BC residents playing on PlayNow

[Poker Orifice]

Some questions for any BC residents on Cardschat who are playing on the playnow.com pokersite.

Do you know if they take mastercard GiftCards for depositing on site? (or VisaGiftCard?).

Has anyone played in any of the satellites for the wsop Circuit Event coming up soon in Vancouver? (< this is my main interest in playing on the site... 'live satellites' are out of the question where I live).

What's the software like?

What's the Tournament lobby like? (ie. how many registered in tourneys, size of guarantees (if any?), structures of tourneys compared to other poker sites?, etc.).

Any info. provided would be greatly appreciated!

& Good Luck to any of you who are planning on playing in any of the Events!!

 

[Weissr]

aha, just heard about playnow a week or two ago. It's controlled by the BC govn't so you'd think it's gotta be legit. Apparently it uses Paradise Poker's old software.

I installed it but my antivirus says it's infected with a virus (trojan I think), so I don't know what that's about, maybe a false alarm, i dunno. Never really went any further with it...

Might try again at some point.

 

[micalupagoo]

cant help.
but ive heard one of the local radio stations(cant remermber which1 atm) giving a code for free 25$- actually think there was 2 promos, if it comes to me I'll let ya know

 

[Poker Orifice]

cant help.
but ive heard one of the local radio stations(cant remermber which1 atm) giving a code for free 25$- actually think there was 2 promos, if it comes to me I'll let ya know

Cool.

Oh... & knowing the 'code' for free$25 would also be cool lol

 

[micalupagoo]

dunno how old this one is but 'FOXROCKS' is what i just found , its for a 50$ casino token, sure there is one for poker too, i also found '25FOXROCKS' for 25$
not sure whats current, google and let me know

 

[Poker Orifice]

dunno how old this one is but 'FOXROCKS' is what i just found , its for a 50$ casino token, sure there is one for poker too, i also found '25FOXROCKS' for 25$
not sure whats current, google and let me know

Hey tks bud!
Hadn't checked my email notifications til' today so I haven't google searched this .. 'yet'. Cuz I will. I'm not one to pass up on the free moniezz.

gl if you're playing in anything today!!!

 

[MattRyder]

I play on playnow.com a lot (in MB). The software (on a Mac) is pretty basic, and playnow doesn't seem to be interested in improving it. I think they are probably stuck in a rut because they serve three bureaucratic masters (the govt's of QC, BC & MB) and probably aren't allowed to make improvements without consensus from all three governments (like that's ever going to happen).

They have a fantastic new player promo - $50 casino token. My wife and I both used this. We played really small stakes casino games. I won $40 cash; she won $45 cash. Note that if we'd been playing with our own money we would have lost $15 between the two of us. We both stopped playing the casino games when the token credits ran out. We also both took advantage of the $10 sports bet promo. We both won $20 cash. Again, we both only did this for the promo. In the end playnow gave us $125 real money cash which we both put towards playing poker.

 

[redwards92]

nothing like a 1 year old bump for a cool story bro moment and post that makes no sense

 

[MattRyder]

They won't take anything other than a credit card to register (i.e., no visa or Mastercard gift cards). I think that they do this to ensure that you are of legal age, and perhaps also to prove residency. Since they are regulated by Canadian provincial governments, I wasn't concerned about giving them my credit card info.

When you make a withdrawal they put the money directly into your bank account. My wife did this with no problem.

 

[Poker Orifice]

They won't take anything other than a credit card to register (i.e., no Visa or Mastercard gift cards). I think that they do this to ensure that you are of legal age, and perhaps also to prove residency. Since they are regulated by Canadian provincial governments, I wasn't concerned about giving them my credit card info.

When you make a withdrawal they put the money directly into your bank account. My wife did this with no problem.

Thanks for the response!
Do you by chance know how to take (& post) screenshots? (Screenhunter 5.0 is very easy to use for this). If you'd be able to take a pic. of the 'tournament lobby' on there it'd be much appreciated.

Also, do you know if there's a skrill deposit/withdrawal option?

tks

 

[Weissr]

Thanks for the response!
Do you by chance know how to take (& post) screenshots? (Screenhunter 5.0 is very easy to use for this). If you'd be able to take a pic. of the 'tournament lobby' on there it'd be much appreciated.

Also, do you know if there's a Skrill deposit/withdrawal option?

tks

You can download the software and view the lobby without signing up. (unless they've changed something in the last 6 mths)

 

[Poker Orifice]

You can download the software and view the lobby without signing up. (unless they've changed something in the last 6 mths)

ty sir!
Do you play on there at all? If so, are there any tournaments worth playing on there? ... & do they have satellites to live tourneys?

 

[Weissr]

ty sir!
Do you play on there at all? If so, are there any tournaments worth playing on there? ... & do they have satellites to live tourneys?

Sry never played on there myself. Downloaded the software to check it out but never got around to registering my credit card. A friend of mine plays there sometimes and has played in sattys to live events, some of which were decently juicy.

 

[naruto_miu]

Never even heard of this site but thanks for letting me know

 

[MattRyder]

ty sir!
Do you play on there at all? If so, are there any tournaments worth playing on there? ... & do they have satellites to live tourneys?

Yes, they have tournaments, and some are satellites to live tournaments such as to the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Poker Championship at McPhillips Station Casino from September 25-29, 2013 and WSOPC canada 2013 in BC & QC.

Although I haven't played many, I think that their tournaments are probably pretty similar to most at other online poker rooms. Playnow and LottoQuebec combined don't have a very large following of (real money) players though, so the tournaments (and cash games) are fewer in number and less frequent. They offer SnGs, but these are really poorly attended.

I just looked and they don't seem to have Skrill, just credit card/Visa debit, Interac online and online payment from your bank account. The latter is the one that I use - there are no fees whatsoever, and the money takes a couple of days to get deposited to your Playnow acct. Withdrawals are soley by electronic transfer to your bank acct.

 

[MattRyder]

Happened across this outdated thread. Since I was here anyway, I thought I'd make an update.

These are the deposit options:

I've used the online bill payment option to deposit. Withdrawals go directly to my bank account. If I ever make another deposit I will likely try the Interac Online option since bill payments take 2 - 3 days.

This is what the tournaments lobby looks like:

... and the Cash Games lobby:

... and a Cash Game table:

 

[MattRyder]

My Observations:

Only available in Canada and only in three provinces: Manitoba, British Columbia & Quebec.

I play there a lot because the field of players is much smaller than the big names (e.g. pokerstars) which means tournaments are a lot shorter and you can get to know the other Cash players very well.

The software sucks, but it never crashes or slows down like Pokerstars has lately. The hand replayer is an absolute abomination, but they do have one. I use it sparingly since it's such a pain.

Support is fantastic! Real people answer the phone right away. Who else does that? They also have live chat with customer support if that is your preference. It's totally up to you which option you choose.

100% safe and secure. Only poker site in Canada that the government directly supports.

Easy, fast and fee-free deposits & withdraws direct to/from your bank account. Totally secure. I mistakenly gave them the wrong bank account for a withdrawal once. I phoned in and they fixed up the mess that I had created with no problems at all.

Because there are so few players there are times when you either can't find a game you want to play or more often you have to wait a while.

No personalized avatars - you have to select from the pre-made ones that are available.

The Holdem Double games are real simple, i.e., the way I would expect them to be - half the players each get twice their buy-ins (less fee) period.

if you want to play casino games they have a huge selection. The money comes/goes from/to the same account that you use for poker.

They have a simple player experience points/reward system. You automatically accumulate points by playing real money games. As soon as you accumulate 1,000 points you can exchange that for $10 cash.