When I read these words I wrote on my blog exactly 1 year and 7 days ago, I feel like I don't know this kid anymore...

Who was this young guy who was at the same time worried and incredibly excited at the idea he would finally give a try to his wildest dream?

I have no idea, but the key is : I did it. I was a bored architect, and I'm now living from live cash game while doing a world trip with the money I earn on my way...

Obviously, not the way I thought at the beginning. I was planning to make my world tour in one year, and I'm still in South America... I guess Parkinson, my shaking motorbike is one of the reasons... Who could tell the same me who had never touched a motorbike before would buy one and travel around with since Paraguay?



Or maybe it were the girls... I guess I fell in love a bit too much... In Paraguay. And in Argentina. And in Bolivia. And in Peru. Twice actually in Peru. hahaha...


(Ahhh Lauri... Why did I leave Asuncion??)

Or maybe it was just the poker? I played quite a lot, in so many different places. Going from one city to another, from poker room to poker room. Clubs in Brazil, casinos in Paraguay and Peru, illegal tables in Argentina and Bolivia...I played in the high society clubs and with the mafia. So many stories u don't imagine...





Well.

I celebrated my first anniversary one week ago... I was supposed to come back to France after a year, but I feel it's impossible now. I just can't imagine myself in front of a computer 8 hours a day. I would kill myself before... My life changed. So many encounters, incredible moments, and so many doors opened...
I became in one year one of the most famous poker blog in France. Got some radios interviews, paper articles, I ve even been contacted by a publisher who wants me to write a book. Dream coming true... How could I stop now??

I'm not coming back to France anymore. The road is calling me. Within some days, I'll start season 2 of the World Poker Trip, to the North ! Ecuador, Colombia and Central America... Maybe at the end of it I will reach Las Vegas, who knows...

A new big challenge... Hold one more year. Or maybe 2, or 3, or 5... Until I get broke one day...


And if you wanna know more, here it is :

the epic first season video


my website :
www.worldpokertrip.net
+
www.facebook.com/worldpokertrip

and the first traductions are coming :

http://www.worldpokertrip.net/english/

Very interesting! Subbed

moar

Allez un petit coup de francais !

Je suis ton projet depuis le debut, et je dois dire une chose, c'est que du haut de mes 20 ans, je suis juste completement fan.
J'ai quitter la France pour m'installer en UK depuis un peu plus d'un an et je trouvais deja ca assez fou, mais toi ...
Tu fais rever, rever d'avoir ce qu'il faut pour le faire, rever par tes aventures et ta reussite, rever de vendre du reve !

Je ne sais pas trop comment tu es en arriver la et je me doute que tu as du passer par pal mal de galere et de moment de doute avant de partir et meme apres surement, mais tu nous donne a tous ( la communautee qui te soutient ) l'envie de reproduire ce voyage fou !

Pour ma part, je commence a regulierement grinder le CG live en casino ( j'imagine que tu m'en a donner l'envie surement ) pour me perfectionner dans ce domaine et me preparer pour un jour qui sais peut etre partir moi aussi a l'aventure !

Dans tout les cas, je te souhaite une tres bonne bonne continuation a toi, et je ne peux qu'etre impatient en attendant tes prochains recits ( Si bien ecrits que l'on plonge dirctement dedans ) et tes prochaines videos ...

Bonne chance ! Louis

( Sorry guys, I know it wasn't English but I had to say it in French ^^ )

And of course ! Subbed !!

Thanks for the comments men,

Here is the traduction of my first article, 1 year ago. Available on my blog there :

http://www.worldpokertrip.net/i-bought-my-ticket/

I'll try to give u english traductions on a regular basis.

If there's any fluent french/english speaker, would be awesome if he helped me.
______________




Here we are, what is done is done and there is no turning back now.

I’ve just bought a one way ticket from Paris to Rio de Janeiro, without any cancelation insurance.On March 31st, at 6:30 AM, I’m leaving France only carrying my backpack and some savings.



I can easily imagine how I’ll feel once in the plane. It’s gonna be impossible to sleep, even thought the flight time: 20 hours (hey… low cost guys ! I’m not someone who does anything halfway). Feeling at the same time this fear of leaving for the unknown and this huge excitation which has been rising up for the last weeks thinking I’m finally fulfilling the dream I had for so long : The World Trip.



