Have you read this thread at all? You should not use HSBC for poker. period.

Didn't update, got my account opened up a few hours after making that post. Squeaky wheels gets the grease I guess. But yeah 17 days is rediculous to get an acct open IMO.

I have read the whole thread multiple times. I believe the people who got their accounts closed were (accidentally) doing some shady things such as wiring just under 10k over and over which is a huge no-no in banking and looks super suspicious. I explained to my banker and his manager exactly what I am doing. I also use my account for all of my personal expenses. Nothing I am doing looks remotely shady, and I do not anticipate any problems. There are plenty of people successfully using HSBC.

Haha, ya... I noticed after I posted that that it had been 2+ weeks since your post. Oh well, maybe someone else can benefit

UG, I would be very careful with HSBC. I also explained to the bank exactly what I was doing, the amount of money I anticipated wiring, etc. and they still ended up closing my account after saying it wasn't a problem. They set an online wire limit on my account of $9500 so I had no choice but to continually wire amounts just under 10K unless I wanted to pay more fees through smaller wires or go to the branch in person.

I think you will be fine if you just let the money sit there and then wire all the money out at one time via the branch when you leave Canada. HSBC Premier is even worse for poker players though because they have an account manager dedicated to the account that will be monitoring activity. There is another thread where several people talk about having their Premier accounts closed and/or applications denied specifically because of their profession being a poker player.

I think HSBC is the best bank for a poker player though, just be more careful than I was, in terms of wiring money and do not tell them you're a poker player. Just say you trade stocks or equities.

Haha, they def know I am a poker player so too late for that. They actually did a wire deposit onto Pokerstars for me because I could not figure out how to do it. I took the info into my branch and the banker spent 20-30 minutes getting it done for me, knowing exactly what I was doing. The banker I deal with says he has a lot of friends who play online and likes to ask me questions about poker. But ya, will def watch my back. That would really suck to go to Argentina only to have my account closed and not be able to open another.

Good to know that you were forced to do the smaller wires. My friend is convinced that you got your account closed for sending small wires over and over, but you obv didn't have a choice.

I think the banker I deal with will be happy to explain what I should and shouldn't do to keep my account open. I will have a chat with him toward the end of my trip and hopefully get some good ideas.

sorry if this is duplicate but i haven't followed this thread closely

you guys can get a free canadian number from freephoneline.ca. probably not of huge value on the surface, but if you can snag a 403 (alberta) one, google voice somehow doesn't recognize this as non-US. you can have google voice forward to this and then have this forward to your canadian cell, if you have one.

thus, people can call your US number and reach you in canada without incurring LD charges.

this trick is all over the place so you have to really work hard to get a 403#. if you don't want to refresh ad infinitum, you can also just get a 403# from rogers and port it.

I'm sure this has been answered a million times in this thread but I need a current answer. Is stars allowing people to reopen their accounts with proof of CA residency, proof of CA bank account and a US passport? By proof of CA residency I mean a 2-3 month lease signed in my name. I heard they cracked down the last couple months and want to make sure you are a permanent resident of CA but i have also heard they only want what I posted above. Anyone who has done this within the last month who could tell me what stars wanted from them would be greatly appreciated

I got back into the games on September 23. I gave them my 3 month lease agreement since all of my bills are paid and I couldn't give them a utility bill, a bank statement stamped by a bank officer, and my passport. I have not heard of them requesting permanent residence status from anyone.

Thank you

I don't remember seeing the info here, but how are you guys depositing into canadian banks? Can I just write a check from my US bank?

I just wired in from my american bank, took 2 days. Checks take 15-30 days to clear if they are american

Deuce, I also just did some bank wires. The took less than a day to hit my Canadian account. And ya, checks take forever so def wire.

Can you get a bank statement only a couple days after you open the account? I have accounts at TD if that makes a diff

Dunno about TD, but I assume you can. At HSBC, I just went into my branch and asked for a bank statement stamped by a bank officer as requested by Stars. They knew exactly what I was talking about and hooked me up in a few minutes.

Stars even allowed me to use a bank statement from an empty account while I waited for my first wire to hit.

