The king of poker streaming made an unannounced and unexpected return to the platform which vaulted him to fame this week.
It’s been more than a year since the man they call “JCarver” last live streamed live online poker play for his fans. While he’s popped up here and there to commentate on various live events, he hasn’t actually been doing much of what won him so much acclaim in the first place – playing online poker and talking strategy.
That is changing for the immediate future after Somerville made his shocking return to the airwaves this week, a return no one saw coming. After basing himself in Toronto the last time he streamed regularly, he’s now based in Vancouver, home to fellow Twitch streamer Lex Veldhuis.
Canada has become a popular home for poker streamers, since unlike the US, the country allows access to PokerStars’ international player pool.
When viewers asked why he didn’t warn anyone that he was making a comeback, he said that he didn’t want to promise people he’d back on the digital airwaves, only to let people down if his streaming setup suffered technical difficulties.
Good at Poker, Bad at Streaming
Somerville cautioned his audience that both his poker and streaming skills were going to be a little rusty, given he’d done neither in so long.
Turns out he can still play some poker, but the streaming skills definitely need some sharpening.
He had a profitable first few days back on the virtual felt, making the final tables of two different tournaments. On Wednesday, he final tabled a $215 tournament, finishing fifth for about $1,500. The next day he topped that, finishing second in another $215 event for an $8,537 score.
Unfortunately – or fortunately, if you’re a fan of unintentional humor – viewers missed a lot of the action as JCarver forgot how to stream. He mistakenly put the wrong table on his stream for about five minutes, continuing to comment on the action that no one could see.
After admonishing himself and appearing clearly embarrassed, a few hours later he did the exact same thing again, much to the delight of Twitch chat.
“Why are we watching this withered old rusty streamer?”
“I’m enjoying this more than actually seeing the table.”
“This is what Twitch poker has been missing.”
This Man Teaches Streaming
The irony, of course, is that his latest business venture involves helping others with their streaming skills.
Somerville is in the middle of building his Run it Up Studio in Las Vegas, a purpose-built facility which will help other aspiring poker streamers achieve their goals. He’s hoping his expertise in the area will continue to allow him to what he’s done so well in the last few years – “grow the game of poker by reaching more fans, more regularly, and with superior poker programming.”
He’ll have plenty of time to get his own streaming skills back up to snuff. The 31-year old plans to stay and play in Vancouver for three to four weeks to compete in the World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP), which kicks off September 2.
