I'm looking for a place to move to, currently living in Belgium.
Prague sounds really good.
Thinking about France/Spain/England/Netherlands/Vegas/LA as well.

Open to other suggestions.
Would love to see some updates in this thread, everything now is 5+ years old and a lot has changed in the last year.

I'd be looking for a low cost of living (can be a shitty room in an expensive city though)
With a lot of live poker from 1/2 to 2/4, higher stakes would be nice too, since then I don't have to worry too much about pro's in my small stakes games :')

Can we revive this thread?
Or start all over again?

Most of the info in here is greatly outdated and probably inaccurate today

That would be awesome, but now there's probably like 1/100th of the traffic we got in the glory days. Apart from Thailand, seems like there are hardly any poker players abroad.

If we're factoring in ease of visas and such, then Georgia would be a solid contender. Tbilisi is a pretty nice city with a bit of a Euro vibe, food is pretty good, and cost of living is quite cheap. I've heard it sucks for women though (can't confirm as I live with my gf now), so that would probably keep many away. And as far as visa, you get 1-year free on entry, and I've heard you just need to leave and come back and you can get another year free.

Oh so that's why

that's a bummer i loved checking this thread

Also, a countries poker scene has gone in the bin a bit. I played in Lima, Peru in the past and am going there this week and asked a friend I have there about it and they said it's pretty much just private games at the moment and they'll be opening up the casino poker rooms in a couple of months.
I have been in Mexico City the past month and there is some okay action here, haven't played much though.
Will also be going to Colombia next month so will report back on the current scene there.

Colombia poker was dead around New Years' in Cartagena and Bogota, every place I tried either the whole casino or the poker room closed due to Covid but maybe it has improved now.

I like the revival!

Mazatlan - Mexico

https://mediaim.expedia.com/destinat...6&h=384&q=high

I don't know how to post pics with the new 2p2 format, bleh. pic above is the city from the north - Golden zone - where higher end tourists live. Top of the pic far away is downtown/centro. Really nice and tons of good restaurants, one of the only decent and safe centros of any latin american city imo


Often overlooked by tourists, I think Mazatlan has a ton of potential. The state is Sinaloa, where famous el chapo drug dealer comes from - but this is mostly just media garbage and if you aren't in that industry there's not much to worry about. Medellin was similar for years and everyone was afraid to go pre 2010. Absolute glory years there from 2010 to 2016 or so when gringo tourists from the world over came and took over. I see similar with mazatlan. It's also the ONLY major city in mexico with warm water year round waves in front of your doorstep.

Cost of Living - 5/10 Honestly not tons of value in mexico overall. Summertime is low season for mazatlan, as most tourists are Canadian snowbirds looking to escape winter - so prices and availability is a bit better during summer months. Can find decent apartment for $500/mo, very nice for $1000/mo that will be within a block of the beach. High rise luxury places on the beach start around $1.5k/mo. Food isn't the cheapest, lots of seafood which can be pricey, but you can always eat for $5 and have just about anything on the menu for $10. Beers are $1.50 in resturants. Buses are amazing here and cost 50 cents, the only place you need to be is along the coast so the bus takes you there simple. Uber also cheap.

Recreation - 7/10 I live in mazatlan for warm water surf in a big city in mexico, so that's really all I came for. I do have a lot of fun, and its a gigantic destination for mexican tourists from neighboring states, so weekends crack off like crazy. There's some really fun clubs I visited a handful of times, and if you get in with the right crew then party life goes on and on and on. Lots of ocean activities, one of my friends is a tour guide and takes people kayaking to a close island, then on a boat to go whale/dolphin/turtle watching. Winter months mazatlan is one of the more famous places in the world to see whale breeding grounds. The boardwalk is one of the longest in the americas like 5-6 miles and is fun to cruise down, always packed with people skating, jogging, chilling.


How Scary? - 6/10 It's still mexico. I wouldn't come to live if you don't speak spanish, but locals have been improving their english over the years. There's 2 basic zones to live in, centro being one of them and is not the safest to be alone past midnight. Where I live is called the golden zone and 24/7 it's pretty much fine to cruise around the street running along the beach. I've been stopped by police 4-5 times in the 5 months there, just lots of **** talking and threats but they never do anything and I never pay the bribe if I'm not in the wrong. Police suck here. People are pretty cool here. Narco activity really doesn't exist at all. Girls aren't the easiest but you'll get laid. You probably won't be robbed if you are smart, I'm a dirty drunk skater wandering around at 2am sometimes so I get into some interesting situations

Poker Playing - 4/10 There actually is poker! Multiple casinos right next to my house, and one of them runs poker thurs-sunday I believe. Again summer is low season for tourists, but they were running 25/50 games which is like 200NL or so. No idea of softness of games and I believe rake is 5% and there is a cap. Always meant to go splash around on a drunken night but never did.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? 8/10 Not tons of direct flights but coming from USA is simple. Town is 20 mins from airport. Once here ubers are great and its like $4 from one side of the city to the other, plus a bunch of weird go cart pickup truck filled with 12 mismatching speakers blasting music and fun to take with friends. Buses also legitimately great here and I take them often.

