There were 5,045 entries to the biggest-ever Venom on ACR Poker, and it ended with a bunch of stone-cold killers on the final table. One of them, Dominik Nitsche, dominated and walked away with what he called “the biggest win of my life by far.”
Nitsche has had bigger live wins, but online prizes don’t come much greater than what was on offer in the $12.5M guaranteed Venom. The top three all took home seven figures, and Nitsche – or Texxassss as he’s known on ACR – won $1,818,044.
The final nine also included Chris Moneymaker, chip leader Kou Vang (AK_Dont_Play), and 2023 WSOP Player of the Year Ian Matakis (RiverRiot72).
Classy Matakis first out
It was Matakis who was first out in a massively unlucky spot that helped propel Nitsche into a dominant position. Matakis picked up 
in the cutoff on a healthy stack of just over 40BBs and raised. Nitsche called with 
on the button, and Doblou called with 
in the big blind.
The 
flop saw Nitsche’s one outer drop. Matakis check-raised only to see Nitsche ship. Matakis gave it a bit of thought but made the call and couldn’t find another king. That left Nitsche in second place with a 100BB stack and closing in on chip leader Push0rdie. Meanwhile, the classy Matakis showered the ACR Twitch stream with 50 free subs by way of thanks for the support.
IanBeale was next out after seeing his stack reduced to the sub-10BB level. He shipped his last chips with 
and was called by Moneymaker with 
and Nitsche with 
. The 
flop was good for Moneymaker; the turn was gin for Nitsche.
At this point, Nitsche had a huge lead – almost as many chips as the rest of the table combined. And he took out DinaTheDog in seventh with 
vs. 
. The flop teased the escape route with two spades, but Dina couldn’t get there.
End of the road for Moneymaker
Moneymaker had been card dead for a long time and was next out. Anzuelitico raised with 
and Moneymaker elected to three-bet with 
rather than ship. Anzuelitico called to see the 
flop, and when Moneymaker shoved over a raise, it was all she wrote for the ACR pro.
Doblou was eliminated in fifth, followed by Kou Vang in fourth. Vang shoved 
preflop but ran into Push0rdie’s queens and couldn’t find the ace. In fact, the 
board didn’t even give him a sweat.
Anzuelitico went in third, and it was a real rollercoaster of a hand. It was the wrong time to shove over a button raise with 
because Push0rdie had a genuine hand and his 
connected on the flop. Anzuelitico picked up a piece as well and picked up another piece on the 
turn. Incredibly, the 
dropped on the river to take the Venom heads-up. The $1M+ payout for Anzuelitico will be some consolation.
Push0rdie pushes, dies
Push0rdie had a big chip lead at this point, with 131BBs to Nitsche’s 59. In chip terms, that gave Push0rdie a stack of one billion, and it’s not often you can say that. And he extended that lead, taking Nitsche down to 27BBs before the German pro mounted his comeback.
It took him just two hands with back-to-back doubles. He got his first with 
against on a 
board. Nitsche shipped the river and Push0rdie called.
Then a crazy hand played out. Push0rdie raised from the button with 
and Nitsche three-bet with . Push0rdie made the call and hit the lead on the flop. Push0rdie bet half the pot and Nitsche called to the turn. Push0rdie bet again and Nitsche called to see the miracle 
on the river. Nitsche checked, Push0rdie shipped, and Nitsche snapped to take a commanding chip lead.
He never lost it, although he had to get lucky. In the final hand, Push0rdie raised the button with and Nitsche three-bet with , Push0rdie four-bet and Nitsche called to the flop. The chips were always going in, and Nitsche scored the massive win.
$12.5M guaranteed Venom results
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dominik ‘Texxassss’ Nitsche | $1,818,044 |
| 2nd | Push0rdie | $1,345,186 |
| 3rd | Anzuelitico | $1,013,515 |
| 4th | Kou 'AK_Dont_Play' Vang | $716,844 |
| 5th | Doblou | $523,292 |
| 6th | Chris 'Moneymaker' Moneymaker | $382,007 |
| 7th | DinaTheDog | $278,862 |
| 8th | IanBeale | $203,565 |
| 9th | Ian 'RiverRiot72' Matakis | $148,600 |
