Canadian Poker Sites

While Canadian poker players certainly don't face the same level of government-fueled adversity as their brethren to the south, the overall health of Canadian poker sites has been somewhat in a state of flux for a number of years.

On the brick-and-mortal gambling front, liberal federal gambling laws have allowed tens of casinos and provincial lotteries to thrive in Canada. Unfortunately, online Canadian poker sites really have no specific federal guidelines or previous legal cases to go by. Fortunately for players and operators, despite laws to limit advertisements the Canadian government has never specifically targeted the online poker industry.

Technically, Canadian federal law allows individual provincial governments to ultimately decide what forms of gambling are allows within its borders. The largest, and most successful, group to take advantage of this law is the Kahnawake Gaming Commission located within a small Indian reservation in Quebec.

Kahnawake has licensed hundreds of online gaming sites and hosts them on a local data center. Some of the largest Canadian poker sites are hosted by Kahnawake including Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Titan Poker.

In terms of deposit methods for Canadian poker sites, the US government's overzealous method of intimidating companies outside of its jurisdiction has succeeding in removing previous Canadian options such as Neteller, Paypal, and Firepay.

Fortunately, there are still a number of successful e-wallet deposit methods for Canadian poker players such as Moneybookers, Click2Pay, ClickandBuy, and EcoCard. Also, a growing number of Canadian poker sites allow direct checking account and major credit card deposits.

Below we've listed our top choices for Canadian poker sites, taking into account deposit methods, bonus structure, typical strength of play at the tables, and, of course, ability to accept Canadian players.

TOP CHOICE
Previously only open to US players, Sportsbook Poker has recently opened to Canadian poker players and has become our top recommendation.

Besides having some of the loosest tables online, Sportsbook Poker has one of the strongest bonus structures for Canadian poker sites. Our players receive a 110% offer with 10% of that being instant cash available immediately. The play-through bonus is paid out at a much faster rate than many rooms offering comparable bonuses.

We also appreciate that Sportsbook Poker is one of the few Canadian poker sites that offer block-free credit card deposits with a $20 minimum. Finally, our new Canadian players are also eligible for a $500 private new depositor freeroll. Read our full Sportsbook Poker review for more details.

Visit Sportsbook Poker.

Canadians accepted.
Available to U.S. Players.

#2 CHOICE
Full Tilt Poker is another easy recommendation as an all-around excellent Canadian poker site. Regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Quebec, Full Tilt Poker accepts all Canadians and is one of the largest overall poker rooms online. Easiest Canadian deposit methods include major credit cards, cash transfer, and Ultra, a phone card deposit service.

With their major sponsorship deals, Full Tilt Poker employs one of the largest groups of pro players. Perhaps more importantly, several of the pros actually go online regularly. Canadian poker players can spot several pros online regularly, many playing at average limits.

Full Tilt Poker regularly earns high marks with players because of the strong software, high limit options, and extremely busy tournament schedule. Our new Canadian players at Full Tilt Poker receive a 100% bonus, good up to $600. View our in-depth Full Tilt Poker review for more details.

Visit Full Tilt Poker.

Canadians accepted.
Available to U.S. Players.

#3 CHOICE
With PokerStars offering one of the most trusted and well-rounded platforms in the industry, the poker room has easily become the world's largest. This Canadian poker site offers real money games to all Canadian players and features active cash games up to the $100/200 level.

PokerStars has really become the all-around go-to of online poker. Every facet of the game has sizeable traffic from multi-table Sit and Gos to mixed games to high-limit tables. Every serious Canadian tournament player has an account at PokerStars because of the sheer volume of tournaments and the massive guaranteed events offered essentially every few minutes.

While rarely generous with their signup promotions, our PokerStars players from Canada do receive a 100% bonus up to $50. The quality games offered at PokerStars is usually enough to keep players satisfied.

As a Canadian poker site, the cashier is fairly extensive with Moneybookers, e-checks, ClickandBuy, and credit cards being the best options. View more in our full PokerStars review.

Visit Poker Stars.

Canadians accepted.
Available to U.S. Players.

#4 CHOICE
Players Only Poker is another strong Canadian poker site choice with loose tables and a large bonus. Their credit card processing is also superior to most sites with a near-100% acceptance rate.

Players Only Poker offers our Canadian players one of the few instant cash bonuses online at 10% with another 100% earned through relatively little play-through.

Overall player traffic at Players Only Poker has steadily increased with several active ring games at every limit and several guaranteed tournaments per hour. Read more in our Players Only Poker review.

Visit Players Only Poker.

Canadians accepted.
Available to U.S. Players.

#6 CHOICE
Countering the strategy of most Canadian poker sites, PKR actually focused on enhancing the software's visual experience rather than stripping it down for faster games. The resulting 3D package at PKR has been a surprise hit with the poker room experiencing sustained growth since launch.

Simply put, the PKR software is light-years ahead of any online poker or offline commercial poker game. Players who care about visual with find it a refreshing change of pace to actually create an avatar at PKR and experience an HD computer game-like environment despite still being at a real money table. The main draw at this Canadian poker site is the software.

Software aside, PKR offers a few decent guaranteed tourneys weekly, soft tables, and strong bonus offers up to $2,000. Easiest Canadian deposit methods at PKR include Click2Pay, Moneybookers, credit cards, and e-checks. You can read more in our full PKR review.

Visit PKR.

Canadians accepted.
Not open to U.S. players.

#7 CHOICE
Another large Canadian poker site governed by Kahnawake, Titan Poker is in the top tier of sites on the iPoker network. With dozens of skins contributing to the player count and major brands switching over, iPoker and Titan Poker have recently set records for simultaneous real money players.

The benefit of lots of international traffic for Canadian players is the number of active cash games and guaranteed tournaments. Titan Poker also has a staggering number of regular promotions for players.

This Canadian poker site offers an increased bonus only to players coming through our site. Titan Poker credits $20 instantly with any new deposit in addition to a 150% play-through bonus and a private $1,000 new deposit freeroll.

The Titan Poker Canadian cashier is one of the largest with Instadebit, ClickandBuy, Click2Pay, Moneybookers, EcoCard, and credit cards all viable deposit options. View our full Titan Poker review fore more details.

Visit Titan Poker.