Jim Reid is a recreational player with a lifelong love of poker, a member of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board and the host of the popular RecPoker podcast.
When PokerOrg approached me about adding a Canadian wing to the organization, I was immediately excited about the idea. We are home to so many fantastic and historical poker players, venues, and stories that I knew this was going to be something big… and fun.
And let’s face it, we’ve been overshadowed by big brother to the south for a long time. But it feels like that’s changing — in a lot of ways — and it’s a privilege to be part of this movement towards high-quality journalistic coverage of the poker community in the true north, strong and free.
I said ‘community’ for a reason — it’s more than a scene, more than a club: when I travel to Dublin or Las Vegas or the tropics or Europe to play poker, the Canuck Contingents are easy to find. Canadian poker players are a jovial, proud, welcoming bunch… and sweeter than a butter tart.
But more than that, we stick together, and we stick up for each other. The poker world, just like the real world, has villains and tyrants and bullies and jerks. And if you’ve had your eyes open lately, you’ve probably noticed that the bullies and jerks are getting a lot of attention from the media. I get it: conflict equals clicks, and the William Kassoufs of the world can serve up a lot of conflict on a ‘solver platter’.
So I’m proud to be part of the PokerOrg Canada team that will not only be bringing you timely, trustworthy coverage of the biggest names and news north of the 49th but also shining a light on everyday players and the people and places that help make our game as wonderful and well-loved and distinct as it is.
Friends you haven’t met yet
You see, it’s not just our poutine and ketchup chips (and nanaimo bars, can’t forget those, my mom would kill me) that distinguish Canadian players and personalities of the poker world.
Given our smaller population, we show up in disproportionately large numbers on leaderboards across not only our own country but also around the world! Let’s be honest: up here, for too many months of the year, it’s just too damn cold and dark not to get together and play some games; inside, by the fire, enjoying each other’s company and warmth, the comfort of belonging, and a friendly place to go and find other people like yourself. Friends you haven’t met yet.
As I write this, I’m one foot out the door from my home in Cobourg, Ontario, about to drive to Montreal, one of my favourite cities in the world. There’s a World Series of Poker Circuit event at Playground this week, and I’m on the hunt for a ring! It’s a much shorter drive than my last poker road trip, to revisit Halifax and the Casino Nova Scotia, where I cut my competitive poker teeth as a university student about a million years ago.
Next month, I’m visiting some friends in Windsor, and you best believe I’m going to be putting some cards in the air at the Caesars room while I’m there. And if Montreal doesn’t go my way this week, there’s another WSOP circuit stop at Deerfoot in Calgary in October.
Mrs. BLUFFSTORINI and I might take a trip to the Falls later this year, and I always stop at Casino Niagara for at least a few hands when we do. In the meantime I’m less than an hour from Toronto, one of the hottest and coolest underground poker scenes in the world — even if the private games often charge almost as much rake as the new ‘official’ cardroom in town (if you know, you know).
It’s not just us that know about how much fun playing poker in Canada can be — the word is getting out! The 'Major Series of Poker — the Tour' (you might remember it better as the Mid-States Poker Tour, or MSPT) has also figured out that Canada is a fantastic poker destination: they are jumping the border and coming to Quebec later in October.
I just know they are going to have a great time… and somebody is going to learn something about cheese curds, and that’s all I’m saying.
Want stories like this and more direct to your inbox? Get the free PokerOrg Canada newsletter now.
