This year there was a guaranteed $10M prize pool in ACR Poker’s flagship no-limit hold’em event, the Venom, making it all-but-unmissable to many of online poker’s biggest grinders.
Yet apparently many did miss it, with the $2,500 buy-in tournament falling several hundred players short of the 4,000 entrants required to cover the gargantuan guarantee.
But of course that made it an even bigger opportunity for those who played, with some $600K in extra value to be won.
The pot-limit Omaha version of the Venom concluded on Tuesday, drawing 832 entrants to more than cover its $2M guarantee and awarding first-place prize money of $436,926 to ‘Leko911’. The no-limit hold’em version came to a climax on Wednesday, with a final table featuring some well-established pros such as Ryan Laplante and Katie Lindsay.
In the end it would be ‘kingqueensuited’ who claimed the first prize of $1,502,240 and the title of the Venom champion.
Preflop shoves see big names fall early
Ryan ‘PLOtential’ Laplante, an experienced pro with WSOP bracelet wins both live and online, was first to fall when he ran his 
into the 
of the then-chip leader ‘FedorFoldz’.
Laplante had been sitting in the middle of the pack when ‘FedorFoldz’ raised from the button, and elected to shove his stack of 37 bbs from the small blind with ‘big slick’. That raise was predictably snapped off, the board brought no help and Laplante was out with $120K and change.
Another cooler brought about the next elimination, as ‘kadambah’ got their short stack in with pocket tens versus the pocket kings of ‘kingqueensuited’. The bigger pair held, and ‘kadambah’ was out in 8th with a payout of a little over $165K.
ACR Poker ambassador Katie Lindsay had made the final table with the shortest stack and wasn’t able to spin it up to a podium spot, but in outlasting two opponents she did manage to earn close to double the 9th place payout.
In the end it came down to a race between Lindsay’s 
and the 
of Minh ‘Bow2Me’ Nguyen, with Lindsay all-in preflop. The runout of 
gave Lindsay a sweat right to the end, but the end did come. Lindsay banked $226,850 for her deep run.
Having won the flip, Nguyen’s next big win would come from behind. Min-raising from the cutoff with 
, Nguyen was raised by ‘robeezy’ in the small blind. Nguyen clicked it back and ‘robeezy’ went all-in, getting insta-called by Nguyen’s big stack. ‘robeezy’ showed pocket kings and was a 70% favorite, but an ace on the flop gave Nguyen a strong lead, followed by the pot and a big chip lead. That left ‘robeezy’ with $310,750 and a bad beat story to tell.
Huge payjumps start to bite
Those cursed pocket kings would show up again in short order, as ‘jsmackers’ tried to do what ‘robeezy’ couldn’t and have them hold up after a preflop shove. Long story short: he couldn’t.
‘FedorFoldz’ opened from the button with 
and ‘jsmackers’ popped it back with their pair of cowboys, before a rush of blood to the head saw ‘FedorFoldz’ set their opponent all-in, leaving just a few blinds behind.
A quick call from ‘jsmackers’, and a quick ace on the flop, and it was deja vu all over again. Pocket kings 0, ace-high 2. As Michael Loncar said, commentating on the ACR Poker Twitch channel, “It’s all about making the wrong move at the right time.” The player known as ‘jsmackers’ got smacked, taking away $425,680 for their troubles.
The next elimination would be the first of the final table not to come about from a preflop shove. It would be ‘Cantbereal’ who ended up kicked out in 4th, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they’re still kicking themselves a day later.
Hanging around with middle pair and a flush draw, ‘Cantbereal’ and their 
made it all the way to the river versus ‘kingqueensuited’. The board of 
looked ominous, the shove of ‘kingqueensuited’ looked strong, and ‘Cantbereal’ looked like they would be folding. They didn’t. The 
in the hand of ‘kingqueensuited’ was plenty strong enough to take it down, and ‘Cantbereal’ was out with $583,120.
Stone cold cooler reduces field to final two
If that was avoidable, the next elimination certainly wasn’t. A stone cold cooler — worth almost $300K in prize money — saw ‘FedorFoldz’ bust out in cruel fashion.
It was the type of cagey, small pot that develops when both players are trying to trap each other. ‘FedorFoldz’ had 
and ‘kingqueensuited’ had 
, and the board showed 
with one card to come. Both players must have felt all-but-invincible, but it wasn’t the case.
The 
river put ‘FedorFoldz’ on a path to ruin as both full houses got their stacks in the middle. The chips went to ‘kingqueensuited’, the $798,790 went to ‘FedorFoldz’ for their run all the way to third place.
That left two, and it would be another all-in preflop that sealed the deal for ‘kingqueensuited’, who won a race holding pocket sixes against the 
of Minh Nguyen.
I've always believed in the process; the amount of work you put into your game and life is exactly what you'll get out of it.
My enemies should be wary - I have a lot of cash to blow now, so don't bluff me. I'm not folding!
It was a coinflip — for over $400K — and looked to be going Nguyen’s way after pairing up on the 
flop. Then came the 
to flip the momentum completely, before a meaningless 
put a button on one of the biggest tournaments of the year. Nguyen won $1,094,230 for coming so close.
Congratulations to ‘kingqueensuited’ for taking down the $10M GTD NLH Venom tournament, and scoring a payday of $1,502,240!
ACR Poker's The Venom $10M GTD No-Limit Hold'em - final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ‘kingqueensuited’ |
$1,502,240 |
| 2 | Minh 'Bow2Me' Nguyen |
$1,094,230 |
| 3 | 'FedorFoldz' |
$798,790 |
| 4 | 'Cantbereal' |
$583,120 |
| 5 | ‘jsmackers’ |
$425,680 |
| 6 | ‘robeezy’ |
$310,750 |
| 7 | Katie 'Katie Lindsay' Lindsay |
$226,850 |
| 8 | ‘kadambah’ |
$165,600 |
| 9 | Ryan ‘PLOtential’ Laplante |
$120,890 |
