This site was created specifically for people from Canada, for quick acquaintance with the gambling industry online. In today's article, you can know all about How these Famous Players Play God Mode Poker in Canada. Our Canadian visitors have asked us so many times to write the review of "How these Famous Players Play God Mode Poker in Canada, How these Famous Players Play God Mode Poker in Canada" because of high interest in this topic. Well, the thorough investigation by our gambling expert had been already finished and we have collected here all useful information about How these Famous Players Play God Mode Poker in Canada in one review. You may read it now!
How these Famous Players Play God Mode Poker in Canada
HH: Now, in the original version of this, did this have a delay that was attached to it? So, how did all this work? On the server side, and by the way, I didn’t even look at this until I close to walking out the door – (chuckles) – to me it just felt bad to even look at it. There was a database table in the system that contained a list of users who were allowed stealth-observer admin privilege. In addition to that, if they had that privilege, whenever a deal was done, that stealth observer could see all the hole cards at the table. That stealth observer couldn’t play in the game, but I’ll get back to that.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
RELATED NEWS
World Series of Poker Expands Online Bracelet Schedule to 14 Events
On Thursday, the World Series of Poker released the schedule for this summer’s online bracelet events, to be hosted on WSOP.com. This is something like the thirtieth batch of events . Read more
Phil Galfond Down €750,000 to VeniVidi1993 in Galfond Challenge
Look, I don’t typically make a habit of feeling bad when people of means lose money, but oh man, I am starting to get a little queasy watching the way . Read more
PokerStars, partypoker Launching Dueling Bounty Tourney Series on Super Bowl Sunday
The year 2020 is already one-twelfth gone. It seems like just yesterday that Larry David was arguing that it was too late to wish people Happy New Year and now . Read more
Coronavirus Outbreak Forces Postponement of Triton Jeju Series
The Triton Super High Roller Series scheduled for mid-Februry in Jeju, South Korea has become the first poker event impacted by concern over the expanded threat by the 2019 novel . Read more
Inside UltimateBet: How God Mode was Created
There’s widespread disappointment today in the poker world following yesterday’s approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission of former UltimateBet fraud firm iovation as a service provider for online geolocation service, despite the historical nature of the UltimateBet cheating scandal and the infamous “God Mode” cheating tool. We’ll do a complete story in a bit, but rest easy, readers, and understand that the fix was in. Anger alone won’t rectify the situation. Only exposure can do that.
So, a special treat today, for our readers: A heretofore unpublished excerpt of a lengthy deposition-style interview I did with early ielogic programmer Jack Bates, who was there when the orders to the programming staff to program the used-for-cheating tool came done through iovation’s (then known as ieLogic) hierarchy.
Bates himself did not program the cheating tool, though he was publicly, falsely accused of doing so in a malicious lawsuit filed a few years back. Both the original cheating tool and the ongoing upkeep to make it work were always done in Portland by ieLogic/iovation staffers. A programmer named Brian Russ was the original coder tasked with creating it, and another programmer named Todd Bartleson was tasked with doing the necessary updates to keep the thing running, as shown in an e-mail published earlier this week.
Now, I’d like to make one thing perfectly clear: I gave the complete transcript of this interview to the Nevada Gaming Commission three months ago. Not only does it show the genesis of the cheating tool, it shows that UltimateBet was absolutely, incontrovertible being operated from Portland, not Toronto.
So, everyone, enjoy. I have done some minor stripping of irrelevant commentary, since we conducted the interview as an ongoing dialogue:
Haley Hintze: [] What everyone is going to focus on, to know about, is the creation of the “God Mode” program, which was later asserted to be the method by which certain UB insiders cheated other players. Let me start this off with a precursor question: Was there an earlier form of God Mode, an auditing program and/or developmental tool that was not a live tool, or that existed with a delay?
Jack Bates: My answer to that is no, not that I’m aware of. Now, I feel that I was aware of everything. That said, let’s go over – okay, let’s go over the creation of what should be referred to as the “Stealth Observer” mode. That’s what we’re talking about here, this God Mode client. Before that, there was, on the server itself – which, access to those servers was strictly controlled – the ability for an admin to look at log files, and/or look at things that were logged into the MySQL database for a live hand.
I don’t think there was a tool, per se; I’m not aware of a tool having existed prior to the stealth observer feature, other than I and three other people I’m aware of were authorized to log in to the server. On that server you could see the live action, in a manner that you could see hole cards.
HH: Okay, so it wasn’t encoded in a way to protect it from prying eyes.
JB: Well, there were only four sets of eyes that could get in there.
HH: Who were the other three? [Note: Bates himself was one of the four.]
JB: Daniel [Cunningham, the company’s lead engineer and software designer], [Chief Technical Officer] Jason DeHaan and Brian Russ. [Later, Bates realized that a fifth programmer, Scott Kirkowski, likely also had access.] Now, that said, Brian Russ hated getting onto the production system, and was kind of scared to be there for fear of – he was not the most capable UNIX/LINUX sys-admin kind of guy. He was not on there frequently at all. Now, Daniel and Jason – let me kind of describe what they did there.
Daniel was in charge of basically all the operations. What I mean by that is, for example, tonight $1/$2 limit hold’em is hot, and we don’t have any open seats. So, we made sure there’s another table running. That literally involved, in the early days, getting onto the system and starting a table up.
HH: That had to be manually done, okay.
JB: Anything of that nature, anything that was kind of real-time admin, Daniel and Jason did that. Jason was the backup. Daniel was the primary – I don’t know, they shared duties in shifts and stuff, I don’t know. They were the two guys who knew enough, to do, you know, who knew the system in and out in the production world. Besides myself (chuckles).
HH: Now, let’s talk about this meeting where the stealth observer tool was proposed. Why don’t you just take it from the top and describe what happened that day.
JB: Okay, well, let me give you a little bit of background. We had fairly regular engineering meetings. The typical attendance on this meeting: It would be led by Jason DeHaan, I would be there, Brian would be there, John Salyer would be there, Todd [Bartleson] would be there, Jim Hendrie (our quality assurance guy) would be there, and that was generally it. These were regular meetings, where we talked about the development plan, status, deadlines, all that kind of crap.
