Hi my name is Tanner aka Bamatide88. I have just arrived in Costa Rica and am here to answer questions and broadcast my trip as I know there is a lot of interest and Spacegravy is too busy to ask. We rented a house in Dominical for 3 months. Not super luxury but above the standard and it is dirt cheap and has 5 beds.

Poker Update: Day 2 I sent in the utility bill and an ID. I could not find the email with the landline number unfortunately and will have to get that and send that in later tonight or tomorrow. I asked specifically for my location to be changed and if they do do that I should be able to get money transferred and play?!?!? About to download Partypoker I believe.

I have http://bamatide88.blogspot.com/ with longer emotional posts which is updated more with day to day stuff.

So day 1: I arrived in Costa Rica ALONE as my other 4 team members missed the flight(sigh). I got to San Kose, Cr from ATL and talk the driver into driving just me to the house for 60 dollars off of 200(should have asked for more off but threw out a too high offer to start).
I get with him and he drives me for 3 hours to the 1 lane dirt road to our house. We have to drive 2 miles up this road and it's raining.... and there's a cliff on 1 side but he starts the drive anyway. So we get 9/10 of the way there and guess what! There's a firetruck in the way that isn't about to move for over 30 minutes and the driver informs me he can drive me to town to get a taxi or drop me off....
I get out knowing...PRAYING that it is just around the corner at the top of the hill. Out of shape I finally make it to the top of the hill with 3 bags including laptop and a computer monitor. It starts to pour and I have to walk about a football field more down a hill. Well I am so tired the I decide to get my computer to dry safety as it is a baby and cries when I don't treat it like a king. So I had to make 2 trips which practically killed me and i passed out when I got there on a bed.

About 15 minutes after that I met the owner of the house and walked thru the storm to his house and the chef/maid made a good eggs and ham and toast meal that I ate and a salad with tuna on it that I didn't eat.

Day 2:
Went to bed that night and woke up worked on internet and checked out town with a great local named Matt. Great guy interested in what we are doing and great with internet and such. Town is awesome. Tons of great restaurants and of course no chains so it really is good cooking. Beach is nice too like being in paradise. we are on the pacific ocean side FYI.
Sat around all day still sitting writing this. Rest of the gang is supposed to arrive any second or at least in the next hour with food and lots of luggage.

Will be busy so next blog update will be late tonight and/or tomorrow.

Note: I will actually keep mostly poker updates here like trip to the bank on Monday and working with Pokerstars.

how close are you too the beach? Everything I've read says you cannot get reliable internet near the Coast in costa rica so thought that meant having too live in the heart of the big cities :/

Very interested in hearing more about this trip. I'm from Atlanta and recently moved to Canada to play, but come January I will be moving again and Costa Rica is on my list of possibilities.

The internet is a work in progress. We had a local ex American computer programmer come talk to me and show me how to do some things. The service is still mediocre but most of that is speed. We have 2 routers and I am pushing for a 3rd. 1 router is going well. The other isn't setup and acting up I may have to work to fix it. The wireless is not working for some odd reason. The owner of the property will have to show us where it is. Finally there is another network that is not working that fades in and out. So we have 4 possible internet connections only 1 the 1 I setup is working.
The internet right now is running 3 computers and not that slow.

We are about 10 minute drive from the beach. Its good and bad. The beach areas are not safe and hotter. We don't have ac but its a good temperature because we are 5 minutes off the beach and in the mountains.

Moving to a bigger city may lead to better internet but its way higher prices which we were going to move into after a month roughing it.

I think I am being a bit unfair to jump on the internet as failing. If we had 2 connections and 1 of my buddies computers working with it then we wouldn't be saying **** but all 3 of us are on facebook and we have 1 more desktop to setup. Poker could be run right now if we were able to play but we have to wait on banks to open monday. I HEARD IT IS SUPER EASY TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT! contrary to what other said.

Update: The internet gets amazing at 11pm. I setup the other router and it is running just as well. Things turn around quick. As good as USA
Even downloaded a mixtape!

nice keep us updated on bank account set up! What you mean beach wasn't safe?

We are going to walk 2 miles to the bank and catch a taxi back. Of course not if it rains...
The beach is safe obviously there are people willing to commit crimes and in our city crime has been almost been cleared. There has been no crime in the past year in our "neighborhood" as there is a community understood neighborhood watch program and they are quick to call the cops. However the closer you are to the city the more likely to have something like an armed robbery. The beach is definitely safe during the day and at night the town is still very safe.

update? how has bank stuff gone, how has pokerstars stuff gone? i'm moving to costa rica very soon!

