’s iPoker Awareness session. Anyone with any interest in live or online poker knows of Daniel Negreanu, and Jason Somerville became a more high-profile player right around the time that Nevada launched the first US-regulated online poker site in April of 2013.

Daniel Negreanu: Known for his outspoken attitude when it comes to the game of poker, Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu has 6 WSOP bracelets and 2 WPT titles. He’s considered the most affable player in the poker world, and also happens to be at the very top of the All Time Money List with $29,973,908 in live tournament cashes.

The Canadian born poker pro posted his intentions to appear at the California iPoker Awareness seminar via his Twitter feed on Tuesday. “Will be in Sacramento Thursday to talk politics and online poker on behalf of @PokerStars. Feels like the right time to get CA on board!”

Jason Somerville: While this American poker pro may not be as decorated as his fellow iPoker Awareness speaker, having just one WSOP bracelet to his name thus far (with great emphasis on the term ‘thus far’), his popularity among the online poker masses is unquestionable.

Somerville has been actively producing poker videos on YouTube since 2011, and in 2014, started up a live-streaming poker series on Twitch known as Run It Up. After his former sponsor, Ultimate Poker, shut down in Nevada last year, Somerville signed on as a member of the Team PokerStars Pros, and is now in the third season of this immensely popular Run It Up broadcasts.

Jason Somerville also mentioned his upcoming appearance at the iPoker Awareness hearing on his Twitter feed, saying he’s “excited to be heading to Sacramento tmw with @RealKidPoker to talk online poker regulation on behalf of @PokerStars!”

Perfect Timing for CA iPoker Awareness Session

PokerStars couldn’t have timed out the iPoker Awareness conference any better. It takes place just one day after today’s scheduled Joint Hearing among the Assembly GO Committee in which legislators will discuss an “Overview of Gambling in California-Legality, Authorization and Regulation”.

You can listen to the hearing live today at 1:30 PST.

The subject of Assemblyman Adam Gray’s California online poker bill, AB 431, will be high on the agenda at the hearing. After its initial reading, the measure was referred to Committee, officially making it the first such bill in California to make it to the first stage of voting. The bill received unanimous votes in favor of referral on April 27, 2015.