"Your Canadian Experts on All Things Gambling"
Your guide to the best casinos,
poker sites and sportsbooks:
Why do we love to play poker? Is it the thrill of winning cash when a bet pays off? Is it the rush we get when we show our superior strategy? Is it just the kick of knowing you crushed everyone at the table and you are king of the felt for a day?
Whatever pulls you in, you are certainly not alone. There are millions of Canadians anteing up online as we speak. Some are hoping to win millions of dollars at the World Series of Poker. Others are happy to compete for a hundred bucks in a tournament among friends. No matter why you want to play online poker in Canada, or how much you want to compete for, we know you have one thing in common: you want to know where to find the best Canadian poker sites online, via rooms that can offer you:
Whether you are an online poker maniac, or a weekend felt warrior, our expert guide will point you in the right direction and show you the best online poker real money sites. All you've got to do is follow our advice, and play.
With a great user experience and the top bonus, our Canadian online poker pick has to be 888 Poker.
When you play at an online casino in Canada, you're facing off against the house. Whether your bag is blackjack, roulette, or online slots, your only goal is to win money straight out of the casino's pockets. That's true if you're playing for free. And that's true if you're playing for real cash.
But poker isn't like other forms of online gambling. You can't actually win money from the house. The Canadian poker room is simply the host. You're not trying to win their money. Instead, you're testing your skill by trying to win money off other poker players. When you sit down to play online poker at Canadian poker rooms, you're playing with other real poker players from Canada. Just like you, they've made a deposit and brought a giant stack of chips to the cash tables, or they've paid a fee to enter a tournament. Since poker is a game of skill and the house is only taking a cut to host the tournament, the whole online poker Canada legal situation is pretty cut and dry.
So how do online poker sites in Canada make money if you're not actually playing cards against them? It's simple. When you sit down to enter a poker tournament, the cost is broken down into two parts—the tournament entry cost and the fee. For example, a $55 tournament might be listed as $50+5. The $50 goes into the prize pool and the $5 goes to the Canadian poker room as a fee for hosting the tournament.
Sit down at cash tables or ring games at online poker Canada sites and the poker room will take a cut of every pot called the "rake". It's standard practice at both land-based Canadian poker rooms and online poker sites.
Before you ante up to play online poker on the web, you should know that Canadian poker rooms offer many different variations of the game. There's Texas Hold'em, of course, and classic variations like Stud and Omaha, to name a few. You've also got your choice of No Limit, Limit, and Pot Limit. Before you double click on a table or tournament, make sure you know what you're getting into. Many of our picks for the best Canadian poker sites will offer you quick tutorials so you know what type of game you're playing before you shuffle up and deal.
You should also know that all Canadian poker rooms offer cash games (sometimes called 'ring games') and tournaments. In cash games, you bring as much cash as you want to the table, usually up to a healthy maximum. You're free to come and go as you please and the game runs continuously, so there's never an end. If you feel like you've won enough, you can just walk away. When it comes to cash games at poker sites, Canada is always well represented at the tables.
Tournaments work differently. Instead of bringing cash to the online poker tables and getting a chip stack equivalent, you buy in to the tournament for a set price. Every player pays the same entry fee, and each player receives an identical stack of chips. The last man standing wins the tournament, but there are usually prizes for the next few spots, depending on how many entrants the tournament had. In fact, the bigger the tournament, the more players get paid – potentially, dozens and dozens of players can walk away with cash from the CA poker rooms offering tournaments.
Play at a good, reliable, and trusted site
Pick a limit that is comfortable to play at
Freerolls are great for gaining experience
Read up on strategy and invest in some books
Don't feel like you have to play every hand
Analyse your play
Understand pot odds
Learn how to multi-table
Remember it is about the long game
Study Sit'n'Go strategy
If you've heard rumblings about the online poker laws changing, don't worry. That's the situation further south in the USA. Canada looks at online gambling a lot differently. It's easy to find a poker room friendly to Canuck players. In fact, it's too easy. Dozens of Canadian poker websites are willing to take your money. But not all of them are willing to give it back when you score a big win. But don't worry. We've got your back. When you choose legal poker sites in Canada that we recommend, you don't have to worry about playing somewhere sketchy.
