Day 8: Monday, July 27th, 2009
Our 4pm flight to Bordeaux was delayed, putting us under serious pressure at the other end. The last train from Bordeaux to Irun (the town on the French/Spanish border) left at 6.55pm local time and we weren't entirely sure how long it would take for us to get from the airport to the train station. The plane left Dublin just after 5pm and landed at 5.40pm local time (we gained an hour with the time difference). Hopping in a taxi, we headed straight to the station. It was rush-hour in Bordeaux but we still made it onto the train by 6.45pm! Time for some 3-Handed cash game PLO!

With €25 in chips each and the blinds fixed at 25c/50c, Patrick insta-donked off a buy-in to Nick. I chopped away, winning several small and medium pots from both of them. Patrick donked another buy-in to me and insisted that he would quit after 4 buy-ins. His third didn't last long as he donated again to Nick. I then sucked out in a €120 pot to Nick as I got all-in with top-pair and a gutshot to his bottom set. I put him on 'AAxx' and thought he would fold to my re-re-raise on a 258 board. He might have except for the fact that the 'xx' in his hand was '22'. I turned a 6 to make my straight and the river didn't pair the board. Raking in the pot, I made my heart-felt apologies to Nick who re-bought for another €25. Three hands later, I felted Patrick and the game was over. We had successfully killed two of the three hours on the train and I had successfully killed Patrick's spirits.

Reaching the fishing port town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the view out the train window became far more interesting. We had reached the Basque coast and the lads were given their first taste of the beauty that was to come - gorgeous architecture, sandy beaches and of course, the Atlantic Ocean. At 10pm, we got off the train in Irun and decided to grab a bit of dinner, figuring that there might be nowhere open by the time we got to San Sebastian (another 40 minutes by a connecting commuter train). It turned out to be a good decision as San Sebastian had gone to sleep by the time we arrived at 11.30pm. With the help of Nick's I-Phone GPS, we walked from the train station to the hotel. I could tell the lads were well pissed off with the idea of walking until 10 minutes into the stroll, we reached the beach. San Sebastian is stunningly beautiful city but the 'piece de resistance' is, without doubt, the crescent beach around La Concha Bay. Our hotel was at the other end of the beach but time flew by as the lads took photos and enjoyed the warm breeze coming in off the Atlantic.

Leaving our bag in the hotel, we immediately headed back into town, keen to find a nightclub or late-bar of some description. The best we could do was a cocktail bar where the cocktails were a scandalous €16 each! "No matter", we thought, "We're on holidays!", so we sat back, sipped our over-priced margaritas and made plans the next few days.
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Day 5: Friday, July 24th, 2009
* Fill beat me when we resumed the €25 Heads-Up NL Hold 'Em game which was on pause from two days earlier. Immediately after, I beat him in a re-match.
* Feeling the lads needed to get back to their fast food roots, I took them down to Jo'Burger, a gourmet burger joint in Rathmines. Good grub and this time for the price of just 5 Wendy's meals!
* We took ourselves back to the Sporting Emporium for some more cash-feastage. Rounder came along this time as did Rob O'Connor. After betting a friendly €25 which of us would be the big winner, Fill raced into a sick lead, flopping quads the very first hand. Nick donated two €200 buy-ins in the first hour and then did what any self-respecting gambler would do. He bought in for €600. I made steady progress throughout the night, helped in no small way by a €600 pot in an AA vs KK all-in pre-flop confrontation. By 6am, the four of us walked out with a combined total of almost €4000. Fill won the bet, finishing up over €900. I made €850, Nick made €300 and Rob made about €50.

Day 6: Saturday, July 25th, 2009
We had a DBB Live Game with Rob O'Connor, Suzanne Kenealy, Patrick McAllister, Nick Carrillo, Stephen O'Connor, Ken Taylor and myself. A full report is available in the DBB Live Section but some highlights included:
- Rounder playing blind for the first orbit and winning!
- Me donking off over €100 with a gutshot to Fill's top-set just because I so badly wanted to bad-beat him!
- Suzanne picking her spots perfectly and walking away with almost €100 in profit!
- Me losing almost €400 before making a comeback to end the night down just a ton. (Also, I ran a sick sick bluff on Stephen when I fired €180 on the turn with 23 on a 9569 board.)
- Rob being bad-beated down to his last €14 in the first hour but coming back to have €270 at the end!

Day 7: Sunday, July 26th, 2009
I played cricket while the lads when all-out online, playing in most of the Sunday majors. By the time I got back at 9pm, Nick was up about $1K but Fill was down over $2K. (LOL!) Dying for a session, I through up a full quota of $69ers and played for about 4 hours, making about $1500. We decided against burning the midnight oil as we had a long day of traveling ahead of us and an early start. (Well, early for three poker players!)

San Sebastian, here we come!