Do you know some of the most famous names in Canadian poker?

Traditionally, Canada has not been considered a country with a large casino culture and big poker players.  However, that reality has changed in recent decades. Canadian Poker and other games have become very popular as provincial governments have adopted less strict legislation on gambling, in unison with central authorities.

 

We can already talk about an extensive list of big Canadian gambling players, both online and in land-based casinos.

 

If you want to know some of these emblematic names associated with poker in Canada, read on.

 

Guy Laliberté

 

Born in 1959, Laliberté is a great professional poker player. We are not talking about one of the best Canadian players, but one of the best in the world.

 

He is considered a late and somewhat rare poker player because he did not approach the game for money, he was already rich enough when he started frequenting casinos. 

 

He is also known because he was part of the founding team of Cirque du Soleil. He is very famous for his philanthropic work, he donates a large part of his earnings to charity.

 

In 2007, the press reported his success at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. It was a resounding success, in April he won almost $700,000 thanks to his talent.

 

Evelyn Ng

 

Who says poker is a game only for men? There are great female players with a lot of talent like the Canadian Evelyn Ng, born in Toronto, in 1975.

 

If we count her winnings since 2010, they already total more than $375,000.

 

Evelyn became famous in 2003 when she beat several American poker players, some of them big names.

 

She is said to have an extremely aggressive style and likes to participate in both land-based and online casinos.

 

Gossip and romance sites have linked her in the past to another Canadian poker player mentioned in this list – Daniel Negreanu.

 

Daniel Negreanu

 

He was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1974. He is a poker player who enjoys both online play and cash-filled table stakes.

 

He is arguably Canada’s most titled player and also the winner of Card Player magazine’s Player of the Year award in 2004.

 

He is often described as one of the flashiest poker players in the world. During the games he usually stares at his opponents and talks to his opponents when large sums are bet or a large pot has been accumulated.

 

His winnings are out of this world: they are counted in more than 32000000 during his entire career as a professional player. Not bad, eh?

John Lefebvre

 

The story of John Lefebvre (1951) could be the subject of a book or a movie. He is a controversial businessman, but he is much more: throughout his life he has been a singer, songwriter, lawyer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and even a “criminal”. In recent times he is recognized as an activist against climate change.

 

Lefebvre deserves a place on the list we have compiled from what we might call an “administrative” point of view, although he is a well-known supporter of the online Canadian poker game.

 

He built his empire with other businesses and then founded Neteller, a service considered among the most important for online money transfers in the online gaming sector.

 

In fact, it was Neteller that led to his indictment in the United States on several charges. He served 45 days in jail and lost $100 million.

 

David Baazov

 

He was born in Israel, but grew up in the city of Montreal. He came to Canada when he was only one year old. He is currently the head of the world’s largest online gaming company, Amaya Gaming Group (The Stars Group).

 

Forbes magazine has named him the king of online gaming and his purchases of large Internet poker rooms have made Canada a powerhouse in the industry.

 

Michael McDonald

 

A poker prodigy The case of this young man born in 1989 in Ontario is famous because he became one of the first Canadians to win a sum of 300,000 dollars in online poker before being of legal age to play.

 

The specialized media point out that McDonald has been the third Canadian player to collect more than 10 million dollars.

 

He is a player who plays both in the live rooms of the best Canada casinos and online sites. At the age of 18 he won his first major poker tournament. Today he is one of the best players in the country without any doubt.