Poker players inherently travel quite a bit. With live events sprawled throughout the world and online regulations being different in each country, professional players can live quite a nomadic lifestyle. Take Bret vertigo007Gross (pictured), for example, who has traveled across half of the continents in the world in the last two years playing poker. We caught up with him after he won the 888 Poker Mega Deep for $33,000.

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“It feels great,” Gross said about his five-figure score. “It’s surreal. I have been grinding and traveling across Europe for the last two years and moved to La Paz, Mexico for eight months as well. I went on a horrible downswing and thought poker would never work out.” We’re guessing he was wrong.

Gross hit up a live poker gathering in Punta Cana last October and drove to a 48th place finish in the series’ Main Event for $3,500. Consequently, he traveled back to Mexico to continue the grind and, while there, bought a package to an event in Panama. “I played all three Day 1s,” Gross said of the Central American event. “I took a rough beat with 28 players left on Day 1 with 27 advancing.” He was all-in with tens against A-Q on a flop of A-Q-T and watched as an ace hit on the turn to give his opponent a boat.

In the middle of last month, he avenged his loss with two of his biggest scores ever on 888 Poker, getting fourth in the $60,000 Turbo Mega Deep and first in the $125,000 Mega Deep, which he called “pretty insane.” The two cashes were worth nearly $40,000 total. Consequently, he rewarded himself with a trip to Los Angeles to see his family for a week and then headed back to Mexico. In April, he plans to migrate even further south to Brazil.

Yes, we said he traveled a lot and we definitely weren’t kidding.

Fellow PocketFiver BOANG TAO (pictured) hooked him up with a group called the Asia Poker Academy and he noted that because of his affiliation, “I’ve been living out of a suitcase and traveling for the last year and a half.”

As far as his newfound riches go, he plans to play in events during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, whose final schedule has not yet been released, but we know it’ll likely start in May.

He started playing poker while in college, with fellow PocketFivers Jordan inblueCristos and Sarah SaramarTolagson helping him along the way. He closed by sending a shout out to Anthony whiterice1 Petreccia “for the advice to go to Panama for the LSOP.”

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