Now, this particular meeting you’re asking about, it was actually quite frequent that Jason would not be there; he would call in from Chicago and he’d be on a Polycom conference phone. It was kind of like Charlie’s Angels. I cannot remember, and I’ve kind of been wracking my brain for a couple of days about this, whether he was actually present in Portland or over the phone for this, this particular meeting. A bunch of new features for our next big push were being discussed and that one came up, and I and several other people voiced an objection to that [the creation of the stealth observer]. I remember in particular John Salyer saying something to the effect that “No good can come from that.”
I might have said – I’m more of an asshole, okay – I might have said something like, “All the security work I’ve done, and you want to do that?” I might have been that incensed about the idea. In the meeting itself, it was clearly communicated by engineering staff to Jason that we really didn’t want to do this.
HH: Within this discussion that was going on, what the reason given for doing it?
JB: Sure. I vaguely – no, not vaguely – I clearly remember Jason saying that Russ wanted this feature because he believed there were cheaters. Those probably weren’t the exact words, but that was the sentiment. That’s what was expressed there. We’d just gotten over, gotten past, got on our feet after a huge credit-card fraud problem. I forget to mention that earlier; my other job was implementing the early versions of ieSnare.
HH: Which we would’ve gotten to anyhow…
JB: Yeah. So, that didn’t really matter to management that we thought it was a bad idea. [] Clearly this is a security problem. The places in the code on the server where this actually required modifications were not really in my world, and I probably wouldn’t have done the work anyway. Brian did that work, to implement the tool. [] Just as a quick aside, Brian had nothing to do with any cheating.
[] There are two parts to the tool, essentially. One part was on the server side; the other part was – speaking technically here – a compile-time modification of the client, such that in order to build the stealth observer client required a separate build to be performed with a digital studio, which is what they were using for all the client work.
So, how did all this work? On the server side, and by the way, I didn’t even look at this until I close to walking out the door – (chuckles) – to me it just felt bad to even look at it. There was a database table in the system that contained a list of users who were allowed stealth-observer admin privilege. In addition to that, if they had that privilege, whenever a deal was done, that stealth observer could see all the hole cards at the table. That stealth observer couldn’t play in the game, but I’ll get back to that.
The other half of this was on the client side. Until I read about this stuff on the internet recently about a guy who had essentially decompiled or disassembled the client and looked at what was going on in there, I didn’t know jack about how it worked. I didn’t know that beyond just having a user name and password, that was in that table on the server, an additional layer or something – as it turned out, there needed to be a registry tree.
HH: How do you think, just as an aside here, how do you think that the registry keys which appear to be linked to the stealth observer ended up in standard builds of the client software?
JB: That’s a good question. I know that on the client side you could not activate the stealth-observer feature from a non-stealth-observer client. I know that from reading some stuff on the internet and having some discussions with the client guys. That discussion occurred, obviously, after the news broke.
HH: Even if you had these registry keys in your software, you would not have been able to use stealth mode, simply because your screen name and password would not have been part of this separate database maintained at the home office. Correct?
JB: Here’s how I think it worked. Inside the client, you had to have the ability to parse and display the message that contained the hole cards for everyone at the table. It was a special message. I think that was the part that was additionally compiled, as I said earlier.
HH: Now, in the original version of this, did this have a delay that was attached to it?
JB: No. I think that two different features might be getting confused here. There was a promotion we did where well-known poker celebrities would play heads-up.
JB: There was, I believe, a five-minute lag on the data feed to people who wanted to watch that game. That was implemented as a server feature, and Brian implemented that as well. Anything involving game play itself, that was kind of his world. This was some sort of a promotion we had, where Phil Hellmuth played some other favorite guy, and you can see the hole cards on a five-minute delay.
JB: It was only heads-up, you know. Heads-up hands never last five minutes, so that was a security mechanism so that those guys couldn’t cheat on each other.
HH: That makes sense. Going back to the meeting, do you remember an approximate date when this meeting occurred?
JB: I’ve been thinking about it, and it was shortly after we moved into Big Pink, which is the name of an office building in Portland, where I believe iovation is still quartered. If I had to guess, I would say it was early 2003, so maybe January or February. I’m not really sure. It was shortly after that; the meeting that occurred was in the conference room in that building, which my office was right next to. The initial release of that feature was probably a month or six weeks after that. I don’t know – that was our basic “push” cycle.
HH: Okay. I believe the final KGC report listed a date of May, 2003 for when they believe the hole-card cheating started. Does that fall in with the same general timeline that you remember?
JB: That’s plausible. I certainly couldn’t refute that. My memory’s not good enough.
HH: [] Moving down the list here of questions, you mentioned the screen names that had access to stealth mode being stored in a small database?
HH: Who would have had access to that, specifically? I just want to clarify that.
JB: Okay, that was a database on the production cluster, so the same four people: Myself, Jason DeHaan, Daniel Cunningham and Brian Russ. [We] would have been able to manipulate that table.
HH: But you never actually did any work with that, correct?
JB: I never even looked at that.
HH: Right. I just wanted to get that on the record for you here. Let’s see here….
JB: In fact, I didn’t even know how it worked until shortly before my departure.
HH: Okay. What I did here, I’ve just pulled some of the names from the programming core here, and I wanted to ask if you knew of any connection they had to God Mode. You’ve already talked about Brian a little bit. Can you think of anything else he might have programmed, in terms of the God Mode stuff? The stealth observer, as you prefer to refer to it as?
JB: He implemented the entire feature on the server side. I would guess that Whitney [Arnold] didn’t have anything to do with it. When that feature was installed on the server, the way that it worked was that Daniel did all of our upgrades, so a SQL update script would be run. The way this worked was, I’m sure, there was a script that created the table, and possibly also drop some usernames into that table, though I’ve never seen that script. It was fairly easy, also, to just drop a username into the table using, directly, the MySQL access monitor program. You could just write an SQL statement and have it do anything you wish.