After my school cursus, I probably missed the boat. 23 years old, just graduated with an architecture degree, that was the perfect timing but fortunately (?) I found my first job in no-time. Then, life going on, an opportunity leading to another, I moved from job to job, from city to city. Two years stuck in France, the same me who wasn’t able to spend three months without buying a flight ticket to anywhere. I could have buried this project without even realizing it, but one night, writing a 2010 Egyptian Trip Report on a discussion board and remembering all these magic moments and unexpected encounters, it had the same effect as a big slap on my face. I realized how I missed travelling and that if I was not taking my chance soon the next opportunity would may not occur before my retirement.

A few weeks later, when my boss offered me a full time position, I took one of the most important decision of my life : I refused it. In December 2012, I stopped working and went back living home with my family in Lille, after seven years spent with roomies or alone in a bachelor. I decided to spend the winter time for planning my upcoming trip. Weird feeling during this time, with parents probably a lot more worried than me about my crazy decision, having vaccinations against diseases I’d rather never heard about, trying to exercise a bit so I won’t feel too much shame when I hang around Copacabana beach, and spending evenings playing poker.



And now, you’re asking yourself the $1,000 question : poker? What about poker?



I must say I’ve played poker for as long as I traveled. Even longer. I’ll always remember my very first game, at my brother place. I was 17, heard about it a few weeks earlier, and as the studious and hard working college boy I was then, had read some strategic guidelines on the internet. The buy-in was €20, two weeks of my pocket money back then. Serious money!

I barely remember what happened that night. Only that at some point of the night I made a royal flush. But I was so ignorant about Poker that I wasn’t even suprised about it, and played the next hand as if nothing just happened. As you can guess, I’ve been incredibly lucky that night, and eventually won the tournament. Me, the 17 kid let loose in the shark pond, against mid-thirties experienced players.

You easily can imagine the impact of this victory, and the nice amount of money coming along with it, on the easily swayed boy I was then. From that day, I kept on playing. Not regularly, with some no-game periods, but I never really dropped it.

When my intention for travelling around the world came back in my mind, a few month ago, it seemed so natural to me I had to plan my

two passions together. I decided to play poker to pay and supply my trip. And just like that, the World Poker Trip was born.





WORLD



In case you missed it, my plan is to travel all around the globe. I leave France on March 31st, heading to Rio the Janeiro. Just like Magellan did, I’ll keep going straight, and should be back in France one year later. It could be less, it could be more… Honestly, a lot will depend on…



POKER

My savings, collected by the sweat of my brow ? I won’t use them. This upcoming year will only be funded by playing poker. I’ve grinded dozens nights in casinos in France and Belgium over the last months, and was able to save the money I need for about 8 month. The rest, I need to earn it on the road. If I fail, I come back home to France. And if I can make it, so I keep on travelling. That’s about as easy as it sounds !

So, during my trip, I may have to hold the travelling part for a few days/weeks so I can grind enough to go on. Of course an important step of my journey will be to make it to Las Vegas, the poker player Mecca, but I will probably stop somewhere on regular basis only in order to play and build the bankroll I need to move on.

So, poker will be the leading thread of my trip, and I’ll try to play anytime I can find a game, in a Casino or held privately by people I’ll meet. Of course, I won’t play everywhere, not only because there are some places where nobody plays, but also as a safety matter. I do not want to be the fish at the table whom people cheating on, or being molested when I leave the game.

Then, I’ll focus on games with small stakes in order to experience the different aspects and cultures of a poker game around the world. Just imagine how big stories could result from playing in a small peruvian coffee-shop, then in a Casino in Panama City, in Vegas, in an underground Vancouver club, with grinders in a house in Thaïland, or by indian millionnaires. This whole big game looks so exciting ! Probably as much as the…



TRIP

Because the way you travel is even more important than the travel itself. It will be as usual for me since I was a student : alone, slowly, only with my backpack, trying to reach people more than places. There will be a lot of couchsurfing, lot of bus travels, hitch-hicking… but no plane. Except for the initial flight to Rio, of course, I’ll try to never use plane. Too fast, no pleasure, no excitement, no cultural transition… and after all, I’m not in a rush at all !



