Welcome to poker.ca, home to the largest Canadian online poker directory and news site. Here you’ll find the resources you need to fully engage in the online poker community and keep up to date with all the latest news in the poker industry. With an emphasis on news that affects Canadian poker players and sites that cater specifically to gamblers in Canada, this site provides a unique source of reliable information that can’t be accessed anywhere else on the web. For the first time, all information pertinent to Canadian poker players has been filtered, analyzed, and gathered in one location for your convenience. Check back often for constant updates so you can stay on top of your online poker game.
There has never been a better time for Canadians to take their love of poker online. With so many sites striving to offer players in Canada the best online poker experience, there are a lot of options to choose from and just about anyone is sure to find exactly what he or she is looking for. Whether you’re excited to try out your favorite variety of poker at an online casino or take a look at something completely different, you’re sure to be satisfied by what the online poker community has to offer. More and more online casinos are offering the ability to make deposits (and withdrawals) in Canadian dollars, making your online gambling experience seamless and smooth without the need to constantly calculate exchange rates in the middle of a game. In that respect, playing online poker doesn’t have to be any different than playing at a traditional local casino or at a friend’s home on Friday night.
Why Canadians love online poker
While certain aspects of online poker will feel the same as playing anywhere else in Canada, plenty of other things about the experience can be as new and exciting as you want them to be. When you play poker online, it’s possible to try out any number of casinos in a single evening, and you only have to stay as long as you feel like it – when you’re playing online, there’s no need to persevere through a boring game if you’re not in the mood. With a click of your mouse, you can be somewhere new without worrying about how far you need to drive or whether or not you’ll need to get a hotel. Instead of limiting yourself to playing poker in the rare instances when several of your friends are simultaneously free and energetic enough to be up for a game, try playing online poker when you’re in the mood for a game but too tired or too busy to make time for a big event. Online poker makes it possible to enjoy the game completely at your convenience regardless of what else is going on in your life or anyone else’s.
Rather than spend your next free evening wondering what there is to do or wishing your friends were able to get away from work or other commitments in order to play some poker, take your free time into your own hands and check out what online casinos have to offer. You may even find that you enjoy playing online poker as much as – or even more than – poker in real life. You may discover new varieties of the game that could enhance your next real life poker night, adding a new dimension to the game that you never knew was missing. Online poker doesn’t have to replace spending time playing poker with your buddies or at your local Canadian casino, but it can be a valuable supplement to your hobby by providing convenient, stress-free entertainment on demand from the comfort of home.
In short, yes! But gambling has a long and volatile history in Canada as well as the rest of the world. The first law enacted in Canada to address gambling in any form, be it betting on a poker game or wagering on sports, appeared in 1892. Following the standard English common law, the original Canadian gambling laws restricted the act but didn’t ban it outright. Multiple amendments were added over the years, but the law itself remained relatively intact until 1970, when significant reform to the Criminal Code allowed Canadian provinces to have authority, with minor exceptions, over licensing and regulating gambling.
These changes permitted the creation and cultivation of Canada’s vast gambling industry. Winnipeg is the location of Canada’s first casino, which opened in 1989, followed by another casino in Montreal in 1993. Several other provinces followed suit. While gambling is legal at casinos and approved locations in Canada, it is still by and large illegal to gamble for profit outside of these locations. However, while online casinos are not allowed to legally operate from within Canada at this time, it is still very much legal for Canadians to play online poker, wager money, and enjoy casino games at online casinos that are operated abroad.
So if you are living in Canada and are worried about breaking gambling laws by playing in an online poker tournament or practicing a new variety of poker in an online poker room, rest easy. There is absolutely nothing illegal going on and you can enjoy your game of poker in good conscience.
Zynga, the company behind the largest poker community on the internet, has expressed interest in the possibility of entering into the world of online poker for real money if and when it’s a legal option in the United States. Currently, Zynga offers poker to players who play for fun only – not for cash – [...]