HH: Now, the client and the registry keys and all that had to be updated with each new version of the software, and distributed to people that were in the know? Is that an accurate depiction of how you believe this happened?
JB: Yes. That is correct. Now, the reason for that is, as I said, the thing was conditionally compiled. Now, part of the protocol that occurred, when the client attached to the server, is that the server would advertise a version number, a minimum version number of the client that was required. That was because we might have made a change to the messaging structure. So, upon initial contact, the server would say, “You need to be at least version 2.5” or whatever. If the client was not that version, there was coding found in the client to go and download the upgrade.
The reason that the stealth mode client would have to occasionally be updated was exactly that. If the messaging format had changed, an old stealth mode client wouldn’t connect any more. It’s come to light that the distribution of that stealth mode client was made via e-mail.
HH: Yes it has. And I guess that brings me to the next name on my list: Todd Bartleson. Did Todd have any connection to the stealth observer program? Distributing it, or compiling the numerous files.
JB: I’m sure he and John both worked on it. Todd was a little bit more of a junior guy, so anything he did, he didn’t report to John, but John would review it. John — (chuckles) — was a particularly particular kind of guy. That whole client was his baby, and he really kind of made sure that there was no stupid in there. Except for this, of course. (laughs)
HH: From what I’ve been told, Todd didn’t really understand the ramifications of a lot of this.
JB: A lot of us were not poker players before we got a job there. In fact, I fall into that category, and so, there was certainly some naivety about “What does this really mean?” I think that some of the folks there are victims of that.
HH: Recently a letter has surfaced, via an assistant to Russ Hamilton named Travis Makar, that showed some blacked-out names. Is Todd Bartleson’s name one of those that’s blacked out?
JB: In a discussion I had with Todd, he told me that he was the author of that e-mail. Now, to be clear, that e-mail contained an attachment which was an update to the stealth-mode observer client.
JB: Okay; we’re talking about the same e-mail.
HH: Correct; same e-mail. There were two or three names in there that were blacked out. Did he mention the names of the other parties?
JB: Ahh, he kind of mentioned it to me in passing, saying, well, “Now there’s an e-mail that I sent out there,” something of that nature. Now, in other discussions I’ve had, I know that Russ Hamilton was one of the people who got that update. Or at least that’s what was conveyed to me. I don’t know if he was on that particular “To:” list.
HH: The one I’m thinking of – and I don’t want to lead you to anything here, but there was pretty strong visual evidence that Mansour was one of the recipients of the letter, based on the spacing and the partial blockage but not complete blockage of one of the names. But you don’t know if Todd would’ve said…
JB: You know, I heard Mansour’s name a bunch of times while I worked there, but I don’t know anything about that guy. [] But let me tell you what I do know about Mansour. As far as the development of desired features for the system, the flow of that to me, it was always Jason saying, “Russ wants something,” or Jason saying, “Mansour wants something.” Yes, I actually did meet and I have spent a little bit of time with Russ, but I’ve never met and don’t really know anything about Mansour. Take that for what it’s worth. (chuckles)
We’ll continue in another piece with more excerpts from this interview, regarding various aspects of UltimateBet, the “God Mode” cheating tool, and iovation’s corrupted business and technical practices.
Top 5 Canadian Poker Players
Source: featherscrewed.tk A pretty long list of great things is found in Canada. There is the legendary moose, maple syrup, poutine, and Wolverine. That’s the comic book character we’re talking about, not actual wolverines. Yes, he’s Canadian, in case you didn’t know. So when your list of great things includes the above, it just seems unfair that Canada is also home to some of the greatest professional Poker players too. In fact, as far as renowned players go, the country happens to be lucky enough to have some of the best in the world. That list keeps growing too, so keep your eyes peeled for more pros hailing from the Great White North in the future. Maybe if you put in the hours at a casino, you could see your own name on a list like this one day. These are the top 5 ranked Poker players in the world that are proud to live under the red Maple Leaf.
Daniel Negreanu
Every list relating to playing pro is likely to have the name Daniel Negreanu on it. He has the nickname Kid Poker, which just about says it all. Some even argue that he is the greatest player in the world, hands down, not just one that also happens to be Canadian. He is widely regarded as having earned the most money from playing professionally, which is certainly a great achievement to have. He has won the World Series of Poker bracelet a total of 6 times, giving him a grand fortune of around $17 million just from this tournament. Plus, he also happens to be the only player ever to snag the World Series of Poker Player of the Year twice. Once in 2014, and again in 2013. Not much more need be said to justify his high acclaim in the professional circles, and with a net worth estimated at around $50 million it’s easy to see why Negreanu is considered to be at the top of his game.
Sam Greenwood
A notable aspect of Sam Greenwood is that much of his incredible success has been seen just recently. In 2014 he had a live tournament winning bank balance of around $92,000. Not too impressive as far as professional playing goes, though still nothing to sneeze at. Today, in 2018, he can proudly declare that he has earned $4,2 million. That’s a pretty impressive turn around, especially in the world of professional Poker. Let’s hope he keeps riding the wave of success as he’s currently at number 4 on the list of the top Canadian earners in the game.
Mike Leah
Coming in at third is Mike Leah. He is renowned for being a consistently great player, raking in the cash, but never actively seeking the limelight as he does so. In terms of live tournament earnings, he has around $7 million under his belt. Earlier in 2018 he bagged the World Poker Tour Fallsview Classic, taking home $358,000 to add to his growing wealth.
Ari Engel
Ari Engel is often referred to as a grinder. What this means in the professional world is that he all but refuses to settle down. Instead, he simply jumps from tournament to tournament, living out of a suitcase and never taking the time to rest. This is perhaps why he is so successful, having bagged the Aussie Millions in 2016, and walking away with $1,1 million.
Kristen Bicknell
Last we have Kirsten Bicknell, who is now a recognisable name after smashing the ladies championships in the World Series of Poker in 2013. She took home a cool $132,000, and it was the start to an ever-rising career. This was followed quickly by a $290,000 second victory in the NLHE Bounty, proving that the first success was no fluke, and the lady has what it takes to be a world champion.
