- Best Canadian Online Poker Sites for Real Money
- List of Best Poker Sites for Canadians
- Bodog (Antigua and Barbuda)
- Tiger Gaming (Curacao)
- BetOnline Poker (Panama)
- 888Poker – The Best Poker Site Overall
- PokarStars – The World Biggest Poker Brand with Widest Poker Rooms
- Intertops Poker (Antigua & Barbuda)
- America’s Cardroom – For Regular with Good Rakeback Offer
- Black Chip Poker – The Preferred Poker Site by Grinders
- Online Poker Legality in Canada
- Canada Poker Taxation
- Factors To Decide Your Best Canadian Poker Site
- Best Poker Sites for Canada Wrap Up
Best Canadian Online Poker Sites for Real Money
We have selected the Best Canadian Poker Sites for real money based on various criteria including Easiness of Winning, Bonus Attractiveness & Popularity, and needless to say Safety.
Since every player has unique preferences when choosing a poker site, we highlight the Key Outstanding Feature of each poker site title and list the best sites in each criterion later.
List of Best Poker Sites for Canadians
Bodog (Antigua and Barbuda)
Bodog Sign-Up Offer
100% Deposit Bonus Up To $1000
No Code Required, Tap/Click this entire box to claim!!
Ongoing offers
Numerous Daily Guaranteed MTT Tournaments, Bad Beat Bonus (100 times the big blind up to $1,000), Royal Flush Bonus (50 times the big blind up to $200), and Casino Bonuses From Poker Points (good value)!!
Tiger Gaming (Curacao)
Tiger Gaming Poker Sign-Up Offer
100% Deposit Bonus Up To $1,000
Use Code * NEWTG *
Ongoing offers
Huge range of promotions & events including a $10,000 Weekly Cash Race, $5,000 Weekly Sit ‘N Go, Bad Beat Jackpot (rare but hit big), Daily $25,000 Guaranteed Tourney For Just $1 Buy-In, Sunday $150k Guaranteed Tournament, Jackpot Sit ‘n Go’s & Windfall Poker, etc!!
BetOnline Poker (Panama)
BetOnline Sign-Up Offer
100% Cryptocurrency Deposit Bonus Up To $1,000
use code * NEWBOL *
Ongoing offers
Weekly $2.5 Million Guaranteed Tournament, $10k Cash Race, $5k Sit ‘N Go Leaderboard, Bad Beat Jackpot, Jackpot Sit ‘N Go, Sunday $150k GTD (Guaranteed Prize Pool) & 20% Balance Boost (crossover promotion casino, sports & poker)!!
888Poker – The Best Poker Site Overall
888Poker Welcome Offer
£20 ($32) No Deposit Free Play & 100% 1st Deposit Bonus up to $888 with promotion code of “NEW888”
Ongoing offers
888poker Club Freeroll events, full range of cash games & big weekend tournament schedule
PokarStars – The World Biggest Poker Brand with Widest Poker Rooms
PokerStars Welcome Offer
Deposit £10 Get £40 Free Play
use code * FORTY *
100% Bonus Up To £600
use code * STARS600 *
Ongoing offers
Daily $1,000 Freerolls, Spin & Go 10 & 50 Leader Boards &
the abundance of GTD tournaments,
The VIP Club with never reset reward points!!
Intertops Poker (Antigua & Barbuda)
Everygame Sign-Up Offer
200% up to $1,000 + 25 FREE Casino Spins,
Use bonus code * 1000ITP *
Ongoing offers
Non-Deposit Bonus (based on FPPs), Reload Bonus (e-mail invitation), Many GTD Tournaments including Depositor Freeroll!!
America’s Cardroom – For Regular with Good Rakeback Offer
America’s Cardroom Sign-Up Offer
Ongoing offers
The Beast Weekly Cash Game Leaderboard, Sit ‘N Go Jackpot Poker & Sit & Crush Cash Prizes, Many Freeroll Tourney & $1 million GTD Tournament, etc.
Black Chip Poker – The Preferred Poker Site by Grinders
Black Chip Poker Sign-Up Offer
Ongoing offers
$50 On Demand Freerolls 24 hours a day, $10 million GTD High Five Tournament, Sit ‘N Go Crush Cash Prizes, Cyclone MTTs, $1 Million Jackpot, The Beast Leaderboard Cash Prizes & Elite Rewards!!
Online Poker Legality in Canada
License
“Is it legal to play poker online for real money in Canada?”
In Canada, gambling law (Sections 201-206 & 207 criminal code) imposes that any poker operators who want to be based within Canada must obtain a provincial license (currently, the only licensed poker rooms are the ones offered by provincial lotteries like PlayNow and OK Poker, so extremely limited).
This law doesn’t apply to any Offshore betting operators, and no attempts to charge against any foreign companies that accept Canadian gamblers were made.
Actually, the operators are free to advertise their Canadian online poker sites all over the country except Ontario.
For players, all the Poker Sites, we list above accept Canadian citizens, and the Canadian government doesn’t have authority over these operators. There is no relevant law to limit you to playing on overseas poker sites, which means you can freely deposit, and withdraw using various methods such as credit cards, wallets & cryptocurrencies.