The banking stuff.
Here we go:
Bank of Costa Rica- requires a corporation.
Banco National- Requires utility bill, 2 references 1 from bank in the states and 1 from someone who uses their bank.
Citibank and Credita costa rica- both require utility bill of the past month, Proof of income letter and passport
ScotiaBank- I think it was 2 refernce letters, proof of income, passport, an extra photo id, and maybe a utility bill

Now for the fun part. We are going to attempt to forge the proof of income because 2 locals suggested it.
Also I may use banco National today or tomorrow as I know a guy who knows a guy who banks with banco national however this is not an option for the other 4.

Sorry for the late update another thing is my laptop is not working to due to the humidity so I am going to put it in rice and see if it works after a few days. Not all computers do this but some do. I have a dell and the guy who suggested this to me has an asus.

Pokerstars told me they want the utility bill in my name or a lease agreement however they have not required this of other people that we know who moved.... #wtf

thanks for update. So you're place isn't air conditioned then I take it?

No sir. We are in the mountains where AC could be nice but is not necessary plus it is the rainy season. We are heading to the bank tomorrow actually.
Personally I can use creditobank and citibank. OR use my landlord as a reference and get him to get me a banco national account. I think citibank may be best cuz its non costa rican. The others can't do the reference thing.

I will update this tomorrow. WITH GOOD NEWS! About damn time right.

today is tomorrow!

Citibank faxed our forged documents into HQ in San Jose. They then were approved. So 3 of our group opened accounts the other 2 are going tomorrow. They may try the banocredito place or just stick to citibank.
The downside I found out is that citibank takes 3-5 days to actually open the account so again I am playing the waiting game! FML
I had to get a lease agreement because stars wouldnt accept my utility bill..... Because its not in my name. It appears they accepted the lease agreement so 1 last piece.

the women hot?

It's scary how hot they are and they think Americans are all rich so they are all interested.

Right now tho we have a giant cane toad situation. Might throw salt on it and let it slowly die but he has taken over my room Devil Bastard

are there any good kitesurf spots around? anyone here kitesurfing and will be in costarica in late october+ ?

How would you describe Dominical?
Is it pedestrian friendly? Decent places to eat? Nice beaches to swim at that arent too crowded? Very touristy?
It looks super small on google maps. Just wondering what it has to offer in general.

So apparently pokerstars doesn't have any competent employees we have sent in everything and they are still asking us for stuff they have. Then we send it in again. And they ask us for something new.... THere are 4 things we need:
Lease agreement-sent and sent a utility bill for fun
Phone number- sent in costa rica phone number. They said this was ok.
Govt issued idea. Sent in passport and drivers license. they said this was ok
A non american bank account. Opened sent in deposit receit and the printouts they gave us. They said they want a almost american bank statement.. but we are in a 3rd world country...... Are you kidding me.

THe idiots who work at pokerstars should be fired for their inability to read and put 2 and 2 together. They are all incompetent and should probably be sent to a mental hospital but hey.... I'm not mad....

when we were in montreal a pokerstars employee came over to our house and brought beer. and remember as bad as pokerstars is.... well..... they are better than ftp

I dont know anything about kitesurfing and haven't seen anything for it.

It is a tourist area but not in a crowded sense. All places to eat are great. All meals for 5 to 10 dollars.. mostly 5 though. Definitely pedestrian friendly.
You cant swim at all. Its dangerous but if you surf its heaven. 1 of the best spots in the world. Especially this week went and saw some waves that were too big for most surfers.. only 4 were out there instead of the usual 15+.
It has a little over 10 restaurants. 3 super markets. Decent size and 1hr away or a dollar bus ride and you can go to san isidro and do shopping and go to their 4 big grocery stores-United states sizes.
As for size. It isnt too small. Pictures online were misleading. Decent size and safer then most other cities in CR.

Headed to the bank for what should be the last time.

Its going on 3 weeks that It took for me to get a bank account and back on stars. Mostly because of distance and inexperience and failure to comprehend what stars truly wanted.
I should have just used Kristin Wilson with http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-refugees/ who I ended up having to use anyway for info.
It would have been a lot easier and she can do the hard work while you chill.
If you can use her and you will save time, money, and headache .... like I didn't.

Went to CitiBank Today got a reference letter and sent it into stars.
Feel free to send in any other questions.
Blog post posted and another one up soon when poker is ready.

POKERSTARS CONFIRMED IT. CALLED TONIGHT. #GETMULA

How long did it usually take for pokerstars to respond to your emails? I emailed them last night with all the stuff and am waiting waitingggg

btw, is it just support@pokerstars.com?

Hey its security@pokerstars.com that you send documents to. I got a response in 10 minutes then replied and another 10 mins and the responded then 10 mins and they called me to finish up the process. I have 2 more days most likely because upper management is probably busy with something or other

You can also upload it thru pokerstars client. This is under help.