Moving to Canada to Play Poker – FAQ
We interviewed Dubnjoy000 on PokerStars for advice on moving to Canada to play poker. He writes a popular TwoPlusTwo blog on grinding in the Yukon and around the world under the same name.
Online Poker in Canada
– Could you tell us a little about your poker history?
I play low stakes, mainly 1-2 and 2-5 live and some tournament events, 2k buy-ins. Online I grind 50-100nl 6max speed games on PokerStars and PartyPoker, and some midstakes MTTs.
Traveling has been an integral part of my life since the age of 19, so 2 decades. I had the pleasure of both playing poker in Canada and internationally (mainly Vegas, Florida, Paris, Cambodia and the Philippines).
– Is online poker legal in Canada?
Everything poker wise is legal. Even provincial governments have opened some poker sites, e.g. Espacejeux in Quebec and PlayNow in British Colombia.
– Any problems accessing poker sites in Canada?
No problems. iPoker did close most of its doors to Canadians, and there was some rumors of Loto Quebec blocking out PokerStars legally after the Amaya purchase, but nothing ever came out of it.
Free download securely from official PokerStars server
Canada remains a great choice for post Black Friday grinders, pretty much all the online poker sites are open.
– How do you deposit onto / cash out from poker sites in Canada?
Many options, but the I prefer to do bank transfers. They have no fees (except 888), are fast and convenient.
There are some Canadian banks that are more online gambling-friendly then others (notably CIBC). This will also prevent third party fees.
– Best times of day to play online poker in Canada?
If grinding on multiple sites and table selecting on each one, there are always enough good games running. That said, the ideal hours are afternoon (1-7pm) and the wee hours of the morning (1-6am).
– Do Canadians pay taxes on poker winnings?
As a foreigner, you will not have to. As a Canadian pro, yes.
In my case I last paid my taxes in 2012 and then applied for a non-residency status (which waives me from all taxes), as I spent the majority of the years ongoing in Asia.
The World Poker Tour visits Canada for WPT Montreal and the Canadian Spring Championship
Internet & Banking
– How is internet speed in Canada?
Good for the vast majority of the country (especially urban areas).
That said I have had the unfortunate experience of having to quit my online sessions on rare occasions in northern Canada, due to speed fluctuating from 0.1Mbs – 0.6Mbs. I wouldn’t worry about that though.
– Options for mobile internet in Canada?
Rogers and Bell are the 2 main competitors.
– Any advice on opening a Canadian bank account / banking in general?
It seems to be an easy enough process for non-Canadians.
That said, if you were to move to Canada to play poker, I would try opening beforehand an account in an international bank that has a branch in Vancouver (HSBC, for instance).
Kevin ‘WizardOfAhhs’ Thurman made a number of video blogs after relocating to Canada for online poker
Moving to Canada
– What to say to border agents if you’re moving for poker? Be honest?
There are different testimonies on this issue, some people say honesty is the best bet. Personally, whenever I travel to a foreign country, I present myself as being a chef (my previous trade).
I think that if you can get away with a small lie, then avoid the complications.
Nonetheless, it is not illegal to play poker for a living, so whenever I get pulled aside by Canadian customs, I do not lie about my livelihood.
– What’s needed to enter Canada? On forums some had no issues at all with just their passport, others e.g. Daniel Cates were refused entry.
A passport is all you need, especially coming from the USA.
But I guess it might depend on how long you plan on staying…
Poker in Vancouver
I snapped this pic dancing on the street in downtown Vancouver
– How would you rate the quality of life in Vancouver, things to do, safety etc.?
As far as North American cities go, Vancouver has a great quality of life, especially when pertaining to safety, cleanliness and cultural diversity.
While your budget will influence somewhat the extent of your entertainment, there is an ample selection of outdoor activities (the Rocky Mountains and the coast are close by), nightlife or art events (movie festivals, music scene etc.) to choose from.
– What’s the cost of living in Vancouver?
The city can be very pricey, especially the downtown core area.
For your typical 20s-30s poker player planning on dipping into the social scene/nightlife, I would budget in the vicinity of 3-4k/month (all figures in CAD).
Edgewater Casino, Vancouver
– Any advice for rentals in Vancouver?
I would recommend Gastown and Commercial Drive area.
A shared room starts at $400/month for a student type of household, but expect 600-1200 CAD for a 1 bedroom apartment (depending on comfort level).
– How are the options for live poker in Vancouver?
There is a good selection of casinos in Vancouver like EdgeWater, River Rock, and many other venues extending out into the different suburbs.
The action can at times be nittier than one would like, yet you can still find good action games, especially during the tournament series.
– How large is the poker community in Vancouver? I understand a number of pros moved there, Brian Hastings and others.
The poker community in Vancouver is fairly big.
That said, I suspect that the majority of the highstakes online grinders (especially the big names like Galfond or Ben Tollerene) rarely – if ever – go to the local casinos, as even a game like 25-50-100 PLO (that runs during tournament series) would barely justify their presence from a win/rate perspective.
You do see the likes of Greg Mueller, Maria Ho, Jason Koon etc. show up for the tournaments/cash games.
Poker in the Yukon
The Yukon countryside in Winter
– What’s life like out in the Yukon?
The Yukon offers quite a unique experience: if you are looking for outdoor activities such as hiking, canoeing, camping, fishing, hunting etc., you name it, and the Yukon will deliver!
For anyone that wants a break from the mayhem of civilization, this remains one of the last frontiers where a 19th century way of living is not rare nor frowned upon.
– What would someone’s living costs out in the Yukon be?
This really depends on your lifestyle of choice: you could live like the famous Caveman Bill, and spend little to no money – he was featured in the news here.
But I comfortably live off 2k/month, which includes eating out everyday.
– Tips for finding a place to stay in the Yukon?
If you were to spend a summer grinding the live games in Dawson City, you could try camping out in a van at a minimal cost, rent a log cabin or a room at about $600/month.
