Hey all, got to Riga a couple weeks ago and I've gotta say finding an apartment and getting set up is quiiiiiite difficult. Anyway, is there anyone in the area who plays (online)poker professionally and any kind of community to speak of?

Yes and yes. I would imagine it's pretty easy to find a place too.

Finally found one that's a little worse than I'd like but it was very difficult with fake advertisements everywhere of apartments that have already been rented out. Do you play full time/send me a PM?

PMed you.

Hey! Welcome to Latvia! What made you to move here?

so a few people already living in riga?

how to get some nice apartment there? my gf will start studying in riga at 1st Sep and i will move along, so we are looking for a nice appartment.
just contacted a few real estate agencys, but still dont really know and dont want to get ripped

looking for something near the RSU university and not too far away from city centre. 1 bedroom, 2 rooms for work (1 for me, 1 for her), livingroom, kitchen

and by what i have seen from the prices, probably something nice.
used to pay 600€/month rent in germany for something smallish and guess that for 600€/month i can go balla in riga ?
anything i have to look out for? like added costs to rent? (gf has like ~250€/month rent cap, but i am more than willing to spent a lil more on a jacuzzi)

you can't really go baller for 600/mo in riga but given that you're signing a lease for 6mo+ you'll get a really good place for 500/mo(that's including utilities and everything). could be a little more expensive since you're looking for an aptmnt w 3 rooms.
I wouldn't try to set anything up before arriving..many places look good in ads but actually are really bad..the best option is to find a place to stay at for like 2 weeks and find a good aptmt during that time.

you can PM me if u have more Qs

Isn't RSU at other side of the river (Daugava) than city center? If you mean Riga Stradins University at Dzirciema iela than you have to choose at what side of the river Daugava you want to live.

RSU is near Iļguciems or Dzirciems, you can look here what kind of apartments you can finde close to the University - http://www.ss.lv/lv/real-estate/flat...ems/hand_over/

or

http://www.ss.lv/lv/real-estate/flat...lns/hand_over/

Its mostly soviet style buildings and offer in higher quality apartments is low, but you can find something interesting time to time (sort them by price and start with the most expensive ones).

If I were you, I would look at Āgenskalns or Ķīpsala which are a lot nicer neighborhoods, and has better offer in good quality apartments. They are not so close to RSU but closer to city center.

http://www.ss.lv/lv/real-estate/flat...lns/hand_over/

http://www.ss.lv/lv/real-estate/flat...ala/hand_over/

Prices in adds are usually just for rent, you have to take into consideration that you will have to pay additional cost for:

heating in winter - about 1 lvl/per m2 on average
electricity and water - about 40 lvl/month

some renters ask for additional costs like maintenance monthly fee or something like that, it could wary from 0.2 lvl per m2 till 1.5 lvl per m2, you should ask about that on the phone or when you go to see apartment.

If you use real estate agency, they can ask you 1month rent as their commission. Links I gave you above are from largest add site in Latvia - some adds there are from private owners (than you don't have to pay the commision, but they may not know english) and most of the adds are from agencies.

hey thanks guys
finally settled everything and i am in my apartment now for like 5 days
got a nice one at valdemara iela with 4 rooms, bus connection is good to the other riverside, ~10mins to stradins university which is fine

had to visit a few apartments, cause most of them were serious ****, but thats fine

now just have to wait for me computer and all the monitors to arrive via mail to be able to play again and gonna wait for my latvian id so i can get a mobile contract, so i have a backup internet connection just in case


do you guys sometime get together for a grinding session or something?
or maybe playin the eureka tour?

would like to meet a few decent pokerplayers around, eventhough i dont play that much anymore, probably just 3-7 days per month