I allow myself 6 month for the first part of my trip : Rio to Vegas. I’m expecting to go through the Pacific coast, travelling countries I always dreamed about : Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Escuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa-Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, then the USA…



Of course, all this is only the beginning. Then I’ll keep going through north-America, then Japan, then… Stop. For now, I don’t say more. Because I intend to be flexible about places and timing. With experience I learned how the best travels are fed with what you can discover along the road. I deliberately decided to be loose in my agenda, letting this journey build by itself.



The blog

Of course, the goal is to tell you about all this adventure. At the beginning I was thinking to keep it for myself, it’s my own thing after all… But first, I promised to my poor mum who’s been dying of worries for the last year to give her news on regular basis. Moreover, about all the friends I’ve been talking to about my project are saying “you’re gonna make a blog, I hope!”. Well, since I’m doing this for them, I could tell the entire web… As you can see, there’s not much yet, of course, it’s my first article. But soon, you’ll be finding drawings, pictures, my adventures, some sociology article about the women born in April in Honduras, what do I know? The blog will also be an occasion for you reader to give me a hand. Imagine 365 days going around the world, it means 365 nights trying not to sleep under bridges. Everyone has a cousin, an uncle, a friend leaving abroad. If I’m in a region where u think some relative can help me, you can use the blog to help me!



Now it’s time to go. You can join me if you want to, at least for a while.

Let’s travel and gamble !

Are you **** refreshing every single minute ? ... anyway, gl OP! subbed

Oooo sheet, really enjoyed reading so far, any reasons for not playing online?

GL

Hey mate, sounds great! Looking forward to reading your thread. I'm from the uk but been in Vegas last yr and heading back for 6 months. Always curious about the regularity and ease of finding games in south/central America as it is somewhere I would love to spend more time. Good luck, and if you make it to Vegas give me a shout!

subbed, glhf

subbed

If you make it to Santiago, I got you covered.

I'm a real livetard haha. I learnt online, but way better in live games. And I just love to talk to people, go in funny or creepy places, I guess I just wanted adventure !

Not so hard to find if u're not picky, and if u don't mind playing homegames. If u just go in official places, u miss Bolivia, North of Argentina, whole Peru except Lima, and Ecuador.





Nope, I'm in Peru now, and going up North !

don't think ive ever actually subscribed to a thread before but this sounds amazing, def something i think i need to do once in my life


what sort of stakes we're you playing? Also how safe did you feel in most of these games/carrying money about with you?

What are you taking photos with? Is this a pro camera+photoshop or just an "instagram" kind of pics? 8)

In France I was a NL200 live regular. Here in South America, depends on the cities. Can be from NL50 in La Paz or Santa Cruz to NL500 shots in Lima. Most of the games are around NL100/200

When I go to a game for a first time, I usually don't bring nothing more than the money I need, 100 or 200 bb and no cell phone, no camera, nada. If I don't like the game, I just don't come back, it happened only once in Cusco. It happens from time to time I'm a bit worried before entering, like in my first illegal big game in Tucuman, Argentina, or creepy place like Ciudad del Este, but usually, people are really warm, and contrast a lot from the places they're playing in.

Most of the pics come from a smartphone + snapseed or instagram ( I just created an account : http://instagram.com/worldpokertrip)

And how do people feel about you using camera at the tables?

usually it's forbidden in casinos, so most of the pictures i have are "illegal". Just took them discretely.

In private games, I just ask permission. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't, sometimes they just love the idea.

My biggest success was managing to get my gopro accepted at this crazy table in Salta, Argentina :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcc6ty3fpgQ

It was the club of the high society of the city, in a hidden room behind a restaurant...
I made my biggest night ever there !

sick
GL!!

Hey worldpokertrip,

I've been following your trip for a few months on other poker forums - the one of a kind, French-speaking ClubPoker.net - and as far as I recall, the first thing that I noticed about you was that you were used to travelling and planning your nightstops with the internet through couchsurfing - or camping when you're in the middle of the Andean landscapes.

Would you please tell us a few words about couchsurfing : is it a cheap way to sleep at inhabitant places, or is it a way of life for modern roadtrippers?

Yeaah, I forgot to tell about this !

