I’ve revealed quite a bit about my personal life on these pages over the years, but those of you who don’t know me personally may not be aware that I only work on Cardplayer Lifestyle during my spare time, as I have a full-time job. As with most people who have full-time jobs, that entails a bit of a lengthy commute; for me it’s just over an hour in each direction.
Since the commute involves hitchhiking, a train, and a shuttle, the easiest way for me to use all that time productively is listen to podcasts. Naturally, I’m a fan of poker podcasts (and I also co-host one!) and I listen to quite a few of them. One poker podcast, in particular, has caught my attention over the last few months and that’s the PokerNews Canada podcast. As such, I just wanted to take the time to give them some love here on my blog.
Who, what, and how often?
Hosted by PokerNews Canada Senior Editor Lane Anderson, the show provides coverage about pretty much anything and everything related to – you guessed it – Canadian poker. Naturally, as online gambling in Canada is legal, some time is dedicated to covering online poker as well. Other PokerNews Canada correspondents, including Anthony Charter, Matt Perrault, and Lyle Bateman, also regularly take part in the show.
While the long-running PokerNews podcast – which I also love, #PNPod – releases new episodes on a weekly basis (and sometimes daily, during more intense periods on the poker calendar), the PokerNews Canada podcast releases just one new show each month. With that said, after just a few minutes of the first episode, I was already hooked.
My general impression
The first thing that struck me about the podcast was just how much goes on as relates to the Canadian poker scene (and how little I know about it). When I first heard that this podcast was going to debut, my gut reaction was “how long can anyone possibly talk about Canadian poker?” If you go purely by the numbers, the answer is “one hour,” as that’s the length of each episode. With that said, it feels like the guys could go on and on talking passionately about their favorite (favourite?) game and how it’s played in the Great White North.
As with most successful podcasts, the crew has also integrated entertaining interviews into the show. Thus far, the guests have been Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Eric Danis, Kevin Martin, and (my personal favorite) Justin Oliver. I’m sure the coming episodes will showcase plenty of additional great Canadian poker personalities.
My Canadian impression
I’m not going to lie. Like most Americans, I have “a thing” for Canadians. It’s difficult to brush the stereotypes aside, as they’re just so fun and loveable, eh? I’ve been told that I can do a pretty decent Canadian accent, and, as with all things, the imitation is my sincere form of flattering the Canucks.
While the podcast is obviously geared towards Canadians, there’s a lot of excellent information and entertainment value provided in each episode that any poker fan would find engaging. At the end of each episode, Lane runs through a whole list of upcoming events taking place in Canada. On the one hand, the information is pretty much “irrelevant” to me, sitting all the way over here in Israel. On the other hand, all that poker going on out there makes me want to visit pretty darn badly!
Conclusion
I’ve always said that people ought to share great poker content, and it’s in that spirit that I decided to write up this review of the PokerNews Canada podcast. Thanks so much to Lane and the rest of the guys for brightening my commute once a month.