Winter would be a different story all together, as you would have to immerse yourself into a completely different lifestyle in one of the coldest and darkest places in the world (casino is only opened on weekends in the wintertime).
Poutine, perfect poker food, probably worth leaving the US for
– Much live poker in the Yukon?
The sole Yukon casino is located in Dawson City, in a small town of 1500 habitants. We are therefore lucky to even have 3 poker tables, let alone a casino.
Nevertheless, there are lots of resources (mainly gold) and money in the Yukon, so the action is definitely not lacking at the tables.
– Lastly, how about the poker community in the Yukon?
A few hundred souls. We all know each other up in northern Canada, and even the Alaskans or our neighbors from the Northwest Territories remain familiar faces.
Brad Booth has been the most notable one to rise to fame (even though he is originally from Vancouver…). Both places have a rake capped at $5 (like the USA, yet 25% cheaper because of the exchange rate).
– Anything else you’d like to mention in general on relocating to Canada for poker?
If I was strictly going to play online poker (and the WPT), I would also recommend Montreal, which is a vibrant city with a very intriguing cultural life and cheaper apartment rentals ($500 will get you a comfortable bachelor pad, more basic rooms start at $300).
If live poker is equally important then Vancouver would be my suggestion as the rake in Montreal is higher.
| All Playing Poker Abroad Interviews | |||||
| Thailand | Philippines | Costa Rica | Cambodia | Hong Kong | PokerRefugees |
| Costa Rica | Canada | ||||
Share this article to inspire more people considering poker in Canada to make the move!
Looking for poker in the US? Our top pick for US grinders is Americas Cardroom:
Free download securely from official Americas Cardroom server
Top 10 Canadian Female Poker Players of All Time
Poker has always been one of the most played games in brick-and-mortar casinos, but it boomed in popularity after several televised events, such as Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. These TV shows allowed everyday people to get more familiar with the game and showed them that anyone skillful enough can make a profit by playing poker.
In today’s time, one of the most talented and famous poker players is undoubtedly a Canadian Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu who’s made millions of dollars by playing poker. However, what about his fellow Canadians and members of the fairer sex?
If you’re curious to find out who the best Canadian poker players of all time are, we’ve prepared a short list of some of the best ladies from Canada who have sat at a poker table.
| # | Player | Earnings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kristen Bicknell | $ 4,058,529 |
| 2 | Xuan Liu | $ 1,968,017 |
| 3 | Isabelle Mercier | $ 1,196,277 |
| 4 | Kara Scott | $ 664,795 |
| 5 | Carla Sabini | $ 559,415 |
| 6 | Louise Francoeur | $ 485,254 |
| 7 | Evelyn Ng | $ 377,191 |
| 8 | Darlene Lee | $ 307,569 |
| 9 | Thi Hoa Nguyen | $301,501 |
| 10 | Pam MacNaughton | $260,475 |
1. Kristen Bicknell
She started playing poker during her freshman year at college and played mainly online on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 she played around 2.5 million hands per year, grinding games to become the best Canadian female poker player of all time.
Kristen also played offline and has two WSOP bracelets and 18 money finishes to her name alongside three money finishes at the World Poker Tour and four money finishes at the European Poker Tour.
Her top payouts include winning $328,500 after finishing 11th at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,00 PokerStars Player Championship in 2019, $290,768 for finishing first at the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Bounty at the World Series of Poker in 2016, as well as $284,960 for finishing first at the APPT Macau HK$80,000 No-Limit Hold’em in 2018.
2. Xuan Liu
Some of the most notable prize money rewards include $600,000 for finishing 4th at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,000 Main Event and €360,000 for finishing 3rd at the 2011 Sanremo €5,000 Main Event.
While Liu is currently retired and has decided to invest her time in eSports, she is still considered to be one of the best female poker players Canada has ever had.
3. Isabelle Mercier
Mercier then continued to win the World Poker Tour Ladies’ Night, earning $25,000 in 2004, and in 2005 she earned €23,090 after finishing 10th at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. One of her biggest cash-outs was during the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament, where she earned $115,000 and finished third.
She has seven money finishes at the WSOP, four at the WPT, and four at the European Poker Tour.
4. Kara Scott
One of her most notable achievements includes winning PartyPoker Sports Star Challenge and winning €312,600 after finishing second at the Irish Open in 2009. In addition, Kara Scott finished 104th (out of 6,844 players) at the 2009 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in Main event and earned $41,816 for doing so.
Her records to this date include four money finishes at the WSOP and one money finish at the EPT.
5. Carla Sabini
Her latest money prize comes from the DeepStack Championship Event #111 $400 NLH MonsterStack $60K GTD, where she finished fourth and won $8,733. Some of her biggest cash prizes include winning $214,544 after finishing 4th at the Event 26 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller EPT Season X in London and $139,839 after finishing second at the Mile High Poker Open Main Event back in 2012 at the Heartland Poker Tour – Black Hawk.
Sabini has two money finishes at the WSOP and one money finish at the EPT.
6. Louise Francoeur
Her biggest payouts include her winning $49,108 for finishing 142nd at the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 2016 World Series of Poker and $32,743 for finishing 3rd at the $600 No-Limit Hold’em $400K GTD 2015 Deepstack Extravaganza II.
While Francoeur doesn’t have gigantic wins under her belt, she plays on the regular and is able to continuously earn money by playing poker.
7. Evelyn Ng
Ng’s highest achievements include finishing second right after Clonie Gowen at the Ladies’ Night I tournament in 2003 and finishing 238th at the World Series of Poker in 2008. Her all-time records include 10 money finishes at the World Series of Poker and four money finishes at the World Poker Tour.
8. Darlene Lee
In addition, Lee has five money finishes at the World Series of Poker that got her $90,593 in total, as well as $44,147 from three money finishes at the World Poker Tour. Apart from her $87K finish, Lee’s other biggest payouts include $52,141 from finishing 113th in 2014 at the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 2014 World Series of Poker, and $40,723 after finishing 39th at the Championship Main Event 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.
