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The Hidden World of Gay Poker Players
Jason Somerville
Jason Somerville
Jason Somerville has taken the gaming community by storm. The poker whiz, who has cashed in more than $3.5 million in live tournament earnings, now boasts five million viewers on his Twitch channel and grows his Twitter following by the day. He is also the first - and only - openly gay male poker player.

 

On Valentine’s Day 2012 in an elaborate and heartfelt blog post, the high stake player published his long-kept secret in a brave act of emotional exposure.

 

It wasn’t a decision the poker player took lightly. The mere thought of publicly coming out didn’t enter Somerville’s head until his boyfriend asked if he could join him on a tournament in the Caribbean. Somerville didn’t want to simply introduce his partner as a ‘friend’. “I didn’t want to disrespect the relationship we had”, he explains in a recent interview.

 

I was alone and upset. I simply accepted that I was unhappy…I told myself that I had had enough.”

 

To many, Somerville’s coming-out story is just that - a heartwarming story. But what makes it significant is the context in which it happened, as anyone familiar with the world of professional poker will understand.

“...no man who is a well-known pro in poker is open about it...for there to be zero high-profile openlynot straight men in poker seems bad. Archaic. Reflective of a community that isn’t open to all...it’s just a relic of the old-school mentality when the world’s default mindset was at best ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’.”

 

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In light of this hetero-centric environment, it is interesting to hear Vanessa Selbst’s opinion on gay discrimination in professional poker. The openly gay poker legend is famous for her intelligence and androgynous looks, but claims her sexual orientation never presented problems in her career. “I’ve never encountered prejudice for being gay but I have for being a woman.” Selbst says. Perhaps the poker pro’s boyish looks and butch demeanor allows her to feel more at home amongst the men against whom she plays, but that doesn’t make her immune to sexism.

 

“...sometimes I still don’t get invited to games because they want them to be men only – and it’s explicit, rather than implied.”

 

Selbst refers to perpetuation of the idea that poker is a game played in the gentlemen’s cigar lounge, where there are ‘no women allowed’. Poker is, in other words, seen as a traditional man’s game, with all that this entails - drinking whiskey, talking about women and having the occasional bit of banter. In the case of players Dan Bilzerian and Jeff Gross, that ‘bit of banter’ once included a ‘prop bet’ whereby Bilzerian paid Gross $550,000 to get a LGBT rainbow tattoo on his back.

 

In other words, Bilzerian considers the ‘punishment’ of a gay rainbow tattoo so humiliating that it is worthy of a $550,000 wager. Though no doubt meant as some harmless fun, the message this forfeit sends is indisputably offensive; Bilzerian and Gross couldn’t care less about gay rights. The LGBT movement is nothing but a subject of ridicule between them. Individuals such as Bilzerian and Gross will make gay players think twice about revealing their sexual identity.

 

Ridiculed or not, Somerville doesn’t regret his decision of publicly coming out as gay. Somerville speaks of the freedom he felt in doing so, and reveals he “received a lot of positive feedback from the poker world as well as the gay world.” He describes people’s reaction as ‘kind and helpful’ and goes as far as to say it was the best day of his life. “I took the decision because I thought it was the best thing to do for myself, but if my ‘come-out-of-the-closet process’ can help others, I feel honored.” Somerville says.

 

Somerville has become a spokesfigure for gay players in professional poker, and the overwhelmingly positive response he received upon coming out can only be interpreted as a promising sign that the poker community is headed in the right direction.