Black Friday changed the lives of many people. On the 15th April, FBI seized the domains of the biggest online poker rooms and one of the consequences is that Full Tilt Poker still remains closed. Those poker pros were the most affected who made their living playing poker online. One day, they realized they could not log in to the sites, where they made their living. Many of them felt betrayed and that their country made them unemployed for no real reason, so they had to leave the country to continue their chosen profession, or they had to choose another job.

A lot of top players were affected and for many of them, it was relatively easy to find another place as a home base. Those who moved abroad and continued to play included high-stakes regular Phil Galfond, the word’s perhaps most popular player Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Hastings, EPT-winner Kevin MacPhee, one of the best $5-$10 to $25-$50 no-limit hold'em cash game grinders Andrew Brokos, Olivier „livb” Busquet and one of the most creative online players Cole South. The most popular destination is Canada because of its close proximity and the language.

In July 2011, WSOP champion Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond began his new life in Canada. He plays mainly in high-stakes online poker games. Andrew "Foucault" Brokos also went to Canada where he could continue playing as the member of the Poker Stars Online Pro team. Brokos currently lives in the Canadian Rockies with his girlfriend.

Others, however, found it more difficult to find a new home from where they could play online poker. One of them is Dan "Jungelman12" Cates, who was unable to enter Canada because of visa problems. In Canada, to play poker as a living, one needs a working visa. The rules are the same in Europe so he was not able to find a European country accepting him. Cates, who won $ 7.5 million between 2010 and 2011 currently lives in London, but he doesn‘t know yet whether England will be his new base.

Many other players are also looking for a place from which they can play poker online on a daily basis. The 26 years old WSOP bracelet winner Joe Ebanks wants to continue his online career and will probably move to Canada, England or somewhere else in Europe where online poker is legal.

These players are simply trying to get out of a country where at present they can no longer make ends meet. Taking advantage of the situation, PocketFives Poker Forum set up the so called Poker Refugees service as relocation and its challenges had become a hot topic. The cost of the service is $1,000 per person. They help to find a place to live, make travel plans, visa acquisition, to get a local bank account and much more. The most popular countries are Costa Rica, Panama and Canada but they help in moves to Europe, South America, Asia and Australia as well.