9. Thi Hoa Nguyen
Although she has not had much success in major WSOP tournaments, she has had consistent success in Las Vegas and Canada putting her just within our top 10 list.
10. Pam MacNaughton
She has had numerous 2nd and 3rd place finishes with her largest win of $94,190 coming from PokerStars Carribean Adventure tournament in Paradise Island
5 Things to Know About Playing Online Poker in Canada
Online poker is a global phenomenon and today it is played in nearly every country of the world. Canada in particular is one of the biggest markets for online poker and some of the best online poker players in the world are in fact Canadian or living in Canada.
While USA restricts online poker significantly and American players are not allowed to play at most sites, Canadian players are accepted on nearly every major online poker network out there. It is still not legal for sites to be hosted in the majority of Canada, but international online poker sites accept Canadians with no major issues.
The list of poker sites that accept Canadian players includes the biggest sites in the world such as PokerStars and 888 Poker and the best part is that Canadians get to play against players from rest of the world with no special restrictions. Here are a few things everyone should know about playing online poker in Canada:
Playing online poker in Canada is definitely not illegal. While one would probably get into legal issues if he was to host an online poker site within Canada, playing at an international site like PokerStars is perfectly fine. In fact, when the DOJ shut down online poker in the USA, countless professional poker players moved to Canada to continue their careers.
Like any form of online gambling, online poker is also regulated in Canada. Under the current laws, it would be illegal to host an online poker site in most provinces, but this does not mean one will be prosecuted simply for playing online poker.
Online poker may seem like a great way to make a living if you are good enough at it, but one should remember that even as a poker player, you must pay your taxes. Online poker winnings, just like any other income are subject to taxes and you should always remember to add them to your tax filings and pay the taxes.
You may be wondering how much you need to pay, but there is no single answer. Just like any other income, the taxes will depend on the province you reside in as well as your other income, your family situation etc. Either way, make sure you get proper consultations and pay according to law.
Online poker is not gambling!
Online poker has been deemed a game of skill for many years and countless players have proved that if you are good at it you can consistently show a profit. Likewise, if you are bad at it, you will consistently show a loss. This is very important to understand because many people play poker as a form of gambling but actually end up losing more than they would if they were playing casino games.
If you plan on playing online poker in Canada, get ready to study as well. There are countless online poker courses and books out there that you can use to get better, so make sure to make use of them and don’t lose when you don’t have to.
Depositing can get tricky!
While you will certainly not get into trouble when playing online poker from Canada, many banks refuse to process payments associated with online poker. For this reason, it is best to avoid using your credit cards to deposit online and use a payment processor like NETELLER or PayPal instead.
When using these payment processors, your money should go through with no issues. In fact, your bank will not even be aware of where the payment is going, so it will not get flagged in any way. Using electronic payment processors for all online gaming transactions also adds additional security to them, making them an obvious choice.
The best poker player in the world is Canadian!
This may come as a surprise to many, but Daniel Negreanu who is probably the world’s best poker player, is in fact Canadian. Daniel was born in Toronto and has built up a respectable career that has led him to the very top of the poker industry.
Negreanu has excelled at both online and live poker but has made a career at the live felt where he feels the most comfortable. Back when he was starting out, online poker was not an option, but Canadian players today get to learn the game from their homes by playing online and follow in his footsteps with much less hustle involved.
Famous Canadian Gamblers
Traditionally Canada has not been known for its gambling culture. Over recent years though with the poker craze going wild, together with a government adopting less rigorous regulation on gaming than its neighbor, it’s slowly become one. We’ve gathered a list of the top 20 Canada-based online and offline gamblers (who were either born or immigrated to Canada), and wrote a bit about their fascinating life stories.
Feel free to share the list, and send us additional suggestions via our contact form. Aspiring to become professional gamblers? Read this.
1) Guy Laliberté
Born in Quebec City, Quebec (1959).
Type of Gambler: Professional Poker Player
Why does he deserve a spot on this list: Guy is a late bloomer in the poker world because he ironically spent the majority of his life forming Cirque du Soleil. In April 2007, he won $696,220 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. What makes his poker career legendary is that he also gives make winnings to charity.
That being said what really made Laliberté the respected philanthropic gentleman that he is, was his Big One charity outreach in which he bought in $1 million dollars for charity in the 2012 World Series of Poker. Part of these proceeds were donated to the One Drop Foundation. A total of 48 players played with a total donation of $5,333,328 for charity.
2) Evelyn Ng
Born in Toronto in 1975
Type of Gambler: Professional Poker Player both live and online.
Why She Deserves a Spot on This List: Since 2010, her total live tournament winnings has exceeded $375,000. She became famous in 2003 after beating several American poker players including: Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, and Kathy Liebert. She also dated Daniel Negreanu for a time.
Find Out More:
3) Daniel Negreanu
Born in: Toronto, Ontario (1974).
Type of gambler: Professional poker player – online, and off-line in both tournaments and cash game.
Why does he deserve a spot on the list: The most accomplished Canadian poker player with 6 WSOP bracelets, 2 WPT wins, and Card Player Magazine player of the year for 2004.
Beyond his tremendous success on the live felt, he has also done remarkably online, which has won him a place of honor as the most recognizable representative in Team Poker Stars (https://www.pokerstars.uk/team-pokerstars/daniel-negreanu/).
Find out more:
4) John Lefebvre
Born in: Calgary in 1951.
Type of Gambler: Primarily online sector.
Why Does He Deserve a Spot on This List: John Lefebvre deserves an “administrative spot” on this list in that he started his empire first in other business ventures. However, he founded NETeller – the premiere online money transfer facility for the online gambling sector. He is also perhaps the only person on this list who has been arrested.
Find Out More:
5) David Baazov
Born in Israel in 1980. He was raised in Montreal, Quebec.
Type of Gambler: Online Gambling
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Baazov is currently the CEO of the Amaya Gaming Group, which is the largest online gambling company in the world. He made Canada a powerhouse in the industry when when he purchased Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars the two largest online poker rooms. In 2014, Forbes published an article about Baazov calling him the young king of online gambling.