Yah, Mazatlan is a city that is massively slept on. I think it could be huge in 10 years and I kinda want to buy a little place there a couple blocks from the beach. There are also a lot of big projects going on: turning the aquarium into the biggest in Latin America, big Central Park/museum project, recently finished a new soccer stadium, etc.

The go kart pickup trucks (I think they're called pulmones) are sometimes fun to take, but they're ****ing annoying in general. Especially if their typical route is somewhat close to where you're staying, you'll be hearing their bullshit all hours of the day.

Bro this is unbelievable I actually came into the travel forum looking for info on Mexico!
Thinking about going there for a few month

Guadalajara, Mexico

I came for the first time a few years ago, as the state of Jalisco has the most skateparks than any other state in Mexico. Most of em ended up sucking, haa, but there's some really fun ones around. Many parts of the city that would cater to different tastes - me and 90% of my gringo friends stay along a street called Chapultepec which is a closed off street for walking and street vendors and people dancing salsa, skating, playing music, etc. Tons of bars and restaurants and no real need to go much further than this area for most of us. There's also centro with a more 'centro' feeling if you've been to any latin american downtown. Cultural and a bit sketchy is the norm for centros, but TONS of museums and huge markets and art whatever and things of that sort. GDL is the 2nd biggest city in mexico, the vast majority of cosmopolitan expectations are gonna be able to be found within the city. Other very nice upscale parts of town as well - Providencia and colomos - I go to clubs sometimes there but generally its just giant malls and mercedes dealerships and fancy steakhouses. Zapopan is another really cool part of town with a more local feel but nice as well. Tlaqueplaque is 15 mins away and is another cool city with its own vibes.

All tequila in the world comes from right around guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco. So there's alotta that!

Cost of Living - 5/10 Honestly not tons of value in mexico overall. Can find decent apartment for $500/mo, very nice for $1000/mo. Super lux around $1.5k/mo. Local friends rarely pay more than $300/mo or so for decent spots a few miles further out from the hotspots. Food is fairly cheap, my favorite tacos are 60 cents, and had one date be kinda offended because tacos by her place are only 30 cents, lol. Can always eat for $5 and have just about anything on the menu for $10. There's very very decent seafood and steakhouses as well which are reasonably priced. It's tough tp spend more than $20 on a meal unless you get a tomahawk steak or something exotic. Beers are $1.50 in resturants. Uber is cheap, normally $2 to get anywhere and rarely more than $5 to go to one of the other parts of the city or surrounding cities.

Recreation - 4/10 All I do in mazatlan is party and skateboard, it's one of the reasons I really can't spend all my time there. We have huge groups of gringo and local friends and there's always a big group going out, house partying, getting together, having dinners, etc. If you don't have a car you aren't getting access to all that much nature or other recreational stuff. Just like most cities in latin america they have a ciclovia on sunday when they shut down the streets to let everyone ride bikes and skate and its a nice fun mellow family and dogs type day. I was taking acrobatics classes there, buddies are in muy thai and boxing classes - so most of the standard stuff is available. There's one cool park and one other cool place to hike that's within reasonable Uber distance - otherwise everything else is 1-2 hours away and remote so you really need a car. With a car recreation goes up to 6/10. Lots of parties, lots and lots and lots of drugs, lol. From a strictly party sense the city prob gets 8.5/10 for me. Big city so also tons of concerts, sports, and events going on.

How Scary? - 6/10 It's still mexico. The Jalisco cartel is now the largest in all of mexico - passing Sinaloa cartel. I had a gf who worked at the local news station and holy **** there's some dirt that happens here, but the vast vast majority of it is narco related. One day they'd find dozens of bodies cut up in hundreds of duffel bags, the next day someone would be brutally murdered... if you aren't involved in that life then it doesn't have any effect on you. 75% of my friends have been mugged walking home at night or even during the day. Nobody messes with me as I skateboard everywhere so im fast, have a weapon, and prob look busto anyways.

