ACR Poker Introduces Mystery Bounty Venom and PLO Venom

Last updated on July 12th, 2024

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The Venom is the signature tournament of the Winning Poker Network, especially of WPN’s flagship site ACR Poker. Several times per year, the tournament shows up with millions of dollars in guarantees for a straight No Limit Hold’em Venom and a Venom PKO (progressive knockout). They alternate, with one hitting the schedule every few months.

No matter which Venom is up next, the buy-in is always $2,650, but Venom Fever and other satellite options give players weeks upon weeks of opportunities to qualify for a portion of that buy-in. For this reason, not to mention the massive prize pools, poker players from all sectors of the game make sure to get in on the Venom.

ACR Poker decided to change things up for the next one. Actually, there will be two of them. The next two Venom tournaments will take place in August 2024, and both are new to the Venom family.

Mystery Bounty Venom with $8M GTD
PLO Venom with $2M GTD

Mystery Bounty Venom Starts August 4

Progressive knockout tournaments have been popular for years. Players enjoy the bounty aspect of tournaments, as they can cash in the tournament for the traditional prize pool and/or collect bounties at any time throughout the event.

What’s more popular today than PKOs? It is the mystery bounty tournament.

Mystery bounties work differently than PKOs because bounties are not in play from the start of the tournament. Players must make Day 2 of the tournament, in most cases, to be able to win and accumulate bounties. And those bounties can be anywhere within a range of dollar amounts.

The ACR Poker Mystery Bounty Venom will have bounties that range from $5,000 (nearly twice the $2,650 buy-in) to $500,000. There will be an $8M guarantee on the prize pool, which allows for the larger bounties. Players who make Day 2 will be able to start accumulating and cashing out their bounties, and those players are also already guaranteed a payout for being top finishers in the tournaments.

The kicker in this event is that players can play any or all of the five starting days, which begin on August 4. If they finish with chips in more than one of them, they can combine their stacks to start Day 2.

The exact schedule is as follows:

Day 1A = Sunday, August 4 at 12:05pm ET
Day 1B = Thursday, August 8 at 12:05pm ET
Day 1C = Sunday, August 11 at 12:05pm ET
Day 1D = Thursday, August 15 at 12:05pm ET
Day 1E = Sunday, August 18 at 12:05pm ET
Day 2 = Monday, August 19 at 1:05pm ET (combined field plays to final table)
Final = Tuesday, August 20 at 4:05pm ET (final table plays to a winner)

PLO Venom Starts August 4

Another form of poker has been gaining popularity for more than a decade – Pot Limit Omaha. Four-card poker has been attracting more players at all levels of the game, from small stakes to high stakes. It only made sense for ACR Poker to attach a PLO option to its famous Venom.

The ACR Poker PLO Venom will play out as other standard Venom tournaments except that it will be a six-max format (no more than six players at a table). It will also be the largest PLO tournament that WPN has ever hosted.

Five starting flights begin on August 4, and players can get into any or all of them and combine any stacks they bring to Day 2. The $2M guarantee on the prize pool is likely to result in a first-place prize of at least $400K.

The exact dates for this event are:

Day 1A = Sunday, August 4 at 1:05pm ET
Day 1B = Thursday, August 8 at 1:05pm ET
Day 1C = Sunday, August 11 at 1:05pm ET
Day 1D = Thursday, August 15 at 1:05pm ET
Day 1E = Sunday, August 18 at 1:05pm ET
Day 2 = Monday, August 19 at 1:05pm ET (combined field plays to final table)
Final = Tuesday, August 20 at 4:05pm ET (final table plays to a winner)

Venom Fever Gets Underway

At this point of the summer, it’s hard to tell if that sweat is a result of high temperatures or Venom Fever. Let’s go with the latter.

Venom Fever is the most popular way to qualify for a Venom tournament at a fraction of the $2,650 buy-in. In fact, there are nearly 900 seats for the Venom Mystery Bounty available and approximately 100 for the Venom PLO.

Mega satellites start July 19 for as little as $5.50, with turbo and regular structures, and always with a certain number of tickets or seats guaranteed.
Freerolls run around the clock daily to start the satellite process for free.
Multi-flight tournaments offer chances to win seats for just a $16.50 buy-in.

The full Venom Fever schedule is on the ACR Poker website.

Jennifer Newell is the Editor in Chief at Legal US Poker Sites. She has two decades of experience in the iGaming industry. She is a respected poker media member, contributing to publications and websites like USA Today, PokerStars, and PokerScout. Her knowledge spans gambling legislation and the broader online gaming world. She has spent years advocating for diversity, most notably gender equity in the traditionally male-dominated poker sphere.