Poker Refugees helps online players travel, relocate temporarily or move permanently around the world.

The company was founded to support online poker players following the events of Black Friday and also offers services for non-US players internationally.

If you are in the US and trying to plan a move to a foreign country to reopen your poker accounts, or if you already live abroad and just want help planning your travel to a safe and fun environment with reliable internet and infrastructure, we can help.

On this thread we can answer questions about this customized service and general questions on playing poker abroad and living in different countries.

Kristin from Poker Refugees began helping players in May just weeks after Black Friday. Since the company's inception in August, Poker Refugees has helped nearly 120 players relocate to destinations such as Costa Rica, Canada and Panama.

For more info post here in the thread or visit us at:

http://www.pokerrefugees.com

http://www.facebook.com/PokerRefugees

Twitter @PokerRefugees

have you relocated any 2+2 members? you should have them post their experience here

Good idea; we've asked our players to post here. You can also check out feedback and testimonials on our Buzz page:

www.pokerrefugees.com/buzz

You may recognize some names from 2p2

I've used the Poker Refugee service to move to Costa Rica. I spent six months in Canada after Black Friday. After Canada, there wasn't any easy places to move too. Every place had some drawbacks. I ultimately decided to go with Poker Refugees. I've been very satisfied with the Poker Refugee business. They specialize in getting bank accounts, leases and internet lined up to reopen poker accounts. The bank account and lease went smoothly and I got to Costa Rica on Monday and was playing by Saturday.
Living in Costa Rica has had its challenges, but Poker Refugees has made my life down here a whole lot easier. I don't think I could have moved to Costa Rica without them.

I have also moved to Costa Rica. The service is worth every penny. I cannot imagine how I would have made it without Poker Refugees. The banking policies here are tremendously difficult. Finding good housing is very important; it would be impossible for a foreigner to easily determine if a neighborhood is safe or foreigner-friendly. Internet access, power, phone service, cable...all of these are a bit harder to set up in Costa Rica. And that's assuming you speak Spanish.

Poker Refugees makes everything smoother; they help find contacts if a problem arises, they facilitate the entire moving process, they answer questions about cultural differences, and they make it possible to get up and running in record time.

Trying to do it on my own would have been sheer folly. Using Poker Refugees is a no-brainer, especially in Costa Rica.

hey guys hows it going, i mostly lurk 2+2 but have posted a few times...

recently used refugees to move down to Costa Rica and it was awesome. After signing up the only thing you have to worry about is packing your bags and not missing your flight

Kristin and nicki are both very good at gathering all the documents you need to play on stars and other sites again. Opening a bank account in Costa Rica is the toughest problem people have trying to relocate, but with their service i was able to open my bank account within an hour and get back on pokerstars in 2 days. Not only do they open your bank account and get all the legal documents needed, they also find you a place to live wherever you'd like, a car to rent/buy, someone to pick you up and take you to the airport, and show you around town to make sure you know where everything is you would possibly need while grinding..Not only do they provide you with top class customer service before you arrive but once you get here they also welcome you into a large community of fellow poker players as to give you a nice "home away from home" feeling

the relocation fees may seem high at first, but once you see how much they do for you and the amount of stress they relieve it is 100% worth the cost or even more...anybody seriously interested in moving should contact them as they are experienced with many players now and have all the answers you need

didnt see this before my post....plain and simple all that needs to be said

The reason it probably took me so long to move is because all the hassle that is involved with it. I relocated last month to Costa Rica and without Poker Refugees it would have been 100x harder. They basically took care of everything, found me a place to stay, set me up with a bank account, got all my documents organized that I needed to send into stars. I was up and running in about 4 days since I moved, and I am pretty confident it would have taken me over a month without them.

Kristen, Nicki, and Ellen are all extremely nice and help you out with anything you need. $1,000 really is a bargain if you think about it since they save you from any missteps happening, and will have you on stars much quicker than you would be able to do on your own and lets you start making money sooner. It is also nice to know if you don't speak the language where you are going somebody to help is only a phone call away. It really is a great business and am very very glad I used them.

I have a ton of ppl to refer, whats my cut? lol


no srsly

I also used Poker Refugees to move and it was very useful for me. I don't speak any spanish so there is no way I would've been able to setup my internet/phone/tv/bank acct/etc without them. There's a lot of tedious things that you need to do to get setup in Costa Rica and they take care of all of it for you. Definitely worth the money especially if you don't speak spanish.

Thank you guys so much for sharing your experiences with the 2p2 community.

