ACR Poker opens its Dual Venom PKOs on Sunday 4 October with $6.5 million guaranteed, the third consecutive year at $5,000,000 for No-Limit Hold'em and $1,500,000 for Pot-Limit Omaha. Both cost $2,650 to enter and both play their final tables on 21 October.
Both earlier editions cleared the same numbers. The 2025 events paid $7,847,500 between them, and the 2024 pair paid more than $8.3 million, a sum we took from ACR's two stated prize pools.
Venom Fever is already running with 587 guaranteed seats. The same afternoon brings ACR's first Ladies Online Championship, and ACR's biggest Venom ever missed its guarantee in September, which is why the field maths below matters.
Dual Venom PKO Schedule: Five Flights, Final Tables on 21 October
Both events share one Day 1 schedule, with every flight starting at 1:05pm ET. The NLH event plays a Day 3 on 20 October; the PLO event goes straight from Day 2 to its final table.
| Stage | Date | Time (ET) | Events |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1A | Sun 4 Oct | 1:05pm | Both |
| Day 1B | Thu 8 Oct | 1:05pm | Both |
| Day 1C | Sun 11 Oct | 1:05pm | Both |
| Day 1D | Thu 15 Oct | 1:05pm | Both |
| Day 1E | Sun 18 Oct | 1:05pm | Both |
| Day 2 | Mon 19 Oct | 1:05pm | Both |
| Day 3 | Tue 20 Oct | 1:05pm | NLH only |
| Final tables | Wed 21 Oct | 4:05pm | Both |
Players can enter one event or both. The two share the flight dates and the price, so a Sunday can hold a Hold'em flight and an Omaha flight back to back.
ACR describes the $1.5 million PLO guarantee as tying the largest it has put on a PLO PKO, and the same figure stood in 2024 and 2025.
The NLH event has a longer record. ACR said in October 2025 that the NLH Venom PKO had cleared its guarantee in all nine editions to that point, and the 2025 field made it ten.
What $6.5M Needs: 2,000 and 600 Entries
ACR puts $2,500 of every $2,650 buy-in into the prize pool. Dividing each guarantee by that figure gives 2,000 entries for the NLH event and 600 for the PLO, and both prior editions cleared those lines.
| Year | NLH entries | NLH prize pool | PLO entries | PLO prize pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2,646 | $6,615,000 | 706 | $1,765,000 |
| 2025 | 2,498 | $6,245,000 | 641 | $1,602,500 |
| 2026 needs | 2,000 | $5,000,000 GTD | 600 | $1,500,000 GTD |
The NLH field fell by 148 entries between 2024 and 2025 and still finished 498 above the line. The PLO margin was 41 entries, the thinnest in the pair, so Omaha is where any overlay would sit if the field slips again.
Overlay has a recent precedent at ACR. August's $12 million Mystery Bounty Venom drew 4,792 entries, eight short of covering the guarantee from entries alone, and ACR added $20,000 to hold the pool at $12 million.
Our guide explains where guaranteed prize pools go unmet and how to price the edge when one does.
Where these numbers come from. ACR publishes the guarantees and the past fields, and its August figure of $11.98 million from 4,792 entries confirms the split we checked against five ACR results on 18 September. The entries-needed figures and the year-on-year differences are ours.
How the Progressive Knockout Bounties Pay
A progressive knockout pays twice. Half of an eliminated player's bounty goes to the player who knocked them out straight away, and the other half is added to that player's own bounty.
By the final table the biggest stacks carry the biggest prices. Anyone new to the format can start with the basics of knockout poker tournaments before the maths below.
The split that matters: every bounty you collect pays you 50% in cash and puts the other 50% on your own head. Knock out three players and you become the most valuable target at the table.
The 2025 champions show what that adds up to over a full run. Rigapols81 won the NLH event for $378,372 in prize money and nearly $297,000 in bounties, more than $675,000 in total according to ACR.
| 2025 event | Champion | Prize money | Bounties | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLH PKO | Rigapols81 | $378,372 | nearly $297,000 | more than $675,000 |
| PLO PKO | PohPohPohPAAAA | $135,789 | $117,099 | $252,888 |
Bounties made up close to half of the NLH champion's return, which changes every all-in decision from the first level. Our strategy section covers how to value a progressive bounty in chips before you call a shove.
Venom Fever: 587 Guaranteed Seats Until 18 October
Venom Fever runs from 29 September to 18 October, and ACR says it guarantees 587 seats across the two events. That is 46 more than the 541 ACR guaranteed in October 2025, and the routes come in three price bands.
- Direct Satellites: single tournaments with $2,650 seats as the prizes. The most direct route for anyone with a satellite bankroll.
- Mega Satellites: larger fields with multiple seats guaranteed. Some Mega paths start at $0 through freerolls.
- Survivor Flips Step Satellites: a step ladder starting at $0.80. Each step feeds the next until a $2,650 ticket.
The seat count is smaller than the summer's. ACR guaranteed more than 1,500 seats for August's two Mystery Bounty Venoms and their $15 million; this Venom Fever feeds $6.5 million, so the seats-per-guarantee ratio is close to the same.
Also on 4 October: ACR's First Ladies Online Championship
An hour after the first Venom flights begin, the Ladies Online Championship starts at 2:05pm ET. It costs $215, guarantees $25,000 and sends the winner a trophy.
Two satellites run earlier that Sunday, settling 15 places before the Venom flights open.
- $22 Turbo at 11:05am ET: 10 seats guaranteed.
- $21 Hyper at 12:30pm ET: five seats guaranteed, 85 minutes after the Turbo.
ACR's eligibility rule is explicit: only verified female accounts can receive prize money, and an ineligible account that finishes in the money has the prize removed after the event. Katie Lindsay announced the championship on X on 23 September.
So excited to announce the first ever Ladies Online Championship on @ACR_POKER coming October 4th!! $215 buy in and a trophy will be mailed to the winner🏆
Would love to make this huge so please share with your communities and any women you know that would like to play👯♀️$22… pic.twitter.com/Pw3lsxHbOv
— Katie Lindsay (@katelinds) September 23, 2026
Her post asked for the event to be shared widely and promised giveaways through the satellites. ACR has not said whether the championship will become a regular fixture.
The guarantee is 116 times the buy-in. The names who built the women's side of the game are in our guide to famous female poker players.
Day 1A Numbers Land on 4 October
Three dates settle the story.
- Sunday 4 October: Day 1A entry counts give the first read on the 2,000 and 600 targets.
- Sunday 18 October: Day 1E closes and the two fields are final.
- Wednesday 21 October: both final tables play from 4:05pm ET.
August showed that even an ACR Venom can run short, and that ACR covers the gap when it does. The Ladies Online Championship winner is decided on the first of those dates.
For the Day 1A counts and the final tables, follow our daily poker news and tournament coverage.