Short Bio: One of six children Baazov was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Israel. He moved to Canada when he was one and excelled in mathematics in school. He became disinterested with Judaism at 16 and upon telling his parents was thrown out of the house. He received his big break when he received a large project to work with computers in Montreal’s public library for $20,000,000. At this point, he decided to get into software development and created an electronic poker table that allowed people to play poker without a human dealer. This is how Amaya was born and has continued to make Baazov enough capital to purchase his stake in the online gambling business.
6) Calvin Ayre
Born in: Lloydminster, Canada in 1961.
Type of Gambler: Mainly an online gambler.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: The founder of Bodog, he also purchased slots.com for a record $5,500,000 price.
Short Bio: Ayre is known for his outlandish public behavior and for being a bold businessman that adores making headlines. Some call Ayre the original king of Canadian online gambling as he started Bodog, now one of the top online gaming sites in the industry. Ever since Forbes published an article on his extravagant purchasing style in 2006, Ayre presence has soared.
Find Out More:
7) Michael McDonald
Born in Ontario in 1989.
Type of Gambler: Live Poker Player and online.
Short Bio:McDonald started playing poker in the 11th grade. He began making his money online and quickly earnt enough to buy a Lamborghini. He won his first tournament at 18 and now at 24 is a leading player at live poker tournaments.
8) Mike Watson
Born in St. John’s in 1984
Type of Gambler: Online Poker Player and Live Poker Player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Mike gained popularity in 2008 when he won $1,630,000 at the Bellagio Cup. He boasts $6,700,000 in lifetime table earnings.
Short Bio: Mike has made a great deal of money at both online and live tournaments. As of 2014, the total amount of money that he has won in live tournaments is $7,200,000. Additionally he finished 3rd in the European Poker Tour with a cash out of $422,750, and in 2016 he won the first event of the European Poker Tour.
More Information:
9) Gavin Smith
Born in Ontario in 1968.
Type of Gambler: Live Poker Player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Smith’s expertise is Texas Hold’em. He has won and ranked quite impressively in many poker championships around the world and has won several poker bracelets. His earnings overall exceed $5,300,000 without his TV appearances.
Short Bio: Smith began playing poker at the age of 26 with his parents. Shortly after, he became a poker dealer and began to compete in tournaments. He quickly built enough of a bankroll to put his career as a taxi driver and golf course caretaker aside to win several world poker tournaments.
In May 2005, he won first prize in the World Poker Tour of $1,128,278. He placed 471st in the 2005 World Series of Poker and 592nd in the 2007 World Series of Poker. Additionally, he earned his first WSOP bracelet in the Mixed Hold’Em $2,500 Event.
Find Out More:
10) Sorel Mizzi
Born in Toronto in 1986.
Type of Gambler: Online and Live Poker player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: He boasts winnings greater than $2,600,000 in live poker winnings. He placed 15th at the World Poker Championship at the Bellagio in 2007.
Find Out More:
11) Robert Cheung
Born in Hong Kong in 1970. He then moved to Vancouver.
Type of Gambler: Online and Live Poker Player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: He earned a WSOP bracelet by beating Richard Murnick in a legendary poker match and has since earnt roughly $1,500,000 in live winnings with his online winnings exceeding $2,000,000.
Short Bio: Robert Cheung made headlines when he beat Richard Murnick, whilst his real notoriety came when he created an infamous online screen name called “Runninggreat.” He is known for being the first player to beat an opponent in three consecutive hands in live tournaments. In recent years, Cheung has fostered his online presence more than his live poker winnings.
Find Out More:
12) Jonathan Duhamel
Born in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada in 1987.
Type of Gambler: Live Poker Player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Duhamel is best known for winning the $8,900,000 WSOP prize in 2010.
Find Out More:
13) Brian Molony
Born in Toronto.
Type of Gambler: Live Poker Player and Embezzler Extraordinaire.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Even though many of the gamblers have been above board on this list, sadly there is still some crossover between poker and the criminal world – the reason why Molony is the poster child for the Canadian gambler gone rogue.
Short Bio: Brian Molony is infamous for embezzling millions from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the second largest bank in Canada to satisfy his gambling habit. On the outside Molony was a cheap man who barely tipped at restaurants; however, he was busy embezzling $10,200,000 to gamble on his weekends. He created a shell company to deposit money to Las Vegas Casinos to pay his debt at the gambling tables. Molony was finally caught at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel-Casino and pleaded guilty to embezzlement in 1983. Later a movie about his exploits was created called ”Owing Mahowny”.
14) Shawn Buchanan
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia
Type of Gambler: Online and Live Poker Player
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Buchanan won the World Poker Tour with a cash out of $768,775. In 2011, he was on the leader board among the world leaders of the poker players of the year point rankings.
Short Bio: Buchanan made a name for himself in the poker world when he won his first tournament in 2007 with a cash out of $768,775. Since then, he has made major waves in both the online and live poker world. Some of his more top stats are: acquiring live tournament winnings in excess of $4,450,000 and placing in the top 10 on both the 2010 and 2011 WSOP. Additionally, Buchanan has become an online poker guru online with his screen name of “buck21” on PokerStars. His highest cash out with that screen name has been $97,262 for the first place.
More Information:
15) Brad Booth
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1976.
Type of Poker Player: Online and Live Poker Player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: In 2009, his live poker tournament winnings exceeded $710,000. Additionally, he has appeared on Poker After Dark.
Short Bio: Booth made a name for himself by appearing in High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark. Soon after, he went by the nickname of “Yukon Brad” in the poker world. Booth was involved in a scandal in which he was supposedly cheated out of $2,000,000. Since this transpired he has been on a losing streak that many poker observers believe is the end of his career. That being said Booth had a top career for fourteen years and was praised for being one of the best poker players in the world by Phil Hellmuth.
More Information:
16) Isabelle Mercier
Born in Victoriaville, Quebec in 1975
Type of Gambler: Live Poker Player
Why She Deserves a Spot on This List: Isabelle is a unique pick as first started out as a lawyer going to the Université de Montréal before getting a Master’s Degree in Paris. To fund her studies she worked as the Poker room manager at the Aviation Club de France and learned a few tricks of her own, mainly, how to win!
