The action on ACR Poker is at full bore this month as two brand new variations of its flagship Venom tournament are underway.
The Pot-Limit Omaha Venom and Mystery Bounty Venom Day 1 starting flights have begun already, but there's still time to get in on the action in the two events that boast a whopping $10,000,000 guaranteed between them.
We reached out to ACR Poker Pros Ebony Kenney and Nacho Barbero to get some tips while the Day 1s are still playing.
There's $10M guaranteed between the two Venoms and two new formats. What are you most looking forward to?
Ebony Kenney: I’m super excited about the different formats, and I know that PLO players are going to be super hyped about them. I am not a PLO player so I am going to be trying to satellite in. I think it's exciting to have the two different formats for the Venom tournaments. I know we have a lot of PLO players that play on ACR and I know people have been asking for this. I am so excited about the Mystery Bounty also. I am going to be doing my best to get in there and mix it up and go after these bounties.
Nacho Barbero: I am excited about the Venom PLO. I like PLO more than Hold'em, so it's going to be a sick one! It's going to be massive and I think I’m going to win it.
How will you be preparing for these big tournaments? Any tips you can share?
EK: I’m going to be playing the Venom while I am in Uruguay, so the way I will be preparing is by final tabling some Enjoy Poker Tour tournaments, hopefully!
As far as advice, it's really just to trust yourself, have fun, and do not panic! Everyone is kind of shitting their pants because there is so much money up top, and we’re making millionaires here.
NB: It's always good to study for these tournaments. I use GTO Wizard and try to practice playing with different stack sizes.
It's ACR’s first ever Mystery Bounty Venom tourney. What tips have you got for this format?
EK: Honestly, it is being aware that other players are going to be chasing bounties. Day 1, it's not as important. You are not going to be chasing players to knock them out, but you do want to be involved in pots so you can limp a lot and you can overcall a lot. You want to do a lot of pot control, so that way you can see the flop. And honestly, you’ve got to run wild! So, fingers crossed that if you are playing and you are on my table, you don’t run wild against me, but that you run wild in every other spot.
NB: For the Mystery Bounty, I tend to play super aggressively, try to get a lot of chips on some bullets, and try to finish Day 1 before the mystery bounties start as one of the chip leaders. That way, you can leverage your stack and get in many all-ins. The best strategy is to take the biggest bounty.
And what about the PLO?
EK: The tip I would say is try to satellite in and just have fun! It's not every day that you get to play a PLO $2M GTD online, so it's super exciting!
NB: For new players playing PLO tourneys, my advice would be to preserve your stack. Some people gamble a lot; I don't gamble that much. I just try to be there until the end, and I would mostly three-bet with aces.
Let’s say if you have 30 blinds, you should generally only be three-betting with aces or very strong double-suited hands with blockers like AK and AQ. In 8-max tournaments, it’s usually a better strategy to always three-bet aces; otherwise, you're giving away so much money.
