This hand occurred during the recent streamed final table of ACR Poker’s $12 million guaranteed NLH Mystery Bounty Venom event.
The 4,792 entries played down to a lucky final nine players who were battling for a massive $865,869 payday.
The notables at the table included four-time WSOP Bracelet winner Chance Kornuth, two-time bracelet winner Chris Moorman, 2024 Venom Mystery Bounty champion Brazilian Ivan Limeira, and Serbian grinder Stefan ‘Deltoid88’ Rados – the eventual winner.
Watch the video above to see how Rados navigated his way from a less-than-favorable flop to a hero call on the river.
The vital importance of ICM
Rados deftly navigated the ICM factors in play to keep his tournament life intact and stay in the hunt for the near $1M prize up top. We reached out to the Mystery Bounty winner for a deeper dive into his thoughts when the event reached shorthanded play.
“When a poker player reaches the final table of a tournament, a decent amount of money is already guaranteed,” says Rados. “But the focus must remain high because in this end phase of the tournament the biggest amount of money can be earned and every decision must be made with correct strategy and precision.
At this juncture during any top-heavy payout event, Rados knows that every decision is crucial.
“Mistakes in this phase are very expensive and practically separate elite players from good players,” he goes on. “This phase of the final table is what matters the most.”
ICM pressure on the short stacks
We recently tracked down Rados for a little insight into how he approached the start of the final table.
“I started as the third stack at the final table, but the top two stacks were significantly bigger than mine. I didn't have a good situation to implement an aggressive strategy.”
Rados took full advantage of the ICM pressure on the shorter stacks and used that awareness throughout the final table.
“I played tight at the beginning and waited for the situation to shift because each pay jump was significant. I was waiting for those short stacks to go, and I was willing to fight them if necessary. But not against big stacks if I did not have a very strong hand, or if I held something marginal. The ICM pressure was so great while those short stacks were still around.”
Watch the Venom Mystery Bounty hand play out in the video at the top of the article.
Follow Stefan Rados on Instagram.
