America and Canada have always had an amicable relationship based on Canada’s perception that Americans are too intense and America’s firm belief that Canada’s chief function is as America’s hat. Travel between the two has always been easy, and citizens generally regard one another as long-lost friends, albeit friends who talk a little funny. With the chaos in the poker world in the US, however, more and more American poker players are heading to the Great White North in an attempt to reactivate their online poker accounts and get back into the game.
Canada isn’t without its share of legal troubles where poker is concerned. Recently, the Quebec Poker Tournament League (LTPQ) saw all of its activities put on hold while attempting to resolve some issues between themselves and Loto-Quebec, which is run by the state. What started as alleged missed payments has devolved into a full-on cat fight. The LTPQ says that Loto-Quebec owes them money, and, not to be outdone, the latter filed charges against LTPQ for damage to reputation from LTPQ and its owner.
This of course pales in comparison to American poker troubles that began in April on Black Friday, when Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker were forced out of the US market and hit with charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. While PokerStars and Absolute Poker have been helping Americans get their money out of their accounts (albeit slowly), Full Tilt has not released any funds and has not given any indication of when or if it will happen. While the majority of American players wanted to take their now-crippled bankrolls and play somewhere else, more and more online poker sites (most recently Bodog Poker) have been pulling out of the US market entirely (likely out of fear of what the US Department of Justice is willing to do to make a point).
Several American players have switched to live games for the time being, an act facilitated by the recent World Series of Poker events taking place in Las Vegas. Many of these players will be hitting Europe soon for the European Poker Tour and WSOP Europe events. Some players, however, don’t consider this concession (however long it has to last) to be acceptable, and several professional poker players, including Phil Galfond, founder of bluefirepoker.com and WSOP bracelet holder (with almost a million dollars worth of winnings at the WSOP) and Mikey Stoltz, who has cashed three times at the WSOP. Daniel Cates, known as “jungleman12,” attempted to follow in their footsteps and make Vancouver his new home, but he was stopped at the border and denied entry.
Cates won over $5 million online in 2010, making him one of the biggest winners of the year, but the Canadian Border Police (border mounties?) were not interested. They simply saw an American trying to come to Canada to work without a work visa, and they gave him the boot. This is an interesting twist, as there’s no way for Cates to obtain a work visa while in Canada, seeing as he’s technically self-employed. According to his twitter, he plans on talking to an immigration attorney, but he’s doubtful that he’ll make it into Canada and will likely relocate to a different country instead.
While Cates is the first really notable player to be turned away from the safety of Vancouver, he surely won’t be the last. Where are American poker players to go, if Canada doesn’t want them?