Safety
Are Canadian online poker sites safe?
The safety of poker sites should be verified by both legality and financial soundness.
All the bookmakers we list in this guide are not only licensed by established regulators such as UKGC, Gibraltar, Curacao, & Panama, etc.) but also rated A+ in many reputable review sites.
One of the important attributes that have led to their success over the decades (many of them were founded in the ’80 & ’90) is their financial health. The payout from these poker sites is ultra-speedy & flawless.
Canada Poker Taxation
The summary of poker tax in Canada for players are;
- Recreational Poker Player – No tax on your poker winnings is levied at all as long as poker isn’t your only source of income.
- Professional Poker Player – Taxable if you solely rely on poker winnings for living by deducting all related expenses such as buy-ins, rake, training, travel & accommodation as “income from a business”, which Canada Revenue Agency usually hesitates to accept (see Cohen v. The Queen, 2011 TCC 262).
- In short, unless you are a WSOP tournament pro like Daniel Negreanu or Timothy Adams who makes millions from poker, basically, you don’t need to worry about taxes. Anyhow, in case you’re still wondering, suggest consulting your accountant.
Factors To Decide Your Best Canadian Poker Site
On top of the above legality & safety, we used the following criteria for our Best Canadian Poker Sites selection.
1) Easiness Of Poker Rooms (Fish List)
Although Poker is considered gambling in Canada (therefore tax-exempted for casual players) but it’s pretty much skill-oriented.
So, if you’re a beginner, you want to avoid the site filled by skilled players a.k.a. Reg, Grinder, or Shark, and search the sites for recreational players.
Conversely, if you’re such a predator, you seek the poker rooms with a lot of unskilled players called Fish to prey on them.
In any case, we call the Softest Poker Site assessment based on “Fish Radar” must be an important & useful factor for you to decide on the UK poker room (for worldwide, see 9 Softest Online Poker Sites – Latest List to Prey Fish)
Shark Unfriendly Rules & Banning HUD
One of the easiest factors to finding fewer shark poker sites is each poker site’s unique rules. If the site sets the rules prohibiting players from multi-table to say more than 4-6 tables, it’s clear that such sites have fewer pros.
Another rule is allowing not to use of screen names but anonymous ones. Anonymous tables discourage advanced players and help casual players feel more comfortable.
You may have heard HUD (Heads-Up Display). HUDs collect data on everyone you play against and then put it into numbers displayed right next to your opponent’s seat at the table as in below example;
HUDs allow sharks to identify fishes. Blocking tracking software like HUD shows also the sites’ efforts to create a warm, friendly, and welcoming environment for recreational players by discouraging pros from targeting and taking advantage of weaker players.
In other words, for players who want to win online poker consistently, HUD is an essential tool.
The 2 most reputable HUDs for high-volume grinders & for beginners are;
Since: 2012 (by PokerTracker Software)
License: Lifetime up to 3 PCs
Feature: Light Software / Compatibility with Windows & MAC
Support Sites: Major Poker Sites
Price: $99.99 for the most popular package (see a full price list)
Payment: Card, PayPal, Neteller& BTC
Offer: 14 Days Free Trial
Note: With in-depth analysis of wide data collection coupled with real-time adjustment function during in-play & Free New Features for Heavy Serious Grinders, PT4 is next to none (Active forum is available).
Since: 2007 (one of the HUD pioneers)
License: Lifetime up to 3 PCs
Feature: Easy to install / Multi-language support
Support Sites: 12 Major Poker Sites + Free Hand Grabber
Price: $100 for the most popular package (see a full price list)
Payment:Card, PayPal, Neteller & BTC
Offer: 15 Days Free Trial
Note: With all the features of Full stats (customizable to make the feed less cumbersome), In-depth analysis (adjustable based on skill level) & Post Game Analysis (focusing on your core skills by finding your leaks) make HM3 the best HUD for Beginner/Casual Players (Active forum is available).
These are the poker tracking software not only for HUD but also to analyze your poker hands namely finding your leaks & studying opponents to spot their weaknesses.
We explained in full detail about this excellent tool as well as a multi-tabling tool in Best Hud for Poker – Head-Up Display Software.
All-in-one Betting Site
There are 2 types of betting sites regarding the range of offering services, which are;
- All-in-one betting sites, including a sportsbook, casino, and poker room, all playable with a single account
- Poker only sites
All-in-one sites like BetOnline;
tend to have the easiest online poker games.
The reason why a poker room with a casino and/or sportsbook is Softer is that there are often a lot of people who crossover. You’ll find considerable spillover from the casino tables to the poker tables.
Someone will win a lot of money in the casino or sportsbook and then feel like gambling on poker. But these guys are usually amateurs. They are gamblers, which means they play for entertainment more than profit, and poker games are all the same gamble to them.
Overlay
Overlay in poker means the gap between a poker tournament’s guaranteed prize pool and the actual prize pool contributed by participating players.
For instance, if a tournament has a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000, a buy-in of $10 and 90 players enter, the players will generate only $900 to the prize pool. The rest of the prize pool (in this case $100) is made up by the tournament host and —would be the overlay for the tournament.
