Damn, this post makes Medellin sound really unappealing. Are well dressed normal people really asking for money all the time like that? How totally lame if so.

I was a little frustrated when I wrote that. It seems the key is to stay away from drunk soccer fans. Also, I don't live in Poblado and really could not say what it is like there.

There are definitely some appealing things about this place. The food is great, for example.

have also been to several football matches in medellin so far, and nothing bad ever happened apart from meeting really fanatic passionated paisas celebrating their team.

nonetheless, no matter in what part of the world you actually are, football matches (especially between local rivals) are always happenings where you should be a little more cautious and aware of whats happening around you.

i actually think the chance of encountering physical violence might be even higher if you accidentally wear wrong colors at a derby in countries like germany or england, while obv the likelihood of getting pickpocketed/robbed at a match in countries like colombia is higher in comparison.

The league championship game is tonight, Medellin Nacional vs. a team from Ecuador.

It's gonna be nuts!!!

I'm heading down next week for a little over a week and want to play some poker down there. I'll be playing at the Casino Rio since it's only like 3km from my hotel.

I was curious though, I looked online and saw they had 500 and 1000 peso chips, but they're Paulson Top Hat and Canes. I have been wanting to do a relabel project for a while, and this would by far be the cheapest method(500 pesos = 0.15 USD per chip). What games give out these chips? How easy would it be to farm these(i.e. get 5-6 racks of 500 peso chips and 3-4 racks of 1000 peso chips)?

Also, what are table minimums for craps and roulette usually?

Hello guys. What are the options to stay like 3 years instead of 6 months as a foreigner (From US or EU) ?

I would really appreciate a solid answer from someone who has been living there for a while. Tx a lot.

Hey guys im interested in moving for 6 months , are any of you guys still there ?
i grind online poker and would be looking for a room november
thanks

if you can prove significant assets (30k) I believe you can get a long term visa.

Pretty sure the 30k number is wrong.

Realistically- you're in Medellin.. Get a student visa study Spanish 15 hours a week.. There are businesses there that actually cater to this (people wanting to stay).

Ace was thinking about coming down next week and chilling through wccop and possibly winter and he is interested in joint living/Skype group communications

are you talking about yourself in the third person? not that there is anything wrong with that

its true

Hey guys,

As someone who has no idea about South America at all, speaks no Spanish, and has only lived in Asia and the US, I'd really be interested to know what an average budget per month looks like for some of you. El Poblado seems possibly out of my range from my brief looking at studio apartments there. Play 100NL and 50PLO mostly with some MTTs. Really interested to hear from someone who maybe does like 1/2 western food, 1/2 local for diet, and a few big nights out per month, along with rent, etc... I know a bit specific, but hopefully someone in a similar lifestyle down there could answer, if not, interested to hear everyone but Bill Perkins-esque lifestyle people.

-Boris

Hello to all in this thread,

I'm also curious as to the current state of things in Medellin. Anybody on here still in town? How is the local live scene? Anybody looking to fill a room in a place close-ish to the casino and with good internet to grind online?

Considering moving down soon.

I speak Spanish fluently having lived 15 years in L.America and primarily play live at the 1/2 and 2/5 stakes.

Thx,

TheBigBlue

Hey guys,

Trying to organize a Fantasy Football League with a live draft in Medellin.
500,000 pesos buy-in.
Let me know if anyone wants in.

I cannot answer the questions about live poker, but here are some food/party prices for those who were interested:

Nights out: going to a single bar and buying drinks and taxi for yourself will only be about $20 (even less if you don't drink much). If you are hitting multiple spots and paying for a girl or two, it can be as much as $50. Some places have cover fees (around $3-$4), others do not.

Basic local food meal: $2-$5
Nicer meal: $6-$15

^^^for one person

Housing costs can vary widely. I am paying ~$500/month at the moment for a pretty nice shared house.

you can also get a decent hotel for $15-$20 usd a night. it will be a little bare bones compared to what you might expect by western hotel standards but significantly better than a north american motel. and they will do your laundry too (i got like 10 days worth done for $22 usd or something). the food is awful though unless you are paying the equivalent price that u would pay in north america, you really want to secure access to a stove asap.

I'm currently living in Medellin playing online. will be investing some time playing live soon. If anyone wants to catch up and grab a beer shoot us a message !

Pretty sure the best place to play poker in Medellin is Casino Rio in San Diego. The other nearby casino in the mall also has poker but they max rake twice as much. Also the cabbies know where it is which is nice. Their bottled water is crap though tastes awful I recommend you go across the (busier) street to get some at the chicken? place or donut? shop. Rake is something like max 18k ($6 usd) for 5k/10k holdem and something like 23k for the omaha game. the omaha plays super deep too with minimum 200 bb (2,000,000 peso) buy in. Place seems super legit from the 5 or so sessions I played, although the holdem game was usually pretty nitty but then again I always played early afternoon. I don't recommend eating at the casino it is super over priced and not very good in my experience, go to the restaurant (aforementioned chicken place) kitty corner from the casino basically across the busy street. good deals to be had there if u can survive the crazy colombian drivers as you walk there. i don't drink but am going to be in medellin in like 20 days (gonna check out cali first) if anyone wants to play some live poker and compare notes or grab a quick meal.

Uh drinking can honestly get as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be- drink what your used to (all imported) you pay state prices. You drink local booze and pay way less.

Same with housing- if you go to tourist trappy places or are only looking at living in estrato 9.. You pay more. Interesting note- it is almost impossible for a foreigner to rent normally- by law agecnies have to ask for proof of employment in Colombia/ bank docs / and also want at least one co signer. It's a nightmare. You could get lucky and try to go through rent by owner.

I figure most people aren't looking to stay more than 3-6 months so it's not worth your time. That said people should be aware that Medellin is a tourist trappy place and you def will pay for convenience.

$500/m for a shared house sounds like a complete rip off.

depends for luxury accommodations in poblado it's reasonable. but you can definitely find much cheaper arrangements :

http://www.compartoapto.com/

Do you think anyone.. Especially someone grinding 100z 50z in 2016 should be looking at Luxury anything?!

Wow, that's a lower rake than I would expect. The rakes I've experienced outside of the U.S. are usually pretty damn high, surprised to see such a relatively low rake there. Do you know if that's standard for rake in other parts of South America as well?

From the conversion you did, sounds like the hold em game is roughly a $1/$3 game, a bit bigger probably.

Is that the only hold em game they run there? Is there a 10k/20k at all?

AFAIK this is the exception, not the rule, and rakes are much much higher elsewhere in South America. A nearby casino rakes 50k (unsure on blinds).

I moved to Medellin last week.

If you come here you really have to learn spanish or its going to be tough.

I created a Pokerstars and Neteller account. I currently don't have a bank account in Colombia and I can't use my american cards on Neteller.

What can I use to transfer funds on Pokerstars? I tried a lot of the Colombian options and they won't allow my USA cards.

Any advice on how to add funds?