Ultimate Bet is in the news this week after eight pro online poker players filed an official complaint against the site. The players, including Canadian Brad Booth, claim that the site cheated by spying on their hole cards during games with high stakes. According to the official court papers, the players also claim that the [...]
The United States isn’t the only country to put its foot down when it comes to allowing its citizens to get involved with worldwide online poker competition. In the last few weeks, two European countries have taken steps to limit where and how their citizens are allowed to participate in international competition or choose the [...]
The first top-five list for online poker rooms in the New Year has just been released. So far in 2012, these five sites have proven to be the most popular in Canada and around the world. In fifth place is the Ongame Network, preceded by 888 Poker. 888 Poker in particular is noted as having [...]
After being robbed in his home on December 21, Jonathan Duhamel is finally getting some good news – four suspects are being questioned by police in relation to his stolen Rolex watch, which was found this week by Longueuil police. Unfortunately, Duhamel’s 2010 WSOP Main Event champion bracelet is still missing, along with a substantial [...]
Jonathan Duhamel, the first Canadian to win the WSOP Main Event, was reportedly robbed and assaulted at his home in Boucherville, Quebec. The alleged thieves were said to have taken a substantial amount of cash in both euros and Canadian dollars, plus two pieces of jewellery that investigators believe may be unique enough to be [...]
According to an official announcement from 888, the company had a remarkable year in 2011, especially where online poker and online casino games are concerned. 888 will finish the year well ahead of expectations, and plans to pull off the same success in 2012. Much of the site’s success is thanks to the rough ride [...]
Ontario has been considering the merits of online gaming, especially the benefits of offering government-regulated online poker, for several years. In 2010 the province first announced its intentions, but soon thereafter announced a delay in their initial plan. Now the goal seems to have settled on an undetermined date in the year 2012, at which [...]
Of the twenty-two poker players who’ve signed up thus far for the sensational $1 million WSOP tournament, no fewer than five will be representing Canada. The event will help raise money for a charity founded by a Canadian, Guy Laliberté, who is perhaps best known as the founder of Cirque du Soleil. Two of the [...]
This week saw millions of online poker players lose their rights to privacy. Ultimate Bet, the online poker site that was shut down by authorities on Black Friday this year, apparently leaked a long list of players’ personal information, revealing millions of names, addresses, account numbers, and seemingly encrypted passwords. Among those millions of players [...]
A judge in New York said this week that two defendants (out of twelve) in the online poker shutdown case that saw sites like Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker brought under a legal microscope, will likely face a trial in March 2012. The other ten defendants named in the case likely will not [...]
When Full Tilt Poker reached a deal with a French investor, players rejoiced at the hope of finally being able to receive the money they had been waiting for. However, for American players, things could prove to be more complicated than they are for Canadians. Maybe American players who are expecting substantial amounts of money [...]
A new event this year, the International Federation of Poker Nations Cup, will be held this week in London. In order to celebrate the intellectual demands of poker and increase the skill aspect – as opposed to luck aspect – of the game, a variety of poker dubbed “duplicate poker” is employed. In this version [...]
Some of the biggest names in online poker are or have been associated with the PokerStars brand, and with good reason – this site has been around for ten years come next month. From Daniel Negreanu to Jonathan Duhamel, many of Canada’s major poker celebrities have been sponsored by or played at PokerStars. Officially online [...]
For the first time in months, players across the world have breathed a sigh of relief when thinking about the money they lost control of when Full Tilt Poker was shut down by the U.S. government. Any good news after so much disappointment comes as a welcome breath of fresh air, even though it may [...]
On Friday, April 15, four of the most popular online poker rooms in the world were shut down by the U.S. government in order to investigate serious charges of illegal activity. Pokerstars’ founder Isai Scheinberg, a Canadian citizen, is the lead defendant in a groundbreaking case. Fulltilt Poker’s cofounder Nelson Burtnick, who officially [...]
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