Americas Cardroom wrote itself into the online poker record books with its latest Venom tournament. The Venom PKO is officially the biggest-ever PKO tournament ever.
A monster-sized field of 2,711 entries meant a $6,777,500 prize pool, way more than the advertised $5 million guarantee. It also meant seven of the nine players at the final table banked six-figure scores.
The Venom PKO started slowly with only 297 players buying in on Day 1A. This increased to 730 on Day 1B before falling to 499 on Day 1C. A huge turnout of 1,185 on Day 1D made this the biggest-ever PKO in the online poker world.
CheekySleek Leads Biggest-Ever PKO Final Table
“CheekySleek” sat down at the final table with 242,673,813 chips, which were enough for the chip lead. That colossal stack equated to more than 121 big blinds, an envious position.
Former Team partypoker Patrick “BorisRU1974” Tardif was the shortest-stack. He was the first player to bust from the biggest-ever PKO, also.
Tardif busted at the hands of “ULoveToDonk” when his Th-Td failed to beat Kc-Kd. Eighth-place netted Tardif a combined prize worth $72,324.
ULoveToDonk sent Corey “Xazel303” Bogert to the sidelines in seventh-place. Bogert’s all-in bet with Ac-Th lost to the dominating Ah-Kc to reduce the player count by one.
The final six players in the biggest-ever PKO became five with the exit of “CoramDeo”. “Crusher1991” sent his opponent to the rail when his Ts-Td held against Ks-Jh. Crusher1991 finished fifth in the second-ever Venom Americas Cardroom ran and was no guaranteed to at least match that result.
Pay Jumps Become Huge
Sixth-place paid out $139,705 with bounties included but the pay jumps grew huge. $164,959 and fifth-place went to “grrrp”. He shoved less than four big blinds with Kc-2c and Crusher1991 called with Ac-3h. Ace-high remained best throughout the hand and improved to a pair of threes on the river.
The next prize in online poker’s biggest-ever PKO topped the scales at $248,739, a near $84,000 difference! It went to ULoveToDonk who open-shoved from the small blind with Kd-8h. CheekySleek called in the big blind with Ad-8s. Both players paired their ace, but ULoveToDonk couldn’t find a king and busted in fourth.
Heads-up was set when CheekySleek crashed out in third-place for $414,153. The start-of-the-day chip leader was in a dominant position but everything went wrong three-handed.
They busted at the hands of “pinguinachica”. The pair clashed one hand prior and pinguinachica won it to claim the chip lead. They open shoved from the small blind with Ad-7s and CheekySleek called off his 13.08 big blinds with Kh-Ts. The 5h-Jd-Qs flop gave CheekySleek outs to a straight. They never arrived because the 5d and 3c completed the community cards. CheekySleek headed to the showers and the biggest-ever PKO was heads-up.
Pinguinachica held a 1.5-times chip lead over Crusher1991, leading 43.47 big blinds to 24.26 big blinds. It was game over for Crusher1991when he shoved nine big blinds with Ah-2c and was called by pocket nines. Crusher1991 paired his deuce but the nines held to resign the runner-up to a $570,401 consolation prize. Pinguinachica, the champion, banked $751,067 and the title of the biggest-ever PKO online event champion.
Venom PKO Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pinguinachica | $273,253 | $477,814 | $751,067 |
| 2 | Crusher1991 | $92,588 | $477,813 | $570,401 |
| 3 | CheekySleek | $110,860 | $303,293 | $414,153 |
| 4 | ULoveToDonk | $33,554 | $215,185 | $248,739 |
| 5 | grrrp | $14,160 | $150,799 | $164,959 |
| 6 | CoramDeo | $21,777 | $117,928 | $139,705 |
| 7 | Corey “Xazel303” Bogert | $15,595 | $84,718 | $100,313 |
| 8 | Patrick “BorisRU1974” Tardif | $14,716 | $57,608 | $72,324 |
Focus switched to the Mini Online Super Series, or MOSS as Americas Cardroom calls it. This exciting series features 150 low-stakes tournaments with combined guarantees of $2.5 million. It runs from November 22 through December 6 and we can’t wait for it. Can you?
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Matthew Pitt
If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.