This month, PocketFives Traininginstructor and Costa Rican resident Alex AssassinatoFitzgerald is our featured guest on the PocketFives.com Podcast. Fitzgerald, who has been a member of PocketFives.com since 2006, discussed a wide variety of topics that are pertinent to our listeners including moving to Central America to play cards and the landscape of the online poker industry since the Black Friday indictments of April 15th.

If you’re not familiar with Fitzgerald, we’ll give you a brief biography. The prolific poker blogger, player, and instructor final tabled a Full Tilt Online Poker Series tournament in February for $123,000. Last September, Fitzgerald could be found in fourth place on the leaderboard of the Sunday Brawl for $40,000. On the fifth day of 2011, he emerged atop the field of the Full Tilt Poker $100 Rebuy for $35,000.

Fitzgerald relived his decision to relocate to sunny Costa Rica: “Originally, I was looking for a cheap option for where to house my horses because I had this impression that if my horses were living with me, I could teach them consistently every day and avoid the pitfalls that were befalling everyone.”

He added that a love for Costa Rica also kept him around: “I have been to 40 countries around the world and this is my favorite. The food is amazing and the people are great. People here just smile and try to get through things and work with each other.”

Fitzgerald is about as well traveled as they come, even for poker players. He recapped some of the highlights of his nomadic lifestyle: “I lived in South Korea for a year. I lived in Malta for another year. I’ve kind of wanted to explore all of the continents and learn a lot. I’ve lived in a lot of countries around the world and feel blessed to have done that. I’ve met a girl here and she’s helped me slow down.”

As we said earlier, he’s an instructor at the newPocketFives Training, which launched shortly before Black Friday and runs $29.95 per month. “I started working with herschelw a few years back with PokerPwnage, which became P5s Training, and found teaching really expanded my game and encouraged me to teach the people who were learning from me,” Fitzgerald claimed. “I’ve really enjoyed that and really like having that motivation to continue studying poker. There is a financial aspect for me as well – if I can teach more, I can do better in my side businesses.”

If you haven’t checked out the site, PocketFives Training houses an array of pros. Fitzgerald previewed several members of its stable: “We have a lot of the best players at P5s Training. I’ve always had a ton of respect for apestyles‘ (pictured) game and he brings a lot to the table. And then there are players like NeverScaredB, who has a crazier style and can teach you more from that perspective. A lot of our professionals contribute special things that are particular to their style, and a lot of them happen to be the best MTTers.”

Shortly after Black Friday occurred in the United States, Fitzgerald authored a blog entitled, “Are You Really Surprised?” What was his motivation to write? “To be in this situation right now as a professional is incredibly difficult and I was frustrated. I just got done filing my taxes and paying the Government… I feel really screwed because I continue to pay taxes on a profession they’re not even recognizing.”

PokerStarsand Full Tilt have seen their cash game attendances drop by about a quarter since Black Friday, according to PokerScout.com, while action on the CEREUS Network has slid over 80%. Fitzgerald gave his take on the fields over the last month: “The fields are softer. I felt like the American players were a little better than the players from a lot of other countries just because depositing was so difficult… It’s like going back to 2008 or 2007, but it’s not like, ‘Oh my God, it’s PartyPoker back in 2005.'”

If you’ve never been to Costa Rica before, casinos are sprinkled throughout the Central American nation. The pace of life is a bit slower than what you’ll find in the United States and tourism is a primary source of revenue.

Fitzgerald gave us an insider’s look at Costa Rican poker post-Black Friday: “I feel like a lot of my Costa Rican friends have a distrust for playing poker online since the Costa Rican Government is getting involved with some of the websites here, so I feel like there are more people in the casinos… Everyone fires it in and no one cares, and I’m sure it’s just more of that.”

Check out the rest of this week’s PocketFives.com Poker Podcast.