Looking for the best card games online? We test and find the best Canadian poker rooms around. We know where it's safe to place your chips, and we know which sites to steer clear of. Take a look at our leading poker room reviews, and then use the links to download the free online poker software. Our expert opinions are valued across the country. After all, we are Canadian poker players like you. Read our comparisons and scan our site ratings – within in minutes you'll know exactly where to go.
You want more?
Of course you do.
We know that we have only touched on the basics of poker here and you can certainly learn more about how poker games work at bicyclecards.com.
Poker rules are fairly simple. In fact, it has been said they take just five minutes to learn (but a lifetime to master). You can learn more about the rules of the game at this site.
Lastly, once you start winning at the tables, you'll want to know about tax rules. You certainly don't want to get caught with a hefty tax bill and be a victim of your own success. You can get a detailed explanation of income tax rules in Canada from Wikipedia.
Yes, it is. Despite the fact that the legality of gambling offline varies depending on what province you're in, you can enjoy gambling on the web wherever in Canada you happen to be based.
Although it's illegal to operate an online casino from within Canada, the government has taken no steps to criminalize online gambling, so it remains perfectly legal for Canadian players to enjoy casino games or online poker, just two examples of popular web gambling activities enjoyed in The Great White North.
Although you can play some poker variants against the dealer in online casinos, Canadian players will usually be looking to sign up with a dedicated online poker site for the largest range of games, best bonuses and most players to pit their skills against.
Sign up with any dedicated poker site and, once you've downloaded their online poker client, claimed your welcome bonus and made your first deposit you'll be presented with a huge list of games you can join, at any time of day or night.
Many players from Canada, and all over the world, begin their poker career playing Texas Hold 'Em. With many inexperienced players around, you can make some real money playing the game against players who have only just started. If you're also a poker newbie, a low stakes Hold 'Em game is a good place to practice your skills.
Omaha can also be very profitable in that you can figure out a great deal of information about how good other players' hands are based on the face-up cards. Until you've developed your skills, we recommend that you avoid Omaha so you don't get taken for a ride.
We'd have to say Texas Hold 'Em. This is the case because the game is so prominent in popular culture, featuring in countless movies and television shows, as well as being the game of choice in many high profile poker tournaments.
However, five-card draw is also a very popular variation. One of the simplest variations of poker, it's another game that many beginners choose to start with. Some players enjoy the game so much that they stick with it throughout their poker playing days, even if they add other variants into the mix too.
Yes and no. Arranging to meet friends at a certain table on an online poker site is frowned upon because it encourages collusion. Talk to your friend about your hand or what you're planning to bet while you're playing, and that's cheating. If you're not talking to your friend, there's not really much point in being at the same table as them.
Many poker sites offer what are known as 'home games'. These are private tables you can play with your friends at and schedule games or tournaments, effectively creating your own poker club. If you're hoping to recreate poker night with your buddies, this is definitely your best bet.
Yes, all of the top online poker sites offer a 'play for free' option by providing players with practice chips. To mimic the real money experience, new practice accounts are credited with a certain number of chips and you can only buy in to games that match up with your bankroll–you'll have to win more if you want to make it into practice games with more experienced players.
Some sites also offer high stakes practice poker games and allow players to buy chip bundles in order to partake. Be aware that, even if you've paid real money for a large bundle of practice chips, they have no value outside of the site. We wouldn't want you to be disappointed if you tried to cash them all in!
Provided you're playing at a legitimate site, which is all we'll ever direct you to, you're perfectly safe playing online poker. Sites closely monitor games to check for collusion or cheating and won't hesitate to ban players who try to create multiple accounts in order to artificially build up pots and make the game easier for themselves.
The best sites use bank grade security technology to make sure that your personal information and payment details are encrypted and remain under lock and key, making online poker sites as safe as or even safer than checking out at any online store.
