2011 and 2012 were pretty epic World Series of Pokers for Jason JCarverSomerville (pictured), who is now representing the regulated Nevada online poker room Ultimate Poker. He cashed three times in 2012 for $125,000 total, including a 69th place finish in the Main Event. Somerville won a WSOP bracelet in 2011 in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament and sat down with PocketFives to talk about this year’s series, opening up to the community about his personal life, and his evolving relationship with Ultimate Poker.

PocketFives: Thank you for joining us. Talk about this year’s WSOP.

Jason Somerville: I somehow managed to not cash this year. Looking back on it, I feel like I’ve had a very golden couple of years at the WSOP, so I feel like I was almost due for a WSOP like this. I still had a good summer, though. I had some horses do well and had a great time. I didn’t play as many events as in years past, probably 15 total. I didn’t play any $1,500s, which is weird. I didn’t have the time or desire to do so.

I was super busy with stuff overall. I had a video series I was trying to do, more horses than ever, and managed a lot of people. Plus, I moved to Vegas in June. It was a wild year and there was a lot going on.

PocketFives: Tell us about last year’s Main Event run. How memorable was it?

Jason Somerville: I look back on my Main Event run as one of the defining moments of my career. I had been in the poker game long enough to know how awesome it was to make that deep run. To finally get chips and make Day 6, I appreciated every day of it. It was jaw dropping to be part of it. There’s no atmosphere in poker like being deep in the Main Event. I loved all of that. I loved being in that moment. I’ve always wanted to play the highest possible stakes and be in the most pressure-filled situations.

PocketFives: How tough was it to come out to the poker communityin February 2012?

Jason Somerville: I had a couple of years where I had really focused on poker, from 19 to 23 years old. All I did was play poker. I didn’t have a normal upper teenage life where I went to college and met gay friends and came out to them. That never happened. Instead, I was focused on making as much money as I could.

As time went on, when it came to truly being happy, I couldn’t ignore it. Once I realized that, I started dating. When I eventually met my current boyfriend, he was so open about who he was and I felt if I were going to be with him, I needed to come out and be myself. He and I hit it off very quickly. I saw him every day for like nine months after our first date. We fell for each other really quickly and it seemed like the right thing to do.

I told people one at a time and people were supportive. When I told Daniel Negreanu, he told me to write a blog post in my own voice, keep it true, and don’t allow people to comment on it or correct it. I spent a month-and-a-half writing that post and put it up on Valentine’s Day of last year.

I think 99.9% of people have treated me the same or better. I’m so much happier too. Poker people are pretty tolerant as a community. From my point of view, it was something I struggled with for a long time and carried as a burden for a few years. When I published that post, I got 1,000 messages instantly.

PocketFives: You’re representing Ultimate Poker, so we definitely want to ask you how you got involved with the first legal, regulated online poker site in the U.S.

Jason Somerville: Ultimate Poker and I came to a temporary agreement this summer, but we wanted to figure out how I fit long-term. We’ll be making an official announcement about our relationship next week. The guys at Ultimate Poker are very intelligent and the team is full of industry superstars. They’re looking to be the best poker room out there. The direction is not mediocrity; the direction is to be the best, and as a huge UFC fan, the ability to work with them is amazing.

PocketFives: Talk about the big Ultimate Poker $50K Guaranteed Main Event this Sunday. There’s even a last-longer contest on PocketFivesfor it with $500 up for grabs.

Jason Somerville: All you have to do to play is be in Nevada. It’s just about as good as you can get for online poker. This is our first big guarantee. The Sunday tournament each week has been doing really well and so I think this one will get close to the guarantee. The games have been great overall. They have $10/$20 and $5/$10 going often.

PocketFives: Finally, what are your thoughts about Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson crusading against online pokerin the U.S.? Will you be playing at Adelson’s Venetian or Palazzo any time soon?

Jason Somerville: I really think that in poker, the best thing you can do with a business or organization that isn’t treating people well is not go there. With him saying that online poker is the devil, it makes no sense for someone to support them. It seems very silly, especially given that online gaming carve-outs exist for horse racing and lotteries. I think his views are very short-sided and don’t support the poker industry. He is certainly not an ally of poker.

Check out Ultimate Poker today, and be sure to sign up for our $500 last-longer contestas part of Sunday’s Summer Series Main Event.