Estonia - Page 8

nikitheone · 09-11-2011, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaNq

i've heard that "a night out" in places in sweden for example is like 200+ euros no matter what because everything is super expensive, but it wouldn't be that expensive in estonia to go out and have like 4 or 5 pints right (relative to the prices i quoted for montreal, for e.g.)?

a pint is from 2€ - 5€, depends on pub/club.

Sciolist · 09-11-2011, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by (._X)0---(^_^)

So basically this is like Thailand money wise but with actual first world infrastructure/hospitals/education/government?

It's not that cheap. It's just ~50% the price of Scandinavia. Probably ~75% the price of the UK

Zrebna · 05-29-2012, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranka

November-March quite cold, May to September very warm, like 30 degrees celcius)

Officiali you can play PokerStars, TrioBet (MicroGaming), Olympic-Online (IPoker) and Paf (OnGame). Other sites are blocked but in reality if you change your dns to google DNS you can play on every site (u can do it in less than one minue)

Just right now one of my US friend moved to estonia (SNE in PokerStars, known 2p2-er, he can out self if he wants) 3-4 weeks ago and now getting recidency. It costs like €1000-€1500 and u getting it for two or three years. Easy to get.

Estonia is very good for poker players because in the winter, quite cold here (-10 to -30 degrees celcisu), daylight is only 7-8 hours not more and it's very good time to grind. In the summer days are like 16-17 hours long (the sun rises like 2-3 AM, sets 23 PM), very hot and warm summers.

Also Estonian IT services are very good and probably most developed in the world. Free wifi is absolutely every pub, hotel, gas station, even in the parks.

Living expenses are quite cheap. You can get very baller appartment into Tallinn old-town (best and almost most expensive block in Tallinn) for €500-€600 per month.

Also we have lots of woods, very beautiful beaches and in the winter time you can travel to southern europe/north africa very fast and cheap for vacation.

Finally we have lots of pokerplayers in Estonia, some of them are very good. According the PTR: http://www.pokertableratings.com/top-countries we are in 5-th winning country in the world. So I guarantee it's very good place for poker players.

If u get boored u can travel somewhere else in the europe, it's not the big deal.

If you have any questions - feel free to ask.

EDIT: one thing more. lots of people think that Estonia is 'standard' eastern europe russian style country. But it's not true, estonia is more to western country than russian.

And almost everyone speak here english, so no need to learn any other languages

Very informative and great post.
How important you would consider the need to learn the estonian language when you plan to only live there for about 2 years?
Many german websites are claiming that it is a must when you consider to move out to estonia.

Sciolist · 05-29-2012, 05:24 PM

It's really not. I'm assuming you speak English of course.

I lived there for a year. I took lessons for a few months. I talk to girl at bar in Estonian. She immediately says "OH, an Englishman! Let's talk in English!"

Not that I'm complaining.

Around 5-10% of Estonians don't speak great English. I tend to think that you should learn the language because it's polite to do so, but you do not need it to get by.

Zrebna · 05-29-2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sciolist

It's really not. I'm assuming you speak English of course.

I lived there for a year. I took lessons for a few months. I talk to girl at bar in Estonian. She immediately says "OH, an Englishman! Let's talk in English!"

Not that I'm complaining.

Around 5-10% of Estonians don't speak great English. I tend to think that you should learn the language because it's polite to do so, but you do not need it to get by.

All right, thx for the info^^

Do you know how much a standard appartement does cost in Estonia, just so that I can compare a bit?
I am from germany, so I guess I will not need any residence permission to open a bankaccount in Estonia because both countries belong to the EU - is this assumption correct?
One more question:
It rly seems that in Estonia poker is technically/officially legal and tax free (for sites with a licence like Stars), but how is it in practice for pokerpros.
Aren`t somebody asking what are you doing?
Can you just fill in into tax return documents under "profession" that you are a professional pokerplayer and everything is all right or how it does work in practice, when you live in Estonia?

Sciolist · 05-30-2012, 02:41 AM

Well, my info is now four years out of date. Poker hadn't been legislated for when I lived there.

I was paying ~$1k/month rent for something that in London would've been at least $4k. From my return visits since I think that prices have gone up a fair bit with the introduction of the Euro. Maybe someone who's still there can give you a better answer.

Zrebna · 05-30-2012, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sciolist

Well, my info is now four years out of date. Poker hadn't been legislated for when I lived there.

I was paying ~$1k/month rent for something that in London would've been at least $4k. From my return visits since I think that prices have gone up a fair bit with the introduction of the Euro. Maybe someone who's still there can give you a better answer.

ah ok, I see - anyways thx so far^^

ZAndlamb · 05-30-2012, 08:57 AM

Apt rents depend on what you are looking for and where, if you can stand the horrid user interface check out http://city24.ee & http://kv.ee, keep in mind that you will be paying 3x rent first month (first month+security deposit+realtor fee: each being 1 months rent is standard), old town & downtown are vanalinn & kesklinn respectively

As far as bank accounts go, i would contact Swedbank & SEB directly i'm sure they will be glad to let you know what you need to get one
info@swedbank.ee & info@seb.ee

The GOV/IRS doesn't really care if you play poker bc it's not you that is being taxed it's the poker sites (stars etc pay's a small % of the rake they take from estonian players to the gov) so there is no way to evade taxes, if you are playing on licensed sites you are effectively being taxed.

one more thing i would look into if i were you is healthcare coverage as a foreigner

EDIT: one more thing i remembered staking/getting staked sucks if you are playing in estonia bc p2p xfers are not allowed on licensed sites

Sciolist · 05-30-2012, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZAndlamb

Apt rents depend on what you are looking for and where, if you can stand the horrid user interface check out http://city24.ee & http://kv.ee, keep in mind that you will be paying 3x rent first month (first month+security deposit+realtor fee: each being 1 months rent is standard), old town & downtown are vanalinn & kesklinn respectively

Yeh, I paid mine in cash (and my rent). I bought every single EEK from Heathrow airport and had about three inches of 2 EEK notes (about $0.10 each).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZAndlamb

The GOV/IRS doesn't really care if you play poker bc it's not you that is being taxed it's the poker sites (stars etc pay's a small % of the rake they take from estonian players to the gov) so there is no way to evade taxes, if you are playing on licensed sites you are effectively being taxed.

Not quite right - licensed sites pay a percentage of the LOSSES of Estonians on the network, not of rake.

It's also worth noting that non-licensed sites are blocked.

ZAndlamb · 05-30-2012, 09:29 AM

afaik they pay a % of the net profit they get from estonian players i.e rake (although technically you are correct as the rake is the only way you lose to the poker site)

Sciolist · 05-30-2012, 09:36 AM

I managed Nordic & Baltic CRM for PokerStars for three years. Unless it has changed in the past year, it's a percentage of what Estonians lose to the rest of the world that is taken in tax.

OstapBender · 05-30-2012, 04:57 PM

What about access to other major pokersites from Estonia, like Party, Ongame/Ipoker Skins, 888 etc? As far as I am informed, the government allows only sites with a license, which would be Stars and some no-name clients..

Anyone with a solid info about the position of the government on that issue?

Sciolist · 05-31-2012, 02:35 AM

Sites without a license are blocked. Olympic Casino have a license and are on ipoker. They have several live casinos in the Baltics.

Not sure which other sites there are.

Sciolist · 05-31-2012, 01:25 PM

Thremp is FORCING ME to post that sites are blocked on the DNS level and you can get around it by changing DNS servers. (Amongst other ways obviously)

Chipdiiler · 06-01-2012, 02:13 PM

Also Triobet is licensed here (Microgaming) and PAF poker (ongame i think).