It was an ambitious goal. Americas Cardroom wanted to offer the largest guarantee ever in its signature online poker tournament. So, the most recent iteration of the Venom offered $10M as a promised prize pool.
The result was a double-edged sword. The number of players in the tournament did not meet the guarantee, leaving an overlay as ACR’s responsibility. On the other edge of that sword, the $10M guarantee kicked in and did achieve the goal of becoming the largest Venom ever.
And the winner, a player named BabyBowser, won the tournament for more than $1.5M, likely a life-changing amount of money. Even the second-place finisher, sw33ney, won more than a million for that performance as well.
Let’s see how it all played out.
Missing the Guarantee
Americas Cardroom and the Winning Poker Network certainly tried to hit that guarantee. The most recent Venom had the usual $2,500 buy-in, but players had ample opportunities to win their entries. Venom Fever was the promotion that offered daily freerolls for weeks, as well as satellites for as little as $1.40.
When it came time for the four starting flights, though, they fell short of the number of entries needed to meet the $10M guarantee.
-Day 1A on Friday, July 23: 535 entries-Day 1B on Sunday, July 25: 1,026 entries-Day 1C on Friday, July 30: 771 entries-Day 1D on Sunday, August 1: 1,598 entries
Those entries totaled 3,930, falling 70 entries short of the goal. Technically, that delivered a prize pool of $9,825,000, but the Winning Poker Network put in $175K to keep its promise. (It’s important to note that the $9,825,000 amount still exceeded the previous Venom record. The first Venom of 2021 had a guarantee of $8M but delivered an actual prize pool of $9,435,000.)
Finding Two Millionaires
Out of those entries, only 645 players made it through to Day 2 on Monday, August 2. Not long after play got underway, the money bubble burst to begin payouts of $5,300. The top 576 did receive payment for their work.
https://twitter.com/ACR_POKER/status/1422308758772985860?s=20
By the start of play on Wednesday, August 4, only eight players remained to play the final table. And their chip counts were:
https://twitter.com/Michael_Loncar/status/1423024722497839105?s=20
Action started right away with Ketzerfelipe pushing all-in with J-10 suited, and Talkinaboot? called all-in with queens. The queens held, leaving Ketzerfelipe with 3.5 big blinds. That player then pushed with A-Q on the next hand, and sw33ney called with A-6. But a six on the flop pushed the first player from the table.
Soon after, a big preflop pot brewed that put BabyBowser all-in with pocket aces and BTCBlade the underdog with pocket sixes. The flop, however, delivered a six, but an ace on the turn sent the commentators into a tizzy. BabyBowser doubled, and BTCBlade sat with fewer than 12 big blinds. BTCBlade moved all-in soon after, and Talkinaboot? moved over the top. BTCBlade showed fours, but those were up against kings. BTCBlade busted in seventh place.
https://twitter.com/ACR_POKER/status/1423029009840017408?s=20
Six-handed play lasted for went on for about 45 minutes with BabyBowser and sw33ney consistently leading and the other four players relatively even with 20-30 big blinds. BabyBowser eventually moved solo into the lead. M Cunha G was below 20 big blinds and decided to push with A-3 of hearts. BabyBowser called with A-Q. The board provided two hearts and a three on the flop, and it was the threes that provided the double-up.
Nearly an hour into play, Talkinaboot? and cruel fell below the 20-BB mark. And after the first break, it was sw33ney all-in with queens against the tens of BabyBowser. The queens held and put sw33ney back at the top of the chip stacks. Another 30 minutes passed before cruel finally moved with A-6 suited against the tens of BabyBowser. But the tens held and ousted cruel in sixth place.
The next player to move was BabyBowser, who had lost some chips but pushed with kings. Sw33ney had fives, and BabyBowser got the key double. M Cunha G hoped for the same with eights, and it was a flip against the A-K of BabyBowser. But an ace on the river eliminated M Cunha G in fifth place.
Talkinaboot? shoved queens and looked good against the K-Q of Lordfish. A king on the flop hurt, but Talkinaboot? rivered a flush to double up. Lordfish had fewer than 10 big blinds and pushed, finding calls from sw33ney and BabyBowser. Ultimately, sw33ney got out of the way, Lordfish showed sixes on a 3-K-8-A-A board, but BabyBowser had A-7. Lordfish took fourth place.
https://twitter.com/ACR_POKER/status/1423040230354034688?s=20
BabyBowser continued to climb toward 100 big blinds and dominate.
After the second break of the final table, that chip leader lost a bit of that lead as sw33ney chipped up. Finally, Talkinaboot? made a move with A-Q, and BabyBowser challenged with nines. A nine on the flop sent Talkinaboot? out in third place.
Heads-up play began with BabyBowser holding 94.22 big blinds against the 53.14 BBs of sw33ney. The latter lost ground consistently over the course of the 10-15 minutes of heads-up action. Sw33ney finally risked it all with pocket aces on a K-6-2-3 board. BabyBowser, however, had K-6 for two pair, and the four on the river changed nothing.
Two millionaires finished the tournament, with BabyBowser taking the bigger chunk and the Venom title.
https://twitter.com/ACR_POKER/status/1423063917786550276?s=20
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