Canadian Online Poker Booming
Online Poker has reached new heights in Canada as shown by the great turnout for a 888 University Poker Championship event that takes place this month. Montreal was the host, maintaining 84 competitors from over fourteen universities in Quebec which had qualified for the tournament. Each had accumulated points via playing online poker at 888 Poker over a 12-week playoff period that took place prior to the commencement of the competition.
The winner of the 2012 championship was Maxime Gagné from Université du Québec en Outaouais, who won a prize package that also entitled him to entrance at the 2012 World Series Of Poker (WSOP) event.
“Last year this university poker tournament was hosted by PokerStars, but it’s clear the organizers wanted to try something different in a post-Black Friday world,” commented a G-poker spokesman, Jeremy Taylor. “Even though PokerStars reopened to Canadian online poker players after the shutdowns, it would make sense to partner with a company like 888 that was completely removed from the legal issues of Black Friday. Sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker need more time to recover from the negativity surrounding last year’s shutdowns.”
Taylor continued his analysis of 888 poker and their progression within Canada over recent years.
“888 Poker has really come to the forefront of the Canadian online poker market over the past year,” Taylor continued. “They even signed Canadian athlete Georges St-Pierre to represent Team 888 at the 2012 WSOP. 888 Poker not only has a top-of-the-line platform, but they’re also operated by a publicly traded company that faces a lot more regulation than sites like Full Tilt Poker, ensuring players’ money remains safe and sound. This combination of factors makes 888’s commitment to players in Canada all the more valuable.”
“Party Poker has followed a similar path in Canada post-Black Friday,” Taylor added. “By sponsoring events like the Montreal Party Poker Classic, the company has shown real investment in Canadian players, and we recognize and appreciate this kind of attention. All that on top of knowing Party Poker is also backed by a publicly traded company explains this new and improved trend in Canada, and it explains why sites like 888 and Party have earned their stellar reputations.”
The individual event took place featuring a No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament. Whilst Maxime was the main event winner of the $5,000 WSOP Package, others walked away with their heads held high.
Pascal Turcotte of UQAM walked away with $800, Maxime Rome GOsselin from UQAC with $500 and Mike Farrow from Bishop’s with $400. These few were the winners from a list of 10 names which gave over 84 participants the chance to win.
The 2012 WSOP is set to take place in May of this year and is the 43rd annual return of the event.
Source: Financial Post
