Online poker players in Alberta, Canada’s fourth largest province both in terms of area and population, can once again play on one of the world’s most established and longest-running platforms thanks to the launch in the region of PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel.
Access to PokerStars in the province was temporarily removed in October, in preparation for the move.
As of yet the Alberta market remains ring-fenced and separate from PokerStars on FanDuel’s US operations in the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as does the Ontario version of the site.
The three US states share a player base, allowing for bigger tournament fields, more tables running, and larger prizepools.
Ontario also remains locked out, for now, and the two Canadian provinces do not yet share players. But the goal — both for the players and the operator — is surely to join as many disparate player pools together as possible, to create greater liquidity in both tournaments and cash games.
Alberta is the 5th regional arm of PokerStars on FanDuel, following New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ontario.A networked future?
While players in Alberta will be encouraged to see a major brand open its doors in the regulated online space, all involved are likely to be keeping an eye on the possibility of shared liquidity.
Merging pools for greater numbers is the driving force behind PokerStars’ recent networked approach, which has seen sister brands such as Betfair and, more recently, Paddy Power — all owned by PokerStars’ parent company Flutter Entertainment — move players into a merged pool with the global PokerStars player base.
Therefore, while it’s encouraging to see PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel open its doors to players in Alberta, there’s the feeling that while the game has started, we’re still short-handed.
PokerStars and its Albertan players will be hoping some more players join the table sooner rather than later. The ultimate decision as to who gets to pull up a chair will rest with the gaming regulators of each province.