Reading these confirms why I started this business. Not to be cliché or a girl, but it's been a really fulfilling experience helping so many players travel the world and turning the negatives of Black Friday into a positive.

kristin

After months of indecision, I moved to Germany in January without the help of Poker Refugees. I was able to get up and running on some euro-sites, but failed to open a local bank account (it's more or less impossible in Germany unless you're a resident) and couldn't get back on Stars.

At the end of February, I contacted Poker Refugees and within a week I was living in Costa Rica with a local bank account and all of the paperwork necessary to get back on Stars (which took less than a week after my arrival).

Getting a foreign bank account is a web of inconvenience, but thanks to PR, it was done the same day I arrived in CR. All I had to do was sit at the bank for an hour and answer the occasional question through my translator.

Living in Germany for two months was a great experience, but moving without assistance was a huge mistake. If you're leaving the US to play poker, maximize your trip EV by getting help. Unless you're an accomplished world traveler and international financier, doing it on your own is much more expensive than hiring a professional.

Thanks for the write-up Paul we're happy you and Li are here!

I recently moved to Costa Rica through Refugees and everything has gone pretty much as expected. They sent me pics of potential apartments/condos to choose from that matched my specifications. My bank account was opened in a few days after my arrival. It took 2 weeks to get back on Stars, but that was partly because I arrived during Easter week, which is a huge holiday here, and most businesses were closed. I've heard others were able to get on in under a week during less hectic times. Refugees also organizes your docs and knows exactly what Stars wants. Once I sent everything in, Stars approved almost immediately. If you send Stars the wrong things or in the wrong way, it can really drag out the process and keep you out of the game that much longer.

Kristin and her associates will follow up after you have arrived to make sure things are going well. It is comforting to know you have someone to call who knows the ropes and has the connections to help you with almost anything you need during your stay in a foreign country.

Had I moved without Kristin's help, I'd probably be in a much seedier condo in a bad area, still trying to open a bank account, and still trying to get on Stars. Echoing a previous post, Refugees is +ev.

Thanks Steve and everyone who posted their experiences with our service!

To all the other 2+2'ers out there, hope this helps give a clearer idea of what we do. Feel free to hit us up with more questions.

We also have some testimonials and other videos on www.youtube.com/pokerrefugees

If anyone needs accommodations during what's remaining of SCOOP, WSOP or after (WCOOP) contact us for rentals in Vegas or outside of the US!

Kristin

I have some questions about costa rica.
I dont speak Spanish at all how big of a deal will that be?
How safe is it down there? Ive never left the USA and not sure how secure 3rd world country are.
How expense if the cost of living down there compared to the USA?
What do you like about living in Costa Rica that other countrys dont offer?
How ez it is to get a bank account? (I dont have a perfect track record with a few USA banks)

Any answers would help me a lot thx.

Hola,

Sorry for the delayed response; you posted the day I left for vacation!

To answer your questions, none of the poker players we have relocated thus far speak Spanish and they are faring well. More people definitely speak English at the beach than in the city so you might want to take that into consideration. This is due to more tourism and American influence at the beach.

Bank accounts are not easy to get but we have developed a system for helping players with this in 1 day. The bank laws are changing on July 1 so we will have to change our process again after that.

I personally came to Costa Rica in 2002 on a scholarship to learn Spanish during college. I didn't expect to like it so much, but ended up staying longer then moving here full time in 2005... supposedly for 1 year that turned into almost 7 now.

It's a personal preference. Some people don't like it and prefer to live in a more modern city rather than a Latin American one or beaches and mountains.

People tend to like Costa Rica for these main reasons:
-Laid back lifestyle
-Great weather; beautiful country
-Close to the US; 2 international airports with multiple daily flights
-Affordable cost of living
-Beautiful women (from a guy's perspective, at least that's the consensus)
-Safe country, no army
-Lots of foreigners so the culture welcomes tourists (key economic driver)

Basically Costa Rica is simply an enjoyable place to visit or live; you can always leave whenever you want as immigration is flexible and you don't need any paperwork to get a visa. Just your passport when you get off the plane.

Hope this helps; let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Kristin

PS - Your bank "track record" in the US won't have any effect or weighting on banks in Costa Rica.

how are the womenz??? hook us up brah, we need some pictures!

Hey... we are girls

But feel free to google women in Costa Rica

POKER PLAYER POLL!

Hi Everyone:

We are adding more countries to our service offering!

Where would YOU most like to live part time playing poker outside your home country?

What is your favorite poker destination?

If you left the US to play poker, where would you most like to go?

Our finalists include:

-Australia/New Zealand
-Caribbean
-Ecuador
-Malta
-Mexico
-Thailand

Kristin
Poker Refugees

Australia/New Zealand

2nd choice: Caribbean

Thanks for your feedback! Anyone else?

Caribbean. Malta is a close second