The first couple of days we chilled and grinded and although ev was looking good, what was to become the biggest downswing of my career was about to take it's toll. After the first couple of days I was really beginning to question if I should take a few more days off and get my head around the swing but I decided I would only play sessions when I was focused and ready to grind instead.
(Before seeing crocodiles)
David's childhood friends, John-Michael and Matthew, came to visit us on the 3rd day in and was pretty much perfect timing for me to wind down from the downswing and really enjoy what Costa Rica had to offer. (Legend IMO)
When they arrived we all went into the local town of Jaco to buy David and myself a surf board and headed out to the beach to begin my first day surfing, I really enjoyed the experience of it and kinda knew I would be hooked on it, but I really sucked. For anyone who hasn't surfed before I recommend everyone to try it.(David surfing)
(John-Michael surfing)
(Chilling before watching the surf contest)
After a few days of just partying, playing half arsed sessions in poker and surfing my oldest brother Neil came to visit and guess what.... Yeppp the partying continued some more :), I decided to stop playing poker for another week and enjoy the it as if I was on vacation too, and prepare myself for the hard work a head of me. (Everyone staying in the house)
We managed to get some tickets to see Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert which was in the City of San Jose. The concert was amazing and exceptionally good because my brother is the person who introduced me to the band when I was around 13-15 years old, and to hear all the old songs we used to listen to together again was really cool. (Me and Neil)
We stayed in San Jose for another night in this really cool hostel where we met some really down to earth people and went out to party with them in the University town of San Pedro, minus a small problem our new friends id's and my finger being the target of some serious pain, the night was amazing and we all ended up having a good night celebrating the start of oopacorp and my new position of 'ceo of swagger,' (private joke) but the main highlight was David's so called friends were buying him drinks and adding shots of vodka in it.(Everybody just have a good time)
The next morning after an hours sleep Neil and myself had to get up and go white water rafting. White water rafting is one of the most chilling experiences you can do, we went for a 18mile raft through the rain forest in a river which is rated in the top 5 in the world, so as you can imagine the views a long the way were pretty remarkable, our guide was really cool and allowed us to jump from some high up rocks into the river.John-Michael and Matthew's time with us had come to an end and after our long journey back to Jaco beach, Neil, David and myself decided to do one more activity before Neil was to part ways with us and go home. We decided to do Canopies, where we were driven up into the rain forest and the only way down was to go from tree to tree on a wire which reached up to speeds of 50-60 Mph. It was yet another amazing experience and after one last surf session my brothers time with us was over too.
The last 3 days David and myself have been dedicated to the grind and although my results have not been the best, I have been grinding really well and feel fully in the zone right now and although my downswing doesn't appear to look over, I feel really confident and really concentrated on playing my best poker at all times, so I feel like the downswing has ended already. It is hard to define a downswing, but to me I try not to look at the money lost and won but how well I feel I played against every opponent in each session from this point forward, because you can't change the past. I definately feel I unconsciously could have been playing less than optimal at some points in the swing but given I am playing very optimal poker again now there is no reason to consider the results as a downswing when I feel I am playing optimal in the sessions I am putting in now.
(My ev graph bbs/hands played whilst being here)
I heard a while ago in a quote from Nikachu that it is not uncommon to go 20,000 hands running under ev at one point, so that definitely helped me come to terms with this swing. I also would like to give a good suggestion to others when they are on a downswing. Try to not look at the money amounts of your swing and change your mind on anything you are doing because of the money lost in a downswing. We are playing a game where the money amounts lost and won shouldn't (although they will) effect us, and moving up and down stakes relative to a swing is going to be very important in mentally helping your game. I am currently playing $100 and $200 games, and although it might take me longer to reach a new peak, in terms of buy ins (which we should be calculating our results by) I will reach a new peak a lot sooner than stressing myself out playing higher stakes right now. I do intend to be playing higher stakes again one day, but for now I like the stress free life of grinding mid stakes and chilling in paradise :). We have also made friends with some cool locals who like to surf too so will be definitely going to be surfing a lot and trying to master it in the next few weeks. The waves are getting good so I am going to grab my board and hit some waves now, hopefully I will stand up today :S. 








That looks like a cool stay and seems like you made most out of it. I wish I can enjoy all those stuff in Costa Rica in just three weeks!
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