PartyPoker CanadaQuebec

License

Since PartyPoker in Canada is the same site as PartyPoker in most of the rest of the world (excluding the U.S. and a few other countries), bwin.party itself runs PartyPoker rather than a Canadian entity.

Company

bwin.party is the result of a merger between Austria-based sportsbook bwin and UK-based online poker site PartyGaming on March 31, 2011, which made it the world's largest publicly traded online gaming company. Partypoker was once the No. 1 most-trafficked online poker site in the world, but its numbers understandably plummeted when it voluntarily shut its virtual doors to U.S. players following the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. PartyPoker has climbed back to about fifth in the world as of this writing.

Software

The international version of the PartyPoker software has gone through many revisions and is quite user friendly, and is even touch-friendly, with its icon-based interface. You can still switch to a list version if you'd like a more traditional online poker look and feel. You can play many multiple tables, resize and choose the color of your felt or your deck.

Traffic

PartyPoker internationally, including Canada, is the fifth-largest poker site in the world. The site routinely gets above 4,000 players online at the same time, with an average of about 2,300. That's a lot of players across the full range of skill levels.

Game Variety

PartyPoker offers limit hold'em cash games at stakes ranging from $0.02-0.04 to $30-60 and up, and no-limit hold'em from $0.05-0.10 to $25-50 and higher. Tables are offered in 2-handed, 6-handed, 9-handed and 10-handed varieties. The site offers Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha 8/b, and Pot Limit Omaha 8/b as well.

For sit-and-gos, players can find tables with buy-ins as low as $0.10 and as high as $2,000 and more, and 10-handed, 9-handed, six-max, and heads-up formats.

The schedule tournaments include many Sunday majors: a $10,000 Super Bounty, a $200K Guaranteed Sunday, a $50,000 Guaranteed, a $100,000 Guaranteed High Roller, a $15,000 Guaranteed, and a $20,000 Guaranteed Speed Poker. And those are just the high buy-in events; there are numerous tournaments at lower buy-ins.

PartyPoker is also affiliated with the World Poker Tour, so Canadian players can always earn seats on the WPT through special qualifying tournaments.

Until recently, PartyPoker divided the player population based on skill level, so that newer players weren't unfairly targeted; this policy has been lifted in response to heavy criticism.

Support

PartyPoker gives plenty of options for player support, including Web form, support e-mail address, and even live chat. Players can deposit and withdraw in Canadian dollars via Vista/Mastercard, Entropay, Moneybookers, instadebit or wire transfer.

Hits/Misses

PartyPoker has a lot of players and is certainly an attractive option for Canadian players. However, it doesn't offer the nosebleed stakes that rival sites PokerStars and Full Tilt offer. For the vast majority of us, though, PartyPoker has all the stake levels and games you will ever need.

Closing

Canadian poker players would do well to play on PartyPoker, as it's got a ton of action, many different types of games and big major tournaments. Give it a try!