Daily Rewind: DOJ vs. Absolute, WCOOP, Cates &Tony, European Short-Handed Event

In today's Daily Rewind we catch up with the latest battle between the DoJ and Absolute Poker, recap yesterday's WCOOP action, see why Daniel Cates is qualified and preview Ireland's 6-max action.

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:

Absolute assets

Bharara eyeing AP's assets

Absolute Poker may be the forgotten entity in the Black Friday shutdowns, but the DOJ aren't letting them head off in the distance without justice being served.

While a large part of the company has already been seized, the US authorities are currently seeking to take possession of Absolute's software platform and database.

Held inside a shell company called Avoine, the assets are the last remaining pieces of property held by the company's founders.

In defence of the figures behind Avoine, Leonard Rhodes told the court recently that his clients are the true owners of Absolute – despite an extensive paper trail originally designed to hide that fact – and that the government has failed to prove its case for seizure.

However, Preet Bharara is arguing the opposite and will look to convince Judge Leonard Sand differently.

Moreover, if the DOJ obtain the assets they will be sold and the money raised will be used to pay off some of the fines owed by Absolute.

With no timeframe set for a decision it looks as though this case will continue for the next few months.

WCOOP: Action at the felt

Two winners and the first day of another $1,050 tournament was the tale of yesterday's WCOOP action.

Kicking off proceedings was the $1,050 No Limit Hold'em event featuring 1,422 players. The huge field meant the prizepool was almost double the $750,000 guarantee, meaning the winner will take home $241,740.

With just 82 players left, the action will resume today with the UK's "CrabMaki" in the lead.

As the higher stake event went on a break, the $320 Mixed Hold'em and Badugi events came to a conclusion.

Attracting 732 and 304 runners respectively, it was "putuonfbt" who took down the Mixed Hold'em event, while "woodbine ave" scooped the Badugi event ahead of PokerStars Pro, Chad Brown.

To keep in tune with all the latest WCOOP action, make sure you check out PokerStars Radio everyday inside the Daily Rewind.

Cates joins Team Tony

At first he wanted to stake Viktor "Isildur1" Blom; now Tony G has turned his attention to Daniel 'junglemandan' Cates.

In a recent blog post on Party Poker, Tony expressed his admiration for Daniel and hailed him as "a genius".

Now under the wing of Mr. G, Daniel will be staked for a number of live tournaments but the deal will be weighted towards financing his exploits online.

It's extremely unlikely that Daniel is broke enough to need staking, but when Tony G comes knocking at your door with "a challenge" it's very hard to say no.

Daniel now backed by "The G"

Play short in Ireland

If you fancy some 6-max live action this September, then the European Short-Handed Poker Championship is the tournament for you.

Taking place in Dublin's Regency Hotel, the €500+€50 re-entry event is always a popular destination for European players. Despite clashing with the WSOPE, 540 players have already registered for the event; with a large number of them coming from France.

The action kicks off on September 27th and continues for three days. There will also be a host of side events taking place, including a €200 Triple Chance PLO tournament.
 

High stakes corner

Vladimir in profit

Russia’s Vladimir "GVOZDIKA55" Shchemelev ended yesterday's session as the biggest winner thanks to an $180,312 win.

It took Shchemelev just 704 hands to edge ahead of the day's second biggest winner: "altiFC" ($164,079).

After a winning session on Monday, "patpatman" gave $173,766 back to the high stakes community over the course of 1,319 hands yesterday.

Also suffering losses over the last 24 hours were "KPR16" (-$160,024), "ocropTi" (-$86,534) and Randy 'nanonokops' Lew ($-86,347).

Daily Signoff

With the WPT Grand Prix in full swing we leave you today with Party Poker Pro Mike Sexton and his thoughts on the event.