They can just print out something with your name and address on it, stamp it, and you should be good. I think that's what I did.

thx alot guys. I really don't want to bring over a bunch of cash across the border AND I'd like to be up and running as soon as possible.

Got to use the Nexus Card for the first time. Nice to just go to a kiosk, get the iris scan + receipt, then get waved through w/o the same 'ol questioning.

Hopefully it = no stop/search/interrogation next time driving, as fun as that is after 12+ hours getting to the border

i need vissa debit (not credit card)
to make an operations visa => pokerstars => visa without any paper stuff

which banks are also good?
ty in advance

You can get a Visa Debit card from CIBC

Read through the whole thread but still can't figure out what bank is best. How many people agree with this?

Pretty sure TD is the best. I opened a USD checking acct with them in July, telling them that I played poker etc. Since then, I've sent 20k+ from Moneybookers to the account without problems.

They ask me at least a few question every time I drive across the border, in either direction (I go twice a month). The main benefit of the Nexus card for driving is using the special lanes so that you don't have to wait in line.

-Carlos

Hey guys, i will be going to canada sometime next year. I have a few questions. I have not withdrawn my entire stars account balance yet because i anticipated to go canada earlier this year but never did due to some other things i had to take care of. But at the moment, i have enough in my account where i don't need to make a deposit. But i hear that you still need to make a deposit in your stars account no matter what right in order to activate your account again?


My question are besides opening a bank account in Canada, what e-wallets is an absolute necessity? I immediately though Neteller was the best option when we had neteller in the states back a few years ago before it closed but people say its not good? Then i hear moneybookers is good but i read people say they charge some fee for it and that is not good for withdrawing your stars money and that check should be your only option? Can someone explain this? So when you guys wire money from your american checking account to your canadian bank account, how do you get this money to pokerstars, partypoker? Are you wiring it or doing an Echeck? Or are you using moneybookers or one of those other e-wallets?


Does anyone know about bodog in canada? I have money on bodog at the moment so when i get to canada and then make a withdraw, would i just withdraw by check? I heard there was a person that mentioned not much bodog players in canada play b/c they get hit by some strong conversion fees? Can someone explain this?


Any people here that like to bet on sports? I'm curious are there many sport bettors that moved to Canada just so they could play on pinnacle? I only bet on sports recreationally as i'm a loser in it. I currently use bodog and 5dimes for betting sports here in the usa. But i know Pinnacle is the best sportsbook in the world in terms of odds. To anyone that opened an account at pinnacle in Canada, was the process very easy and there was no wait time like how pokerstars take about 2 weeks or so to get accounts verified? And would you guys say if you bet sports, pinnacle should be the only sportsbetting site one uses while in canada or any other country and to just not bother putting money on the other sportsbook even like greek, bookmaker and 5dimes?


Also, would you guys say it would be wise to withdraw all my money from my sportsbook here in the usa before i head to canada. The thing i'm thinking is this. If i don't withdraw my entire balance from my 2 sportsbook accounts, i can then transfer this money to an e wallet and then deposit this whole amount to pinnaclesports. This way, i don't have to wait as in waiting for a wire to come from my american bank account to my canadian bank account and then it hits pinnacle sports as it could save me time and gives me something to do while waiting for my stars verification documents to go through. The thing is i want all this money in a pinnacle sports account as oppose to having it on my 5dimes and bodog account as i won't play there while in canada.


And to everyone who has to wait on the verification with stars, what are you playing in the meantime? Are you playing on partypoker?



Really appreciate if someone can answer this questions!

Neteller is not available to Canadians

You don't need to make a deposit to reopen your Stars account.

MoneyBookers is best and is the only option if I remember right (I'm not there atm)

You should be able to withdraw from BoDog if you're in the US. I've heard people are having problems with the checks bouncing but if you take the check to the bank it's drawn on, you should be able to cash immediately - just make sure the check is 4K or less, if it's more they won't cash it. I got all that from the BoDog payout thread.

I am very interested in the Pinnacle thing as well. I'm a big sports bettor. I'm actually heading back up to Canada in two weeks and intend on opening an account there. If no one else comments, I'll report back.