Best places to live as a poker player: Rio de Janeiro | Poker Bonus Club Marawa

In this new series we are going over the best places in the world to live as a poker player. We look at everything that is important for someone who’s making good money with poker and wants to live at the best place possible. So what makes a place a good place for a poker pro? With most pro’s making their money online these days, the presence of real casino’s or poker clubs is not that important anymore (it is a plus though..). More important are things like night life, internet connections, price level, fun factor, presence of other poker players and of course..the ladies.

The first place we are going to look at is Rio de Janeiro. It might not be the first place you would think of when you are looking for a place to live as a poker player but don’t judge too soon. It is one of my personal favorites in the world and you’ll see why life is good there for a poker player.

Introduction

Rio de Janeiro is the second biggest city of Brazil and has over 6 million inhabitants. The coldest month is July with an average temperature of 25°C (77°F), the hottest month is January with an average temperature of 30°C (86°F). Rio is famous for its beaches, carnaval and highly attractive girls but also for it’s favela’s (slums) and high crime rates. Let’s take a look at the things that are important for poker players!

Fun Factor

We think the ‘fun factor’ of a city is very important. We assume you make good money with poker and don’t have to work full work weeks so you have a lot of time (and money) on your hands. You don’t want to be in a boring place with nothing to do under these circumstances. Well, in Rio de Janeiro you are in the right place! In Rio there is always action and entertainment. With beautiful beaches nearby you just can’t be bored. Most of the social life takes place on the beaches and there is something to see or do constantly. People are dancing, playing football, chatting up each other etc etc. It’s already a joy to just sit and watch.

Outside of the beaches there is loads to see and do. If you are into culture there are the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Statue of Crist the Redeemer, but also lesser known but beautiful spots like the Museum of Modern Art and the Lapa Arches. Football fans should definitely pay a visit to the Maracana Football Stadium, preferably when there is a match going on.

Nightlife & the Girls

Actually this should be part of the above chapter, but since it is an important aspect of a city for baller poker players, the nighlife and girls will get their own little chapter. Straight off the bat: for a young guy who has money to spend and girls to bang, Rio de janeiro is the place to be! Don’t worry too much about your looks (of course it helps) but just go out, dance with the girls and you can have a great evening/night. We can you good places, but places to be are always changing, so it’s better to find out when you are there or check out this site with recommendations from locals. It’s really easy to approach the ‘gatinha’s', especially if you speak some Portuguese. Also don’t worry about the sex; it will happen and it will be good

Live Poker

Although most poker pro’s play mostly online and don’t care too much for live poker it’s still nice to play some live poker now and then. Of course there are still also a vast number of live pro’s so it’s a relevant question: How is the live poker scene in Rio de Janeiro?

In Rio de Janeiro there are no casino’s, but there are poker clubs. In these clubs you can play cash games up to the equivalent of $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em and tournaments. The average level is extremely low, so you should be able to make some good money. It’s also a great way to meet other people in this city if you decide to go living in Rio on your own.

Next to the poker clubs, 3 big live tournaments take place every year: Two Brazilian Series of Poker -BSOP- and one Latin America Poker Tour Event-LAPT.

Internet Connections

We can be short about this. Internet connections are fine when you live in the better areas like Leblon or Ipanema.

Prices

In comparison to other South American countries or even compared to most other cities in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro is pretty expensive. However, compared to Western standards prices are still pretty low and your dollar or euro can go quite a long way. You can go to fancy clubs and restaurants and spend a lot or you can choose to live more like the locals do. In the first case you will think of Rio as a moderately expensive city and in the latter you will laugh about the prices. Go to a simple bar on the street corner and you will drink half a liter beer for ‘next to nothing’. Prices for apartments in the better areas are pretty steep so expect to spend a fair share on living costs. Go to Numbeo.com to compare prices to your own country or city so you can be the judge yourself.

Presence of other poker players

While poker is coming up in Brazil, don’t expect an enormous poker community in Rio de Janeiro. If you are looking for a big community of young poker players you should look out for other places we will discuss next in this series like Thailand or the island of Malta. But hey, who wants to be surrended by poker nerds?

Downsides

As for the downsides of Rio de Janeiro the biggest one is definitely the safety. With the World Cup of football coming up in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, the government tries hard to improve safety but Rio can still be dangerous. It is adviseable to not wear too fancy clothes or shiny watches because you will get robbed. While it sounds pretty bad, just hand over your valuables in case of a robbery and you’ll be good 99% of the time. For the rest, stay sharp but don’t let fear control your life in this city. You’ll be fine

Conclusion

As probably became clear with this article, I am a huge fan of Rio de Janeiro. It’s such a great location for young and single guys with a profession that provides you so much freedom that you should at least give this town a serious thought when deciding where to live in the world. The inconvenience of the unsafety doesn’t weigh up to the plus sides like the amazing nightlife, the girls, the beaches and the way of living from the locals.

While a lot in this article is from my own experience, special thanks go to 2+2 member ’40s’ who gave a lot of useful tips in this 2+2 thread. If you have questions about Rio as a poker player, I recommend to ask them in that forum thread.