[ArcticAction]

For me, it's more of an interesting curiosity than a worry ... I'd be quite pleased to sit at a fully bilingual table (it might help to improve my execrable French, although I imagine that bad beat stories sound much the same in any language).

I think the point is that there are a number of casinos in the country (especially in western Canada - I don't know what the policies are at the Ontario casinos such as Windsor and Rama) that explicitly and consciously prohibit (and, if necessary, penalize) the use of any language other than English by players during play of hands by means of prominent "English only during hands" signage and dealer/floor enforcement.

As a practical matter, it has always seemed evident to me that this precautionary anti-collusion policy is targeted at the use of such languages as Vietnamese and Chinese ... the community demographics of large western Canadian cities such as Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver are such that one is much more likely to be seated at a table with speakers of these languages than with a player whose mother tongue is French.

Nonetheless, given that the country is officially bilingual, this has always struck me as rather problematic, so it would almost seem that "turnabout is fair play" if only French were allowed to be spoken by players during hands in Quebec poker rooms.

Nonetheless, given Montreal's cosmopolitan and genuinely bilingual character, my hope is that the room would ultimately adopt a fairly laissez faire approach where the use of either official language by players is welcomed during hands. However, there wouldn't be any tolerance for unilingual players complaining that they couldn't understand what others were saying and asking for a "one language only during play" ruling.

Anyone know if there any poker rooms in Switzerland or Belgium? These offically multilingual countries might have already resolved the issue. From the TV coverage of Monte Carlo Millions and other Eurotournaments, it seems that English is the lingua franca of play, but I can't tell from TV whether the use of other languages during play of hands is actually prohibited and penalized.

I've read (but have not seen for myself) that the rule in U.K. casinos is that there is no talking at all by players during hands. "Shut up and deal" (apologies to J. May) might be the safest policy, after all.