Alas, another Venom tournament from Americas Cardroom and the Winning Poker Network is in the history books. This one was a Venom PKO, a smaller event but with the bonus of progressive knockouts. Poker players love a good PKO these days.
The last Venom PKO was in September of last year. The turnout surpassed expectations with 2,321 entries, which took the prize pool past the $5M guarantee to $5,802,500. In the end, badlucktou of Russia won $411,687 in prize money plus $304,408 in bounties.
The most recent Venom before this month, though, was the regular Venom. That wrapped in February 2022 but didn’t meet its $10M guarantee. Players took advantage of the $545K overlay, and BoBomb14 of Austria won the tournament for $1.8M.
This Venom PKO made its way to the archives today but not without big numbers and an exciting final table.
Huge Turnout
This Venom PKO was big. There were four starting days (flights), which took place on May 13, 15, 20, and 22. When ACR tabulated all of the entries, it was a good look.
-Total entries: 2,872-Total prize pool: $7.18M ($3.59M for prize pool, $3.59M for bounties)-Paid players: 324
Survivors from the first flights played down a bit on May 23. The next day started with just 55 remaining players and reduced it to eight.
On May 25, those eight returned to the virtual tables to play for the big money.
https://twitter.com/ACR_POKER/status/1529233351114166275?s=20&t=Qa4oO9YaG81egluR2qJgWg
Final Table Stream
The ACR team livestreamed the final table on Twitch with Justin Kelly, Michael Loncar, and Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet calling and commentating on the action. They did it on a 30-minute delay so they could stream with cards up.
Starting chip stacks were:
Blinds went up almost as soon as the action began, reducing DUKEofMORONGO down to just a few big blinds. They quickly pushed with pocket sixes, but DLAZ called with T-5 suited and found a ten on the board to knock out DUKEofMORONGO in eighth place.
A three-way all-in put swanopoly at risk with pocket sevens against the K-Q of keleman and A-K of blackmass. Keleman had both other players covered and caught a queen on the river for the double elimination.
Team ACR Pro Rob Kuhn was one of the shorter stacks. He waited for his moment and shoved with A-8, but DLAZ had pocket kings. The ACR representative busted in fifth place.
https://twitter.com/ACR_POKER/status/1529588826229858308?s=20&t=Qa4oO9YaG81egluR2qJgWg
Meanwhile, some chips changed hands. Not long after oneplusone doubled through keleman, SmilleThHero doubled through oneplusone.
A bit later, keleman pushed with J-T on the button, and oneplusone called with K-Q. The board of A-T-A-J-9 provided a roller coaster of emotions, but it left keleman out in fourth place.
Two hours into the final table, DLAZ had fallen to be the short stack. He finally called all-in with K-T after oneplusone raised with A-2. The board couldn’t save DLAZ, who finished in third.
Heads-up play went on for about 20 minutes or so until SmilleThHero got involved with 8-7 suited, sticking around on a 3-7-A flop. Oneplusone and their jacks played along as well. No flush draws materialized, but an eight on the turn gave SmilleThHero two pair. The all-in move prompted oneplusone to call, and the jack on the river gave the win to oneplusone.
That brought the PKO Venom to a close with oneplusone as its champion.