Poker Playing - 3/10. there's poker i guess. not much point in playing imo but maybe you could get into some higher games that are juicy. Grind online.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? 8/10 2nd biggest city in mexi so plenty of connections and direct flights from a lot of places. Airport is 30 mins and $8 Uber ride away. The metro sucks although they finally completed some 10+ year plan in expanding it a bit. 5-20 minute uber rides, bicycle, or skateboard is how to get around. Lots of those rental bike stands on every corner to pickup/dropoff at your destination.

Rainy season sucks a bit, like august to november maybe? streets flood and its kinda insane, 100 foot trees fall down on houses and in the street all the time and it gets pretty hectic. Mostly in afternoon/evening.

Montreal Quebec Canada

Experience? I never lived in Montreal, per se, but I live in Toronto and go to Montreal often.

Cost of Living. - 5/10. Hard for me to evaluate. The cost of living in Montreal is much cheaper than Toronto overall. It's probably the cheapest major city in Canada. Rent is much less than Toronto but it's going up. I remember I used to find some really nice Airbnb apartments for under 100.00 In 2019, I found an Amazing apartment for rent for 75 all in, complete with a fully stocked kitchen, King Size bed, renovated bathroom, free parking, Wifi, Netflix on TV. Those days seem to be gone, but things will get better once people stop making up for lost time due to Covid.
Gas is very expensive here. But Public transportation is cheap and efficient. Car insurance is the cheapest in Canada. Food? The prices are similar to Toronto. The thing is that Playground (mentioned below) can turn your food and drink costs into basically nothing. But of course it's not SE Asia or South America. It's not a developing country so prices are still very high compared to those regions.

Recreation - 8/10. Montreal is really one of the great party cities in the world. The reason why I can't give it a higher score though is WINTER. Winter in Quebec is like nothing you ever seen before, if you live in the USA, south, Midwest, west or even the Atlantic North East. Bone chilling temperatures and lots of snow. Messed up infrastructure, crumbling roads and closed bridges.
However, the summers are awesome. There is a vibrant party scene, legal age is 18, tons of drunk Americans. Weed is legal as long as you don't smoke it in public. Liberal rules towards Alcohol. 3 am last call. Sex clubs are full touching. Lots of Museums. Great food culture.

How easy it is to get and stay there? 8/10 - It is easy to get too as Montreal has a major airport and is a major travel hub. But you can't stay there legally after 6 months without an extension. I think the extension isn't too hard to get as there are so many foreign students in Montreal and there is a cost of about 100.00.

How scary? 8/10. there are very few scary places in Montreal. Especially if you stay downtown. You might run into a drunk tourist. That's about it, But there's one area that's a problem and that's the Montreal police. They are kinda legendary for being ****heads. I have been involved with a bad cop myself, who literally pulled me over for no reason. There's a lot of bullshit rules in Montreal like you can't turn right on a red light. Careful! I'd stick to walking and public transport and you should be fine.

Poker Playing 7/10 There are 2 major casinos with poker, Casino Montreal and Playground Poker. Playground poker is simply one of the best poker clubs in North America (if not the world). Playground offers free food (Good food from a restaurant) free drinks including alcohol (nearby Ontario does not have free alcohol). Dealers are generally very good and fast. Prompt service. Waitresses look like models. Plenty of free parking. French Canadian players are generally very bad players. There's also a lot of tourists. The problems are that the rake is too high at 10% up to 9 +1+1 for HH and BBJ. Also, aside from Playground and CM there's nowhere else. There used to be some other smaller places but they disappeared.

Paris, France


First hand experience, been here since early 2000s. Probably my fav city in the world.. Specially at night, its just fabulous. Quick pros and cons: on the plus side, beautiful city, lots of historical/cultural/musical/theatrical stuff going on all year long, food is amazing and french women wear skirts even when its snowing! major problem for me is that restaurants close very early, like 10 to 10:30pm for the vast majority, also life is very expensive


Cost of Living: 4 , Paris is one of the most expensive cities in the world, from rent (shitty airbnb runs at around 150$ a night and monthly rent for a tiny studio is above 1200$ easy) to food, restaurants and drinks (a diet coke will set you back 5 bucks in a cafe)..


