hm interesting id have to look into this. ive looked into purchasing and most banks give me a shyt time w/ a mortgage due to not having "steady" income. i read in another one of ur posts that your a homeowner. what route did u use to purchase (mortgage) assuming u play poker for part/most of ur income?

I'm lucky in that I have another form of income. I just play poker for fun.

But, you should find someone to be a co signor on the loan with you. Preferably a family member. That way you can build up your credit.

I mean I'm all for scaring away potential competition, but really? Lots of cool/safe places to live for under 1k/month in rent (especially if you roommate up)...

The reason people don't make it is because they aren't good enough to overcome rake and variance (no1 is really when you are talking about < 5-10 anywhere but Vegas). U have to play big and short if u wanna beat live poker (without a ton of help from God) for anything reasonable in California. And the few who r good at that r rarely good at money/life management. So they flame out for other reasons.

nah. no spots for under a dime. even with a roommate. base rent will almost always be at least 2K for 2br. If you want to stretch it and live somewhere really sorry then you can do it obv. Lynwood won't cost too much. once you add in Time Warner w/ NBA league pass & their fastest internet and other necessities you're looking at about 1500-2K/month if you're lucky for rent + utilities. Also, the rake at any game besides 10/20 is absurd. 6$ pot for 5/5 and 5/10 + $1 tip. Lol @ over 1BB per hand @ 5/5. But I'd still rather live in LA than Vegas obv.

Absolutely, the high cost of living in LA (or pretty much anywhere in California) is my foremost concern.

I'm not expecting to live the balla' lifestyle, or anything close to it, just hoping to find a clean, cozy, safe spot to relax at the end of a day/night.

Also, not planning on going out much at all, will be mostly eating at the casinos while playing, so I'm expecting other expenses to minimal (just the standard gas, ins, odds + ends, etc.). I'm expecting my my monthly nut to be in the 1500 - 2000/mo. range.


Passive Income is always ++EV. Real estate is good and safe, but I prefer investing in the market. Problem with real estate is it ties up large amounts of capital for extended periods of time. With stocks/derivatives, you can usually access cash when needed as long as you don't leverage yourself too much (margin calls are no fun).

Of course, everything is getting seriously overvalued this year, so not much in the way of good deals anymore...

I obv understand the 'big' part (although big for me would be very small for you), but could you clarify the 'short' part? Are you saying it's better to play shorter-stacked in a bigger game than deeper in a smaller game?

As a person who has been actively searching the market, I'd have to say DGAF is right. There are def safe/clean spots for under 1K, they are just few and far between. But it seems it can be done. The tough part is nailing something down when out of town (without getting scammed). Most anywhere else, it's easy enough to stay at monthly-rate hotel, or other commercial enterprise, for the first month or two until you can find a pad locally, but in LA those places are 2500+/mo.

I should also clarify this is not a permanent move. I have a year to travel/play anywhere in the US. Figured I'd start with LA since the weather's nice this time of year (and the games are good), see how things go for the first few months, then decide whether to stay for the rest of the year or travel somewhere else. My whole choice range consists of the usual suspects...Cali/Vegas/Florida/NJ + Philly. I'm willing to drive anywhere.

play short handed. you get more hands. hard to have pants out the gucci store stuffed with lettuce if you're getting dealt 25 hands an hour.

LOL, right. That's what DGAF meant by short. #havingablondeday

Using the GI bill so I'll get money for housing plus living with GF who makes decent money. Hopefully using poker to subsidize my life. Won't be playing full time. I enjoy poker and have not lived close to a casino in 5 years. I'm applying to schools everywhere but I'd like to live in a warm climate and there are lots if jobs in CA in my GF's career field. Plus the idea of online poker coming to CA is interesting.

+1

Or east coast if that's possible.

I wouldn't worry about the games here in LA. The real + with SoCal over Vegas or anywhere else is the Weather (All 3 W's for that matter). The big downside is the traffic. It's nice in vegas having all casinos/options basically walking distance from each other. LA on the other hand any simple 15 minute drive you may as well double or triple it as a standard.

Your biggest issue will be finding a decent place in your budget, you're probably looking at renting room or getting roommate for less than 1k..

Looks like I skipped over a whole page in this thread.. DGAF is onto something with Long Beach living, Affordable spots near coast there which would be way nicer than Downey! My friends just got a nice lil 2 bedroom spot in LB, month2month for ~$1200.. Downey would be very close & convenient for Commerce/Bike but Unless you plan on basically living in the casinos, not a chill area to live in my mind. I grew up & currently in nearby city- La Mirada (Southmost LA/towards OC/ 20 mins to Bike). So I've got a good sense of the surrounding cities, holler at me if you have any Q's.

If this is likely a temp or less than a year thing I would definitely take advantage of staying as close to the beach as you can. San Diego, or personally I love the Ventura area but now we getting further away from the soft LA casinos. GL

Also where are you coming from?

I just lived in the hood in long beach for 4 months and kept my monthly nut below 1700. But I was straight out of college, wouldn't recommend that lifestyle to most people.

long beach rent is prob the most reasonable compared to other areas near the major la casinos.

im actually looking to to move soon so ive been looking at a bunch of diff places commutable to commerce (dtla, santa monica, long beach) and from ppl i talk to they all say dtla is pretty much the best place to live if ur single (location wise its the closest "good" area to commerce w/ a lot of stuff to do/central to all other parts of LA). tho they also say u need 5k/mo min for expenses if you are living in the better parts (south park, historic core).

ok thanks. i do have real good credit but it seems the hardest part of getting a mortgage is getting qualified for a good low interest rate when ur self employed.

