GAY-MING SPOTLIGHT
BY SOPHIE JACKSON
The Hidden World of Gay Poker Players MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, MILLIONS OF PLAYERS, MILLIONS OF SECRETS 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 an interview. I was alone and upset. I simply accepted that I was unhappy…I told myself that I had had enough.”
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’.” 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.”
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 20 Gay Vegas Magazine
SELBST
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