Now that it’s the end of the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, or SCOOP, players like Stevan ‘random.chu’ Chew who relocated during the tournament series are headed back home. The days of “poker tourism” are over, at least until the World Championship of Online Poker rolls around later this year.

“I go away for SCOOPs and WCOOPs,” Chew said. Last year, he went to Whistler, Canada for SCOOP and Panama for WCOOP. This year, the Australian was camped out half a world away in Mexico for the spring series.

“At the start of the year, I was thinking I might stay in Australia for SCOOP this time, but after grinding a few MTT sessions in succession, my body couldn’t take it,” the Aussie said. “Some of my friends were talking about going to Mexico and asked if I’d be keen, so I decided to run with it. The SCOOP schedule is so early for Australian time zones. It’s like torture and you get no sleep.”

Back in Australia, Chew regularly starts his MTT sessions at 2:00 AM. “When I’m done, I’m basically a zombie,” he said. “I don’t sleep, but I only travel for the big series. Normally, I just play fewer MTT sessions to avoid getting burnt out.”

There seems to be a method to his madness, as Chew just hit $3 million in career online tournament winnings and moved up to #6 in Australia. He was ranked as high as #37 in the world last year on PocketFives. He’s also a two-time PocketFives Triple Crown winner, having won the award in 2011 and 2014.

Traveling for a major tournament series, for Chew, is a business decision at the end of the day. Sure, some of the locations he’s visiting are picturesque and popular, but it’s really about being in a location and an environment that give him the best chance to succeed online.

“Mexico was purely a business decision,” he said. “I’d be able to play more tournaments and play a higher quality. Hopefully I’d make more money doing so and that would offset any additional travel costs. In terms of travel in general, I think it’s important to broaden your horizons. People have a tendency to forget they live their lives in a bubble, and nobody is guiltier of that than poker players. Seeing the world really puts things in perspective. It gives you a new outlook on life.”

Traveling allows Chew to open up his mind and, at the same time, hopefully make a few extra bucks as a poker player. Rather than grind while half asleep, he can be alert and make plus-EV decisions.

“Traveling has made me really grateful for the life I have,” he said. “It has made me realize how lucky I am to be born into a nice family, have good health, have good intelligence, and not have to struggle to survive. It makes you realize that so many of your problems are totally insignificant, which allows you to let go of a lot of stressors.”

One year ago at this time, Chew was camped out in Whistler, home of a handful of events as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. “I really enjoyed Whistler,” he said. “It was probably one of the best places I’ve visited. The series itself went okay and I think I broke even for the trip. I was up going into the last Sunday, but bricked $20,000 worth of buy-ins and action, so it wasn’t pretty.”

Last September, he was in Panama for WCOOP, although the visit wasn’t as productive as he hoped. “That was an interesting location,” Chew said. “Panama was great to visit and it was my first real exposure to Latin American culture, but I probably didn’t prepare myself as well as I would have liked to. I felt I wasn’t professional enough during that series. We did a fair bit of partying mid-series and I played a few days hungover, which wasn’t ideal. That’s why it was important to me this series to try to remain in a good mindset and play my A-game.”

If you’re thinking of becoming nomadic for a major tournament series or two, Chew believes the process of relocating isn’t one you need to stress about.

“It’s pretty easy to move around,” he said. “All you need is a couple of t-shirts, shorts, and a laptop. I usually pack pretty light. You also need a good internet connection. The place we stayed at in Mexico had a legit internet connection, a lot better than back home, so we’re good, but usually we buy a few netsticks or something like that as backup.”

As soon as he’s done grinding a two-week tournament series, however, he’s often ready to fly back to Australia to resume life as normal, getting up at 2:00 AM to grind. “Sometimes I kind of envy the American guys who are seeing the world while playing poker,” he said, “Then I get here and two weeks in I’m feeling homesick.”

This year, Chew took 10th in the SCOOP $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max High-Roller for $19,000, his largest cash of the series. The largest cash of his career was worth $74,000 and came after a runner-up finish in the Sunday Warm-Up last year.