In other words, the tournament begins as if 10 people had already been knocked out. As you imagine this will surely increase anyone’s ROI, so it’s a soft game.
If the overlay is common in a particular poker site, it indicates less traffic & many soft games.
Canadian Poker Sites Fish Ranking
Considering the above factors, the easiest poker room ranking in Canada is;
- 1st: Bodog – Extremely soft with anonymous table, HUD disallowed & limited multiple tables
- 2nd: BetOnline – Very soft, huge spillover from casino & sportsbook, high pre-flop rate
- 3rd: Tiger Gaming – Very soft, the same as BetOnline (both Chico Network)
- 4th: Intertops
- 5th: 888Poker – Soft, partially restricted HUD & relatively higher pre-flop rate
- 6th: PokerStars – Depends on the table, so need to identify the soft table
- 7th: America’s Cardroom – Tough, many grinders in high stake table with HUD
- 8th: Black Chip Poker – Tough, same as America’s Cardroom (both Winning Poker Network)
2) Attractive Welcome & Recurring Bonuses
Obviously, the bonuses enhance your winnings or compensate for your loss.
We want you to be smart in dealing with bonuses, thus we separately prepared a Complete Guide to Online Poker Bonus Hunting for Dummies, which explains online poker bonus types & how to evaluate each bonus to cash out them efficiently.
Best Canadian Poker Welcome Bonus
Deposit bonuses are a great way to build your bankroll and earn extra spending money. The best bonuses are;
- 1st: Intertops – 200% Deposit Bonus up to $1,000 (Check Details)
- 2nd: America’s Cardroom – 100% up to $2,000 (Claim HERE)
- 3rd: Blackchip Poker – 100% up to $2,000 (Claim HERE)
- 4th: TigerGaming – 100% Deposit Bonus up to $1,000 (Check Details)
- 5th: Bodog – 100% Deposit Bonus up to $1,000 (Check Details)
- 6th: BetOnline – 100% Deposit Bonus up to $1,000 (Check Details)
- 7th: 888Poker – No Deposit Bonus & 100% Deposit Bonus Combined (Check Details)
Best Canadian Poker Rakeback Site
Rake is the fee (a small % of the pot) you pay to the house each time you play a hand. So, needless to say, the lower, the more profitable for you.
Rakeback is a re-distribution of those funds to the players. The Rakeback % varies and average around 20% – 40%, which is periodically offered.
Best Canadian Poker Freeroll
To participate poker tournament, you need to pay an entry fee.
Poker Freeroll is a tournament you don’t need to pay such “Buy-In” cost while you are entitled to get a wide variety of prizes including cash. It’s one of the best ways for beginners to examine their ability & practice without risking money. The best poker freeroll sites are;
- PokerStars – Weekly stars reward with a $10,000 prize pool, etc.
- 888Poker – Weekly complete a deposit with a $1,000 prize pool etc.
- America’s Cardroom – Daily $50 x 8 (up to 2,000 players) GTD etc.
- Black Chip Poker – Daily $50 x 8 (up to 2,000 players) GTD etc.
3) Poker Site Traffic (Popularity)
Traffic is an important factor to assess poker sites because if traffic is low, you’ll not be able to choose your opponents, and tournament prizes might be very limited.
According to Pokerscount, the below is the Canadian Poker site traffic;
PokerStars holds the largest player pool followed by 888Poker, all these are independent poker sites (for GG Poker, see later).
Many independent brands form big poker networks, called poker skins where they share players’ pools.
Tiger Gaming & Bodog belong to PaiWangLuo, America’s Cardroom & Black Chip Poker belong to Winning Poker Network, and BetOnline belongs to Chico Poker, which is ranked 5th, 6th & 12th in the global traffic poker sites ranking as below;
So, as long as you play on these poker sites, you will hardly face the difficulty to find your opponents.
GGPoker Caution
When it comes to GGPoker, popularity is not necessarily represented quality, thus we don’t include it in our list. We constantly receive terrible feedback from our members, some seriously believe GGPoker is rigged.
We intentionally sent a bit complicated inquiry, then they kept neglecting it even after the 5th reminder, never experienced such unprofessional customer support. Such a negative reputation is confirmed by below Trustpilot;
It’s better to avoid.
Best Poker Sites for Canada Wrap Up
Along with the USA, historically poker is very popular and produced by Daniel Negreanu, the world’s No.3 all-time poker money maker.
Although Play Online Poker For A Living is getting tougher & tougher nowadays, Making $1,000 a Month from Online Poker is something you may achieve as long as you study the basics (Texas Holdem Strategies For Beginners – 15 Minutes Crash Course), are committed & disciplined.
Lastly, if you want to be a sharp casino & game bonus hunter, strongly suggest taking a look at the List of 52 Best Bitcoin Casino Bonuses and for those who appreciate the highest privacy, go to the List of Best Anonymous Bitcoin Casinos & Bonuses, just FYI.
Good Luck!!
Joshua Walker (bio)
Editor – Global Extra Money (GEM)
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