I'm never ever going to hotels, I just don't like it. I m travelling to meet people, not to see places, so hotels is like the worst place ever for me.
Except for Lima where I was in a grinding mode and needed some privacy, I'm always living with locals. Sometimes I just meet people randomly and they host me, but most of the time I use the website couchsurfing, which I guess everybody knows right?

So 90% of the time I'm with couchsurfers. To me, it's the best way ever to visit a place. U're with someone who s been living years in the city, he knows it perfectly, gets out where no tourist go, and sometimes he's a she, and she's nice

That's just perfect !

Any stories on rando creepy surfers? Also travelling by bike do you never get chased by stray/wild animals from time to time? Also does the threat of dying as a result of hitting one of these animals at high speeds not scare you?

In Tarija, south of Bolivia, I arrived at a CS place. The guy was like 30, still supposedly student, but actually doing not much, living with his mom in a creepy room full of hard metal posters. It was so ****ing dirty, I was sleeping in the same room as him, on a ****ty mattress on a floor which hadn't been wiped for monthes I guess. I didn't feel good at all. And moreover, the guy wasn't even "buena onda". It almost never happens to me but I just had nothing to tell him, he was smoking pot all day long, being high, that was really bad... At night while I was sleeping, he was still awake watching history documentaries or whatever. One night I was awaken by some noise and the guy was just jerking off in front of his compu... wtf

So I started to get out without him, meet other couchsurfers and discovered the guy was known to be a weirdo. One afternoon, I speak with one of them, tell about my cs.

"Oh really??? this guy is crazy man, he participates to some black Mass where they kill cats and so on.."

Omg...

That was enough, I just left the day after, back to a hostel.

That was the worse and only one in this trip among maybe 60/70 meetings ( got one other creepy host, but some years before, not in this trip)

subbed, i will definitely follow your travels. how big is your bankroll and live roll when u on the road?

Gotta love the story.
Awesome is awesome

Subbed ofc, keep up the good work !!!

I'm writing you from Loja, in the South of Ecuador !

After 7 months in Peru, I finally left the country. Last days have been pretty intense !

After leaving Lima, I arrived in the North Peru where I f.. lost my matriculation I don't know where. I had to make a false one in Trujillo, the big city of the North, and since then I ve been driving with it.
I then arrived in Chiclayo where I stayed for 1 week. Pretty funny step coz the manager of the casino where I played everynight went crazy when I told him about my story. He said he wanted to tell it to everyone and that s how I got interviewed by Peru all in, the peruvian 2+2.



I then headed North, to Piura. It was supposed to be a 2 hours way in the desert, but I was a bit harsh with Parkinson, my bike, and the engine burnt in the middle of nothing. I got pretty lucky coz I stopped near a farmer house who hosted me for the night while the bike was getting repaired...



I arrived the day after in Sullana, and... Wtf is this city??? Looks like a post war country. Sand streets, big holes everywhere. I stop to ask my way to some guy and first thing he says me is "beware, it's dangerous here". OMG.

Luckily, i have my couchsurfer, Ana Lucia, aka la Chata (the small one). She guides me around the town, we go to the beach and ... Well... She was pretty hot...

I went to Piura where one of her friend introduced me to the craziest poker game I ever played.

Imagine a snooker place, in which u go to the bar, and the guy let u enter the 2nd hidden room. There u play with some scary peruvian, terrible players, some of them drunk. Around 1am, in the tv displaying all the cameras, we see a man outside, a "ratero" ( stealer ), trying to take a bike. The 6 guys all get out at the same time and start to purchase him. One of them takes out a gun and shoots at him, not kidding... Putamadre, fortunately he misses him... They go back and we continue to play poker like nothing happened hahaha, and the shooter starts to tell the others how last month he killed some guy who was trying to steal in his shop.
****ing underground poker, that was awesome, scary, and incredibly exciting at the same time..



Last days were pretty sad. Not only did I have to leave la Chata with whom I had a great time, but I also decided to leave Parkinson. It was causing me too much problems ultimately, and I didn't trust her too much for the mountains of Ecuador.

So here I am now, in Loja, South of Ecuador. For the 1st time in one year, I m travelling without my bike. I m gonna stay some days here, and then up to the North : Cuenca, Quito, and then Colombia, where I'll stay for a while to buy a new bike...

See u !