Recreation: 8 , its not New York, but its pretty awesome.. night life is very good, restaurants are amazing, music festivals, theatre, jazz bars anything you can think of, Paris probably has it


How Scary?: 7-8 Paris is a pretty safe city, but like all big cities there are areas where you wouldn't want to venture at night.. other than that its the petty thieves, pickpockets etc.. nothing serious

Poker Playing: 8 Pre-covid, poker was booming again in Paris, new clubs were opening (you can only play legally in poker clubs, called "cercle", there are no casinos inside Paris), and the scene was just expanding.. its back to a pretty good level nowadays and I expect its only going to keep getting better.. rake is pretty high everywhere though

How easy to get there and stay there?: 8 Visa laws are not the most stringent in the world, but it's not a piece of cake either.. Paris is a major European capital so in terms of transit, airports, railways so its all pretty much top notch.. airbnbs and hotel rooms aplenty

anyone in Malta that can chip in?

Beijing, China

Experience? Lived there long time

Cost of Living. - 10/10. there are probably over a million people making $1k a month here as migrant laborers so there are ways to scrape by very cheaply but it'll be a miserable life and if you're down for cheap living you can live for 1/3 the cost at another chinese city so doesn't make sense to live in Beijing

expect to pay 2k+ on rent for the most basic studio apartment, meals about same price as us, maybe a little less but there's a wide range, usually paying $9 for a basic lunch and 15+ for something with friends - can easily spend way more if you venture beyond the fast casual/homestyle stuff

but the main thing is recreating your western life will be 3x more expensive - to maintain the equivalent lifestyle of someone who earns 40k a year at a suburb of cleveland you'd need at least 150k in Beijing

Recreation - 8/10. capital of the east, over 100k americans live there year round (dropped to about 60k with covid) so it's very much an international city and when you go out you'll exist within that expat bubble - your drinking buddies will not be chinese but swedish, german, & american etc etc

super convenient to get around, great public transport, can literally do anything you want and as a result it attracts a lot of high functioning alcoholics who want to carry a beer on the sidewalk with them without anyone batting an eye or occasionally get a little too drunk at an office party and nobody cares

How easy it is to get and stay there? 3/10 - after covid they've severely restricted access, you'll need a proper cover to get in now whereas in the past they handed out 10 year tourist visas to any american that applied - mine and many others were cancelled with covid


How scary? 0/10. got pickpocketed once, another time had a cabbie try to reach into my pocket, regular scams etc, but not once did i ever feel in danger, you could literally stumble blackout drunk in the most unlit dark alleyway in the poorest parts of the city and nobody will touch you

Poker Playing ?/10 no casinos and macau no longer offers poker - plenty of online options and underground clubs where games can be had as well as regular tournament series that come into the city - cheating is rampant at the higher stakes games - very much out of the loop but during my heyday I was mostly playing at a different club or backroom of a restaurant or tea house each night with regular stays in macau - i'm sure those exist still but would take some time to find them and the may not be clean games

Sounds like cost of living is more like a 2/10

oh right, yes it was meant to be like 10/10 most expensive

beijing may not be outright as expensive as manhattan but when you factor in people in manhattan are earning 5x+ for equivalent jobs then suddenly the costs are astronomical

like i'd be over at somene's house for a party, people would notice a fridge with the size and features of a typical us suburbia fridge and it's a thing of awe and envy because who even has a kitchen big enough to fit a normal size fridge anyway?

Trying to track down information on a place with low cost of living, little to no poker taxes and fairly easy to stay there, potentially get permanent residency and/or citizenship eventually. So much conflicting / outdated info out there... rakeback.com has a lot of info info here (https://www.rakeback.com/poker-by-country/europe/) but pretty sure it's all or mostly outdated at least when it comes to taxes and may have some outdated info regarding pool segregation on Stars.

Georgia?

Georgia you get 1 year free and can renew it just by leaving and coming back. This is if you have a western passport and are white, otherwise it might be a bit tougher. They're super racist at immigration. Not sure on residency/citizenship, but probably way easier than most places.

As a foreigner, you can register your business and have a 1% tax rate, but I'm not sure if poker would apply b/c gambling is on the restricted professions list. There might be a workaround.

Isn’t Georgia banned from Stars though?

I am sure PS is banned

mexico. uruguay. if you are american you can look into DAFT for euro passport.
ive been researching and doing this for years and that's basically my entire list for obtaining a passport for less than 6 figures. Oh brazil as well, but you need to have a kid or buy a house over 1m BRL.

Thanks for the tip! I was looking at Paraguay but have read they made it harder. Used to be ~$5,000 in a Paraguay bank account for 90 days IIRC. Not sure what the process is now, lots of sites seem to have outdated info.

a know a bunch of people have moved to Portugal recently and enjoy it there