The Venom tournaments at ACR Poker have traditionally offered some of the largest prizes in the world of online poker. A duel tournament which runs in both no-limit hold’em (NLH) and pot-limit Omaha (PLO) variants, the last time out saw the former award first-place prize money of over $1.5M, while the latter paid its winner over $430K.
Now, the Venom is back for August 2025, and guaranteeing the same $10 million prizepool across both events. As in the spring version, at least $8M will be awarded in the hold’em event, and $2M in the PLO.
The first starting flight for each takes place on Sunday, August 10 at 12:05pm ET. More chances to play Day 1 will follow each Thursday and Sunday up to August 24, before Day 2 takes place on August 25 and the final tables on August 26.
Everyone who makes Day 2 will be in the money, and players are able to take on multiple Day 1s and combine their stacks to take into Day 2. The buy-in for each is $2,650.
Mystery bounties add potential for more huge prizes
Both NLH and PLO events will take the form of mystery bounty tournaments, with every elimination from Day 2 onwards worth a minimum prize of $5,000. However, the top bounty prizes available in each tournament will be many times that — $500K in the NLH and $200K in the PLO. All bounty prizes will be available from the start of Day 2.
Aside from the mystery bounty element, the prizepools and structure of August’s Venom tournaments is near-identical to the Venom events held in the spring. This should be cause for encouragement among players, as the previous NLH Venom — which also boasted an $8M guarantee — had an overlay of around $600K, adding value for all those who took part.
853 seats to be won - starting at $0
As always, ACR Poker is hosting plenty of satellites awarding entry to the dual Venoms, and has commited to awarding at least 853 x $2,650 seats in the run-up to the tournaments.
- Mega Satellites for the NLH Venom run on weekends from August 9 at $55, $109, $290 and $630 price points, with entry to each also available via freerolls. PLO Venom Mega Satellites will run on Sundays, available at the $290 buy-in level, but can also be reached via freerolls. Mega Satellites will award a minimum of 262 NLH seats and 30 PLO.
- Beast Tournaments, with $95 buy-ins, will run on Sundays from July 27 to August 17 at 5:05pm ET, each awarding at least 25 Venom entries. 125 seats in total are guaranteed.
- Two Venom Madness Satellites — multiphased tournaments with multiple starting flights — will each award at least 10 seats for a buy-in of just $16.50. The first runs from August 3, with the final day on August 16, and the second from August 16 with a conclusion on August 23.
- Direct $33 satellites will be available from Monday, August 4, awarding a total of 368 NLH entries and 48 PLO seats.
Additionally, ACR Poker will be awarding extra prizes, including Venom seats, in its Venom Vault. This promotion allows players to unlock prizes with every key they collect; keys can be acquired by completing certain challenges, exchanged for Combat Points, or purchased for cash. Check the ACR Poker client for more details.
