so im thinking of moving to costa rica to attempt to play poker for a living. ive been playing for about 10 years and consider myself to be an above average player. ive been to costa rica several times and have always won money while there. last time i made 1k+ in 8 days of playing. rent and cost of living is pretty cheap there with rent being about $300/month w all bills included. i have a job in the states now which i hate but which pays decent money. ive gotten my college degree and have saved somewhere around $6k plus have a ****ty car i could sell before the move. do you think i can make a decent living (not trying to be supa baller) there playing $1-2 and $2-5 NL? Also is 6k a good enough bankroll to start off with at 1-2 or should i wait and save some more money before moving? any thoughts would be appreciated

Strictly speaking from a non poker standpoint, no, you don't have enough.

Assuming your car is worth $4k you'll have $10k to get to CR, this also assumes you have zero debt (no student loans, no mortgage, no credit cards or outstanding bills).

Chuck $1000+ to get to CR from the states (flying + shipping your stuff) with all of your stuff, and another $500-1000 for a rental unit for the first month, last, deposit, turning electric on, etc.

Say that totals $2k with everything including buying food and some furniture to get you comfy and sleep at night in a bed, that's 20% of your money, leaving you with $8k. If rent is $300, double that for your monthly cost of living for electric, food, Internet connection, etc. That leaves you 13 months of living to your name, period.

Sure, it's a decent bankroll to play live 2/5NL with, but considering swings and the lack of any other income, it's very risky. It's also worth mentioning you'll be a US citizen in a foreign country without proper health insurance or coverage, and that by itself could be risky as hell.

Personally, I say take a week off work for vaca, fly to Vegas and stay in a cheap hotel and grind daily, see how you actually like playing live 6-18 hours a day back to back and where your money is then.

Sounds like you have thought of doing this before? lol

Perfect advice.

6k is more than enough for 1-2 live. if ur living where it will cost 300 to rent

if u cant beat 1-2 live u shouldnt be playing poker. imo 1-2 is jus a joke should need more than 3k at most to have a br for it. if u lose 3k its cuase u suck and u made a wrong decision imo

yes mike panic has the best advice id say anybody could offer....But id like to add tht a 6k roll wont take you very far so id wait till you can save a little more cash about 10k

No, I just run numbers and see the bigger picture, the one a lot of people seem to get clouded with their dreams.

yeah, go for it.. and write a nice report plz;-)

Dude this was pretty bang on but can I add that he should maybe have his rent+food money for at least 3-6 months that way if you do go on a bad downswing (which is not uncommon at 30 hands/hr poker) that you have something to back onto instead of using money from your roll to survive which is money you will need to grind.

I would say that you don't have enough to live/play you do have enough to start grinding at your local casinos wherever you live currently. Build a roll.

I am starting a challenge for myself that I can make $20k playing 1/2NL thats 200 BI. My plan is to play 16 hours a week for 7 months (I work full time and can only grind live on the weekends) that translates to about $45/hour at 1/2 NL live which people are telling me is nearly impossible but I think I can do it. If you beleive in yourself the sky is the limit imo.

So if you take (belief + a bit of luck + skill) - varience = poker pro IMO

Good Luck.

$45 an hour is pretty much impossible at $1/2 unless you are an absolute soul crushing LAG pro. Playing tag $1/2 $20 an hour is "good" $25-$30 an hour is crushing.

To OP - I agree with the others. 6 month living expenses + 10k roll and I'd be comfortable doing this, any less is risky but not impossible.

i think u should go and tell us...

could u expand this BAEVentures ?

Ok well i currently have 0 debt to my name (never even owned a credit card). my good friend lives down there so he knows alot of the locals and can get good deals on places. A one way ticket to CR is only about $250-300 and my car is worth somewhere in the $2500-3500 range. worse case i have 7k to my name after moving and securing a place to stay. but like i said earlier cost of living is quite cheap down there w your average meal being around $5 if you want to eat out and cheaper if your cooking for yourself. you can purchase health care down there but i dont know the exact price of it and that is a big concern of mine. however, the way i see it I can go down there and if i fail whats the big deal i'll be in just about the same position i am now. i have a ****ty job which im well overqualified for and have a business degree from a reputable university to fall back on. i say **** it what are dreams for right

6k is this a level? I might consider moving there if ihad 50k prob more like 100k. Are you 18 or something?????

Don't mean to bring down your parade, but is sitting at a poker table in a smokey casino playing 30 hands an hour of medium stakes poker against tourists in Costa Rica for around 6 hours a day really a dream for you?

It just doesn't sound like an exciting life to me. No passion or adventure, just....sitting there....getting dealt cards....I mean....if you really want to make a living why aren't you spending this money for coaching and really investing in your game to move up stakes online and become a highly profitable poker player from home. Not some card player who lives in Costa Rica who lives in a $300/month place taking tourists money in some casino.

There's more to life than playing cards and winning money...

Seeing as you hate your job and seem sorta miserable/depressed, take a vacation, go on an adventure some where. You're stuck in a mental rut and you need a release. Go out in nature and push yourself.

These are just my opinions....

What's to expand on? Read the 4 billion threads written across various sites about winrates playing $1/2? I personally even think $20 per hour is a little high and am hoping long term to be $15-20 but I don't get in nearly the volume I would like to come up with an accurate hourly for myself yet.

Only 250 hours played since I started tracking and that's over the course of 9 months in various different casinos. Roughly $18 per hour in that time period which I believe is at the high end. I play a pretty sLAG style live but tend to spew a bit too... lol

playing cards sounds like a good life to me. I dont enjoy playing online so I dont see any point spending money on a coach. Also in CR you're surrounded by nature

I would do it but commit to it then save every penny from your job for the next 6 months..don't go out to eat, don't buy ****..sell stuff you have now that you don't want to ship down there..If you really penny pinch you can probably easily double the 6k in 6 months saving..much easier when you have a specific goal in mind to be saving for.
I guess the only other thing is to have a plan b for being able to move back if things go terrible..being able to move back with parents or what not to get on your feet again here. If you have something like that then the worst case is you go on a year vacation to costa rica...if you don't have much going on here then why the hell not.

Well, if sitting at a poker table in a smokey casino playing 30 hands an hour of medium stakes poker against tourists in Costa Rica for around 6 hours a day is considered a 'good' life for you...I feel sorry as you've missed the point of my previous post.

Also, you say you don't like playing online. Well if you don't like playing online in the comfort of your own home, free to get up, nap, eat, walk around, workout, watch tv, or play in your pajamas, then I just don't see how you're going to be able to sit in a casino for 6+ hours a day being dealt 30 hands an hour choking on cigarette smoke. I think your being blinded by 'what could be' with 'what is'. And 'what is' is the fact that the life that you want to live in CR just seems like it would suck and you would love it for the first couple days, then hate it after a month.

If you go through with it I do wish you luck, but I don't advise you to do it at all. As many people who have made good arguments of why not to do it either, this was my attempt at explaining why going would be a bad idea.

Once again, just my take on this whole situation.

I would def consider getting decent at online just so u dont have to grind B&M

qft

The casinos there are not like the casinos here and the laws are a bit different. I imagine you'll have angry players (foreign or not) follow you home. If you have money in Costa Rica, you better have some sort of protection. There are no surveillance cameras.

how much is the rake ?
the field is the same most of the days ?
idk.. more information, better..