Daily Rewind: Brunson's Blog, Chinese Poker Bribes, High Stakes Action

In today's Daily Rewind we catch up with life in the Brunson household, find out how a Chinese businessman is using poker in a unique way and get the latest high stakes results.

The Daily Rewind is your one-stop-shop for a sharp review of the day in poker. Join us here for a mix of the latest news and a more irreverent insight into the poker world. Today we discovered the following topics for you:

Brunson on politics and health

Doyle still smiling

Doyle Brunson might be getting older but that doesn't mean he's slowing down. Indeed, aside from grinding some of the largest cash games in Las Vegas, Doyle has been tracking the latest presidential race, trying his hand at canine topiary and dealing with cancer recently.

In his latest blog post he outlines his thoughts on Obama's re-election, stating that "politics has evolved" and he hopes that, despite not voting for the Democrats, the President does a "great job". Moreover, he believes "everybody should support him, regardless of political affiliation."

With his political rant out of the way, Doyle turns his attentions to his toy poodle, Casper. After spending four months in Montana with Todd Brunson, Casper's coat was in serious need of a trim.

Not wanting to risk taking his 16-year-old companion to the vet, Doyle decided to tackle the matted hair with some scissors. Unsurprisingly it didn't go too well and according to Doyle: "He looks like a vagabond and my wife is furious with me."

He concludes his blog by discussing the first member of his college basketball team, Bob Tremaine, and his recent death. He then turns to his own cancer scare and assures readers that, "It was a simple in house procedure that took about two minutes" and wasn't life threatening.

Pots for property

In China when you sit down to play a high stakes poker game it seems that it's not just the players at the table who are looking to buff each other.

According to a recent article by the Financial Times, excessive taxes and strict government policies have made it necessary for many businessmen to find creative ways to dupe the authorities.

While the article focuses on the current political unrest in China, it references a property developer who has set-up high stakes poker games in order to bribe high ranking officials.

Employing a professional poker player, the businessman "allows the officials to play on credit, shows up to drink a few toasts and play a few rounds".

He then leaves the game and instructs his representative to purposely lose money to a certain player on the table.

The unique way of bribing people probably isn't the best advert for the game, but it's certainly an inventive one.

High stakes corner

Jens in profit

"O Fortuna PLS" enjoyed a short but profitable session at the virtual felt, yesterday, playing just 81 hands and banking $131,862.

The quick win was enough to put him over $30,000 ahead of the day's second biggest winner, Jens Kyllonen, who banked $100,014.

If virtual hit-and-run session gifted one player a decent profit yesterday, it left another counting their losses as "SallyWoo" became the day's biggest loser after just 128 hands.

A total loss of $181,021 put them over $75,000 ahead of Viktor "Isildur1" Blom who dropped $105,008.

Winning Wojtek

Confident Wojtek (Picture courtesy of Mickey May)

In five day's Germany's Wojtek Barzantny went from profitable grinder to double UKIPT Champion.

Having beaten Chris Moorman in the finale of the UKIPT Online Championship last week, Wojtek used a portion of his £77,000 winnings to enter UKIPT Bristol's main event.

After successfully negotiating his way past some of the UK and Europe's best players, Wojtek entered yesterday's final with a commanding chip lead.

With the confidence of someone who'd defeated one of the world's best tournament players earlier in the festival, Wojtek put on an assured performance to take the title.

The final hand came when he called James Greenwood's all-in with on a flop.

With Greenwood holding pocket sevens the victory was almost Wojtek's and, after a pain-free turn and river, he picked up his second PokerStars trophy and £90,400.

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