Short Bio: Isablle Mercier is one of my favorites on this list giving up a secure career as a lawyer and beating men at poker! She first turned heads when she won the 2004 World Poker Tour for the $25,000 cash prize and was given the nickname “No Mercy.” Since then, she won 10th place at the 2005 European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo and won the PokerStars Ante Up For Africa Charity Tournament in Monte Carlo in 2009. Mercier has made several documentaries and was recently hired by BetClic as a consultant for their online betting site.
More Information:
17) Mark Radoja
Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada in 1985.
Type of Gambler: Live Poker Player
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Radoja possesses live tournament winnings exceeding $1,500,000.
Short Bio: Radoja has won a great deal of his earnings at the WSOP. To date he has won two WSOP bracelets: $5,000 No Limit Hold’em – Shootout for $436,568 and $10,000 No Limit Hold’em – Heads-Up for $336,190. What makes Radoja a candidate for this list is that of his $1,500,000 in reported winnings, an impressive $1,469,638 has come from the WSOP.
More Information:
18) Monica Reeves
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1972
Type of Gambler: Professional Blackjack Player
Why She Deserves a Spot on This List: Her live tournament Blackjack winnings exceed $40,000 and she is endorsed on a CBS Blackjack tournament show.
Short Bio: Monica is a former fashion model who began her poker career in 2005. She was tutored by the industry expert Jim Worth. What got her noticed was when she placed 114th in the Aruba Classic. Her fame further increased when she won a big Blackjack Tournament televised by CBS called the Ultimate Blackjack Tour. This landed her a number of TV endorsements.
19) Jamie Staples
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1991
Type of Gambler: Online and Live Poker Player
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: Jamie Staples carved himself a niche in low-stakes poker, which maked him a major player for PokerStaples. Jamie Staples is a rising poker star to keep an eye on.
Short Bio: Jamie Staples got his fame by specializing on low stakes online poker for Twitch.tv. Jamie Staples is a young celebrity to watch with his career just beginning to blossom. He was voted the largest poker streamer in 2016. He is just beginning to dabble in the live poker tournaments and has won $9,000 to date. However, he also already won winnings to exceed $550,000 on his online poker tournaments. It is likely that we are going to see a lot of Jamie Staples in the future.
More Information:
20) Peter Jetten
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985.
Type of Gambler: Online and Live Poker Player.
Why He Deserves a Spot on This List: To date, he has over $2,000,000 in live poker tournament winnings and just received an endorsement deal from Full Tilt Poker.
Short Bio: Peter Jetten won his first online poker tournament while he was attending the University of Ontario. He decided to drop out of school early to pursue his poker career. This proved to be a great investment for Jetten as he finished 8th at the WSOP Tournament in 2006. In 2008, he placed 2nd to Marty Smyth in the $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Omaha Event which had a cash out of $500,000. Shortly after, he earned 4th place in the High Roller Event of European Poker Championships in London for $300,000.
Peter Jetten’s impressive career was bolstered by his remarkable online success. In 2004, he placed two bets totaling $75 and turned that $75 into $100,000 in one year. To date, he has netted $650,000 in online tournaments. It is likely that we will see even more success from Jetten in the future.
More Information:
That concludes our selection of the 20 most famous Canadians gamblers. Be sure to check other popular pages on our website. If you’re looking to start playing online, check out our beginners guide and find the top Canadian casinos on our homepage.
So, let's define, what was the most valuable conclusion of this review: SHARE THIS ARTICLE RELATED NEWS World Series of Poker Expands Online Bracelet Schedule to 14 Events On Thursday, the World Series of Poker released the at How these Famous Players Play God Mode Poker in Canada
Contents of the article
- SHARE THIS ARTICLE
- RELATED NEWS
- World Series of Poker Expands Online...
- Phil Galfond Down €750,000 to...
- PokerStars, partypoker Launching...
- Coronavirus Outbreak Forces...
- Inside UltimateBet: How God Mode was...
- Top 5 Canadian Poker Players
- Daniel Negreanu
- Sam Greenwood
- Mike Leah
- Ari Engel
- Kristen Bicknell
- Moving to Canada to Play Poker – FAQ
- Online Poker in Canada
- – Could you tell us a little...
- – Is online poker legal in...
- – Any problems accessing poker...
- – How do you deposit onto /...
- – Best times of day to play...
- – Do Canadians pay taxes on...
- Internet & Banking
- Moving to Canada
- Poker in Vancouver
- – How would you rate the...
- – What’s the cost of living in...
- – Any advice for rentals in...
- – How are the options for live...
- – How large is the poker...
- Poker in the Yukon
- – What’s life like out in the...
- – What would someone’s living...
- – Tips for finding a place to...
- – Much live poker in the...
- – Lastly, how about the poker...
- – Anything else you’d like to...
- Top 10 Canadian Female Poker Players of...
- 1. Kristen Bicknell
- 2. Xuan Liu
- 3. Isabelle Mercier
- 4. Kara Scott
- 5. Carla Sabini
- 6. Louise Francoeur
- 7. Evelyn Ng
- 8. Darlene Lee
- 9. Thi Hoa Nguyen
- 10. Pam MacNaughton
- 5 Things to Know About Playing Online...
- Famous Canadian Gamblers
- 1) Guy Laliberté
- 2) Evelyn Ng
- 3) Daniel Negreanu
- 4) John Lefebvre
- 5) David Baazov
- 6) Calvin Ayre
- 7) Michael McDonald
- 8) Mike Watson
- 9) Gavin Smith
- 10) Sorel Mizzi
- 11) Robert Cheung
- 12) Jonathan Duhamel
- 13) Brian Molony
- 14) Shawn Buchanan
- 15) Brad Booth
- 16) Isabelle Mercier
- 17) Mark Radoja
- 18) Monica Reeves
- 19) Jamie Staples
- 20) Peter Jetten
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.