Unless you have 30k for year one living expenses saved plus a bank roll don't come to LA. That being said if you do come, rent a room or get a place downtown LA that's where I live/work now and for a 20 something guy there's no place like it if you consider proximity to casinos/lifestyle and things to do. Plus if you wait a year they might have the train to the beach finished.


If you are looking for a cheap place to live and you never want to commute to or from a casino during rush hour or when there's a laker/dodger/kings game going check out culver city

I have a year too - Pokertrip?

Nice, gf/govt are hooking you up...that's the way to do it!

Yeah, I've been warned about the traffic. Sadly, even the most used helicopters are out of my price range.

Tell me about it...

Thanks for being willing to help! Tbh, I'm not terribly concerned about being close to the beach or having the most beautiful surroundings. I'm not travelling to LA for the lifestyle as I'm pretty much aware I'm priced out of it from the getgo.

My primary concern is to find a cozy + clean room that I would feel comfortable coming home to, and somewhere that provides an easy commute to the Bike/Commerce/Hawaiian Gardens without spending too much time in traffic. Staying out of the ghetto would also probably be +Life EV.


Wow...1700 nut living in the hood. *sigh*

I always thought Long Beach was kinda gangsta. West Coast rappers often refer to it (along with Compton).

Looking on the map, it also seems pretty far down South...I'm wondering what the commute would be like in the afternoon.

The high cost of living IS making me nervous. I'm starting to debate whether the 'good' games are worth it.

See, here's the thing...If I was happy to play 2/5 NL and 20/40 Limit...it's an easy decision to play in other places. At the 5/10 NL and 40/80 Limit levels, the quality/availability of games dries up pretty quickly. Basically there's Cali/Vegas/Florida/Jersey. I'm plan on sticking to the West for now, so I'm pretty much deciding between Cali and Vegas.

Vegas is cheaper, and the rake is lower, but the quality of the games is also lower. Let's say I cut $500/mo. off my living expenses and save a $1000/mo. in rake...would that $1500 in savings offset the better action in LA?

I'm planning less of travelling and more on finding a good spot. FME, once you find a place that suits your needs, you set up shop and grind as many hours as possible until something changes.

Also, I'm pretty cautious with people I've just met (conditioning from hanging around casinos), so I don't know how likely it would be that I'd feel comfortable travelling with a complete stranger.

With that being said, I'd be happy to meet up sometime and who knows, you might turn out to be sane LOL. Are you in Cali or Vegas?

Haha of course of course.. I get it.. Im from NY and looking to set up shop or travel weeks at a time as well. I just came back from Vegas not too long ago and have never been to LA

id say you would save a lot more than $500/mo in living expenses if you moved to vegas instead of cali. your also going to get eaten up in LA if your playing below 5/10 due to rake (since rake for 5/10 and below is the same). if you are looking to play a mix of 2/5 5/10 i think the best thing is to move to vegas for a year and save as much as you can and then if you end up not liking it you can make the move out to cali once you have more $ saved.

Long Beach is awesome. It has some hood parts, but doesn't every real city? Most of it is really cool. And if you want super nice/safe beaching living, you can find a 2 br in belmont shore for under 2k I'm pretty sure. Most of LB is like 10 mins from HG and 20 from Commerce/Bike. That's where I would move...

There are other places in LA area that are similar/cheaper. And in general, blue collar does not = hood imo. Blue collar is actually a really good, comfortable vibe in general.

San Diego area has a million places... I own a house 15 minutes from Oceans 11 in a blue collar neighborhood on a culdesac of awesome neighbors (yeah, they get amped for Chargers games, some have big trucks and boats, sometimes there will be a garage sale on a Saturday morning or Mariachi music bumping on a Sunday, etc) who all pretty much watch each other's back 24/7. I have never heard of a crime reported on my culdesac, and my house is 2br/2ba + garage converted into a 3rd room with huge backyard with spa and such. I'm close to Cal State San Marcos as well as tons of restaurants, shopping, bars, etc. And I rent it out for ~ 2k.

I'd suggest expanding your search. Most places are safe if you don't make yourself a target/you have a little common sense. And you might actually prefer blue collar people over white collar people .

There is a similar thread in hsnl right now fwiw. And if you want to maybe rent my place (I promised my neighbor I'd try to rent to college girls, but if you bring a girl around every now and then that should make him ), send me a pm.

gL

do people itt know lbc has different neighborhoods? ever pass through east long beach?

yea long beach is great if you live in downtown but good luck finding a place for 1000$.
for <$1000 you'll probably be shackin up next to snoop dogs old homies in east lbc.

fwiw, the difference between getting a 2br with roommate for $1000 each and finding a single for< $1000 will be huge! you can find nice 2br for ~$2000 but the single for <$1000 will be pretty ****ty imo.

Another vote for Long Beach. I love it down there. Nothing Hood about it. A lot of my musician friends live down there.

Everyone $h!ts on the $3-5 $200 buyin game at COmmerce but it is the softest $5 big blind game in the world and there are extremely special regs who make the game worth playing. I made $60k/year (yes this is grinding) before moving up to $5/5 and $5/10 at CC. The restricted buyin keeps the fish in the game. The $5/10 consistently plays as tough as any $2/5 game in Vegas. Yes, the rape is ridiculously high (pun intended) compared to Vegas but the game selection and consistent action is unrivaled.

If you are a good player I would say, stay away from cc as you would only make the games tougher. Action at other la casinos is ok but not a lot of $5/10 selection.

Cc has AT LEAST 4-$5/10 games every day and at least 6 5/5 games running during peak hours 5pm-2am even during the series

The 200 game at Commerce is tough to win if you don't make the best hand. Obviously that's true about other games to but it's tough to bluff in that game

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