Play from a poorer country and you're set?

[AdamL]

Not sure where to post this, but here it goes:

Has anyone here considered moving to a country (and there are plenty in the Caribbean) where income per capita and costs of living are LOW relative to the US?

This means you could take a 3/6 bankroll and retire to the Caribbean, playing poker over the internet and making an income with more than enough to spare after food and accomodations. (All providing you live like the natives, not in a bloody resort.)

You can also just grab a laptop and a satellite internet connection (expensive, but it might work) and travel around playing poker, using your winnings to pay for your expenses as you go. As long as you aren't spending too much time in expensive regions of the world, you should be fine.

Just wondering if anyone has considered these possible uses for poker income, given the flexibility of access to the online cardrooms and the value of the USD.

[cowboyzfan]

Lets see, travel the world, make money playing a game, earn that money when, where, and how I want to...yes, that rings a bell. I have thought about the same thing.

Of course step 1 is to be able to make that money. What you do with it comes second.

[dogmeat]

Yes, this has been discussed several times (try: playing abroad) and the concept sounds great. I took a two week vacation and played from my laptop. You have to be very careful about public access wireless, but a good firewall will help. Most decent motels/hotels now have in-room internet, many with free high speed connections. I found this to be a great way to enjoy Reno/Lake Tahoe and then the California coast from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Monterey/Carmel etc. right down to San Diego.

Mexico, Costa Rica and many areas in the Caribbean are inexpensive to live, but getting decent internet access is tough. Beyond that - it sounds good to me. After Vegas in June, Tahoe in July and Aruba in August, my wife and I will be touring England - and the laptop will be with us all the way for a couple hours of play a day to offset the vacation costs.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[alThor]

[ QUOTE ]
Just wondering if anyone has considered these possible uses for poker income, given the flexibility of access to the online cardrooms and the value of the USD.

[/ QUOTE ]

The value of the US dollar wouldn't exactly go in the "pros" column, in this analysis.

alThor

[Niediam]

But don't forget potential drawbacks as well...

These countries have much less stable bank systems/governments so the guarentee that your money is still there is the money is reduced somewhat and...

If you actually become a citizen in one of these countries to enjoy a nicer tax rate then the US will not let you back into the country (even to visit your dying mother...) if they decide that the reason you moved was to avoid paying US taxes.

[klagett]

I've considered Costa Rica in the future. Even was looking at some properties online.

I've not yet given it serious thought though.

[maryfield48]

A couple of insights from one of the poorer countries in the Caribbean, namely Jamaica.

Most currencies here are tied to the US$, so there has been no loss of purchasing power for US$ earners, other than in respect of goods imported from countries whose currency has strengthened against the US$. Short version, US$ will buy the same amount of locally produced goods, but will have lost purchasing power for European, Japanese, etc., goods. Just as it has if you are buying them in the USA.

Internet access - where there has been de-regulation of telecoms, there has been advances in access availability. DSL is readily available in the major towns/cities here. Elsewhere, dial-up is usually available, except perhaps in the smallest islands.

Don't count on the cost of living being a lot cheaper - there are many different nations in the Caribbean, with economies in varied states of health. Jamaica has a large debt burden that makes taxes & duties high, though it is highly likely that poker earnings would completely escape the authorities notice. Trinidad is an oil economy, and so is prospering now, many islands are dependent on bananas sold into an artificially price-maintained market through the EU, that is not likely to continue for very much longer.
Some things, especially involving labour, will be a lot cheaper, some things will be more expensive. You wouldn't like to know what a new car costs here - duties start at about 50% and go up to 180% depending on the engine size. On the other hand you can get some really great weed, really cheap.

The countries in the Caribbean do have immigration laws. You can't (legally) just come and hang out indefinitely. Having said that, many do. of course.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
You can also just grab a laptop and a satellite internet connection (expensive, but it might work)

[/ QUOTE ]

Can anyone tell me more about satallite internet, I want to live at my cabin and play poker this summer but I'm not sure if I can get a good internet connection out there.

[K C]

Sure they have immigration laws, but you just slip a little money to Jose, and he'll fix you up [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I'm not sure this is a good idea though. The banking system isn't a problem, as you don't have to use the ones there. I suppose things like political instability is going to be something at the back of your mind at least, so you've got to choose carefully here.

The main thing that comes to mind is what kind of taxes you're going to have to pay. I'd want somewhere that there wouldn't be any tax on "gambling." This will be the biggest difference in my mind between there and the U.S.

On the other hand there's no tax here in Canada, but it's damn cold [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] The stuff sounds pretty good this time of year [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

KC
kingcobrapoker.com

[2ndGoat]

I used satellite internet for a couple months and it was TERRIBLE. Unlike other access methods, where throughput generally slows down when the line is oversubscribed, satellite internet seems to increase latency when overused (throughput would be just fine.. go figure). What does this mean? At peak hours I'd often have 20000ms (20 second) ping times to verious places on the internet, and it would often take me that long to act in a poker room. I became a pariah at one of the small sites I frequented regularly ("Not this guy again!") This was with the DIRECWAY service offered by DIRECTV. Your results may very.. but I'd stay away.

Generally satellite internet services are targetted to web browsing only, and you're discouraged from attempting to use interactive services over it (though they'll let you try). I believe some of them offer combo dialup/satellite access as a higher-priced alternative. I'm not sure if they use both as an integrated connection, or just let you use dialup as a backup when satellite is uncooperative.

2ndGoat