The flagship Venom PKO tournaments on ACR Poker crowned two new champions on Wednesday as both the NLH and PLO versions played out – and one player was in the thick of the action on both tables.
While the odds were stacked against them, 'Pepareg1' managed to reach the final table of both events.
They weren't the first player in Venom history to pull off the feat – ACR Team Pro Chance Kornuth made the final table in both events back in September – but that hardly diminishes the achievement.
Even more impressive, they put up podium finishes in both tournaments – finishing second in the Venom PKO PLO and third in the Venom PKO NLH for a combined score of $446,141.
In the PLO event, 'Pepareg1' started proceedings as the short stack, but spun it all the way up to reach heads-up play against 'tigerseyes'. The two players agreed to a deal that saw 'Pepareg1' walk away with $36,050 in bounties and $128,621 for the second-place finish.
Shortly after, they were eliminated in third place in the NLH event after moving all-in for their last 20 big blinds with 
and running into an opponent's 
– taking home $41,101 in bounties and $240,369 for the third-place finish.
'Pepareg1' made an all-timed shove from the small blind and ran into a better hand. 'PushLightYear', the player who eliminated 'Pepareg1', went on to close out the win against 'ArkaduktusFrRM'.
Both events exceeded set guarantees. The Venom PKO NLH attracted 2,143 entries to generate a $5,357,500 prize pool, blowing past its $5M guarantee, while the Venom PKO PLO drew a field of 602 entries to squeak past its $1.5M guarantee with a prize pool of $1,505,000.
The entirety of the NLH Venom PKO was livestreamed on the ACR Poker Twitch channel, with commentary from Team Pros Chris Moneymaker and Rob Kuhn – check out the full replay below.
The Venom PKO PLO wasn't livestreamed, but the ACR Poker FT Replayer allows you to view all the action with hole cards revealed.
Venom PKO NLH results
Despite entering the heads-up match at a chip disadvantage, 'PushLightYear' overcame the deficit in two key hands.
In the first, they min-raised from the button with 
and was called by 'ArkaduktusFrRM' with 
. The 
flop connected with both players and 'PushLightYear' continued for a half-pot sizing.
'ArkaduktusFrRM' made the call and the 
turn left them drawing stone dead. Despite this, they opted to check-raise in the face of another bet from 'PushLightYear'. The 
completed the board and 'ArkaduktusFrRM' wisely shut down the bluff and folded to their opponent's river bet.
'PushLightYear' took the heads-up chip lead in this key hand. Then, a few hands later, it was all over.
'ArkaduktusFrRM' raised from the button with 
and 'PushLightYear' responded with a re-raise holding 
.
The 
saw both players make top pair and it looked like 'ArkaduktusFrRM' was going to wrestle the chip lead back from his opponent. The 
turn changed nothing, but the 
river saw 'PushLightYear' make two pair.
With about a pot-sized bet behind, 'ArkaduktusFrRM' had the last action and opted for a thin jam – only to see the bad news as 'PushLightYear' called and showed the winner.
| Place | Player | Placement Prize | Bounty Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PushLightYear | $332,932 | $204,644 |
| 2 | ArkaduktusFrRM | $332,931 | $85,893 |
| 3 | Pepareg1 | $240,369 | $41,101 |
| 4 | Lappy | $173,550 | $84,248 |
| 5 | Nyts14 | $125,306 | $54,492 |
| 6 | WhatDoWeHave | $90,446 | $14,726 |
| 7 | meteli goli | $65,318 | $38,769 |
| 8 | RippersNdarts | $47,162 | $32,636 |
| 9 | TIKITAKA11 | $34,052 | $44,780 |
Venom PKO PLO results
The Venom PKO PLO featured two notable names in contention for the title: Brian Hastings and Yuri Dzivielevski, playing under the screen name 'vousconfus'.
While the Brazilian started proceedings with the second-largest stack in play, the final table didn't go his way and he had to settle for a fifth-place finish.
Hastings, on the other hand, was one of the short stacks to start, but managed to stay in the fight long enough to ladder up to third place.
The heads-up battle between 'Pepareg1' and 'tigerseyes' didn't last very long. In one of the few hands, 'Pepareg1' picked up a sizable pot when they rivered a full house with 
on a 
runout.
A few hands later, 'tigerseyes' clicked the deal button and the two players split up the remaining prize pool.
'Pepareg1' caught running cards to make a full house in this key pot and a few hands later made a deal with 'tigerseyes'. | Place | Player | Placement Prize | Bounty Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tigerseyes | $128,621 | $111,197 |
| 2 | Pepareg1 | $128,621 | $36,050 |
| 3 | Brian Hastings | $93,194 | $25,903 |
| 4 | Blessed33 | $67,526 | $15,217 |
| 5 | Yuri 'vousconfus' Dzivielevski | $48,927 | $23,706 |
| 6 | Tweetme | $35,451 | $18,476 |
| 7 | Juantman | $25,687 | $20,205 |
