Poker and Travel (A fantasy life within grasp?)

[RainDog]

Ok, 1st off, I'm extremely travel minded. This being the case, one of the things that led me to internet poker venues was the vague possibility of using them as a means to fund my travels. Not by saving up winnings before hand, but actually while I'm travelling. I travel on something of a budget (hostels and local market food) except for drinking expenses. Now that my $/hr is improving greatly the possibility of funding these travels is becoming more tangible.

I would like to know if anyone out there is living, or has considered living this lifestyle, or if you guys even think it is possible. I believe that all one would have to do is to frequent towns with big and cheap internet cafes such as EasyEverything where you can buy month long internet passes for practically nothing. The only problem I've ran into is that I do not think there is any way to download the poker software at most internet cafes. Is there anyway to get around this?

However I have noticed some sites such as pokerroom.com offer play without downloading. If this becomes more popular of an option, my dream may become very possible indeed.

Internet poker, beaches, margaritas, and one looooong party. What do you think?

[GrannyMae]

What do you think?


honestly???

let the others lecture you. i say you only live once, and if that is your dream, give it a try. if it does not work out, then get a job, no biggie.

good luck kiddo, keep us posted


http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/a0/rottease.gif

[crazy canuck]

Be sure to visit Korea because the live games there are soft...most Koreans play very differently from the investors at propoker. Also, in Thailand in some hotels you get your own PC....and there is dynamitepoker which is JAVA based also. Good luck!

[RiverMel]

It would be pretty difficult to make anything close to live off of on dynamitepoker. Their cash games are very infrequent, and even when they are running, they're $.50/1 and sometimes $1/2. The tournaments are way too small $ to bring in much money.

[AnyAce]

I would be surprised if you could find an internet cafe that would let you download anything (their firewalls are usually very stiff).

However, you could invest in a relatively cheap laptop with hardware for WiFi and play any poker site at many Starbucks for a fee (I am not sure what the fee is). See:
http://www.starbucks.com/retail/wireless.asp

I think Granny is right. Go for it, if you dont like it or you hit a losing streak, you can come home and get a job...

[RollaJ]

While I never considered traveling, I have considered moving to pakistan or vietnam where the avg. hourly wage is below $.45. At that rate if I make $15 an hour playing NL online I will most likly be named to PakiForbes 500 within a year /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

[William]

Cool idea, go for it and enjoy uour life. I travel in Europe a lot myself, and I have found cafees where you can download, even places where several poker sites where predownloaded. The problem is that the sites have blacklisted most of those cafees, as too many smart dummies saw a golden oportunity to sit and play at the same table and try to hit the jackpot. So I think a laptop would be a necessity. Good luck to you !! /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

[Terry]

I've taken a peek at one of your other posts and see an ominous theme.

If, at some point margaritas and one looooong party coincide with one looooong poker session it is likely to completely destroy your bankroll. Suggest you try a (hehe) dry run.

[TheArtist]

Man, I have the same fantasy too. I always wonder if I am over my head with it.

Wouldn't it be cool if somehow you can own a labtop with DSL internet access on it and the world can be your home? Maybe one day, they will have that technology. If you go through with it, please email me from time to time and tell how are you doing. I am curious to see the results of someone who follow this fantasy.

Beside online, anyone here ever dream of building a big enough bankroll and then hit the road?

TheArtist

[beernutz]

If you are young or unattached enough to do this, then why not? I can tell you from personal experience that your opportunities to do something like this without coming across as a complete and total bastard (e.g., walking out on a wife and kids to persue a dream) dwindle quickly as you age. This is not something I'd particularly enjoy and I'd never leave my family anyway under any circumstances but hey more power to you and good luck.

Report back from time to time and let us know how its going.

[tdiddy]

Cray Canuck,

I just sent you private message. Letting you know here in case you don't see it.

Diddy

[GrannyMae]

hi diddy.. where the hell you been??

welcome back

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/f/hump.gif

[tdiddy]

i've been busy playing poker. no time to read and post here.

[GrannyMae]

oops.. sorry to have slowed you down.

back to work for ya'

good luck at the tables

[Fishy]

Hey,

I love travelling too, I started playing and travelling when I was a young(from 18years) team blackjack card counter when we have to global hop. I played blackjack all over including United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Malta, Macao, North, South, Central America. And been on tour, solely for fun in many more!

Right now I am on tour in USA staying with a latina friend, but when I catch the flight tommorrow, I can commence my net poker play again after a 3 weeks rest! Phew.

I don't play online poker while on tour but use these times to take rests to recuperate and maybe Blackjack if I was going to a place with good comps and games.

I'm a University student and so have many holidays and quiet study periods, I can only fly out during University vacations, like in a month in Dec-Jan, a month in Mar-Apr, 4 months in Jun-Sep, etc. And my income has ONLY been from poker, bj, and sports arbitrage team. From online poker I play everyday after school.

I have girlfriends all over the world whom I met online in dating agencies, etc):, and they let me stay with them many times. Otherwise I get comped in hotel with blackjack, otherwise I stay with host family.

If I stay for more than 2 weeks I enroll in those immersion programs to study the local language in the morning, play bj at night, go on excursion in weekends):

I am only 21 years right now):

[RainDog]

You guys are great! Thanks for the information and the optimism. I'll certainly do my best to play poker sober Terry. Lol. Right now I'm pursuing a University Degree (can't put all my eggs in one basket) and hopefully by the time I'm through with things I should have saved enough from my winnings (very difficult to do with the rent in Southern California) to hit the road for some time. If laptop technology continues to improve I should be in good shape. It may not even be necessary to play via internet if the worldwide Hold'em scene is healthy.

[sam h]

I travelled through South America, from Peru to Bolivia to Chile and on to Argentina, playing poker in Internet cafes. While I was using other money to travel on, I made enough online to just about break even for my many months of travel. I also have played poker from Internet cafes in Thailand.

If you are traveling in these types of countries, using Internet cafes shouldn't pose too many problems. Most places will readily allow you to download the software and if you're in a developing country then you should be able to get Internet time for about a dollar per hour or less. The biggest problem is that if you're not in or near a relatively large city, sometimes the connections get really slow. But that's pretty rare. The only places I found that were too slow to play were in rural Bolivian towns.

My only other advice is don't get so caught up in poker that you miss out on all the amazing other things around you.

[dogsballs]

Sure , why not? But...

Story: I got stuck in Bali a couple of years ago for an extra week after someone ransacked the security box of the flea pit I was staying in. For a bunch of the next week I played Paradise from my (next) lodgings internet cafe while I waited for faxes/fedex etc to get new passport/tickets. There was a danger the airline might not refund my ticket and I didn't have enough $$ - even if I cashed out from paradise to my credit card - so I had to play to build the BR for that eventuality.

Unfortunately I had a losing streak that week... /forums/images/icons/mad.gif
Fortunately I managed to badger china airlines into issuing another ticket free of charge except processing fees... /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

Moral; might not be best to have to totally rely on winning to fund travel. Maybe limit your planning for poker to pay for luxuries on the way and not the essential living/travelling funds.
If you make extra, then cool...extra luxuries/an extra trip. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

dogs

[AmericanAirlines]

Great Fantasy Dude. Sort of like "Day Trading For a Living with your Lap Top". Or "Trade your way to riches with Options" and other Jake Bernstien, George Fontanills, et. al. fantasies for sale.

How many folks managed to make those work.

But... if it does work... it would be awesome. Being stuck in worker bee life *is* a life sentance.

Sincerely,
AA

P.S. Perhaps what you really need is a lap top if downloadable software is the issue.