Day 1A of the $5 Million Guaranteed Venom PKO begins today
The massive guaranteed prize pools awarded in the Venom have become a quarterly tradition on the Winning Poker Network. The next chapter in the history of one of the biggest U.S.-facing online poker tournaments kicks off today, as the Venom $5 Million Guaranteed PKO gets underway.
Friday’s Day 1A flight begins a two-week event that sees a champion crowned on May 12. The spring edition of the Venom marks the second of four scheduled runs in 2021 for WPN’s flagship tournament.
The $2,650 buy-in tournament will run four opening-day flights, two this weekend and another two next weekend. The survivors from those four flights return as a combined field on Monday, May 10, and the tournament plays on for three more days from there.
Venom PKO $5 Million Guaranteed dates
| Date | Flight |
| Friday, April 30 | Day 1A* |
| Sunday, May 2nd | Day 1B* |
| Friday, May 7th | Day 1C* |
| Sunday, May 9th | Day 1D* |
| Monday, May 10th | Day 2 |
| Tuesday, May 11th | Day 3 |
| Wednesday, May 12 | Final Table |
WPN Venom continues to raise the bar
This month’s Venom PKO marks the second time the Venom has offered a progressive knockout format. The Venom PKO $5 Million Guaranteed runs as the sixth chapter in the series.
Since debuting the tournament in July 2019, The Venom has emerged as one of the biggest guaranteed prize pool tournaments available to U.S. players. All five previous editions of The Venom have exceeded the guarantee, including last October’s inaugural Venom PKO.
The first run for a PKO version of The Venom turned out as a major success. The $5 million guarantee was left in the dust, as the tournament drew 2,711 entries and produced a $6,777,500 prize pool.
Here’s a look at the history of WPN’s signature tournament so far:
WPN’s The Venom at a glance
| Guaranteed Prize Pool | Actual Prize Pool | Entries | First Place Prize | |
| The Venom (July 2019) | $5,000,000 | $6,382,500 | 2,552 | $1,050,559 |
| The Venom (December 2019) | $6,000,000 | $6,740,000 | 2,696 | $1,039,982 |
| The Venom (August 2020) | $7,000,000 | $9,680,000 | 3,872 | $1,394,821 |
| The Venom PKO (October 2020) | $5,000,000 | $6,777,500 | 2,711 | $752,067 |
| The Venom (January 2021) | $8,000,000 | $9,435,000 | 3,774 | $1,113,330 |
| The Venom PKO (April/May 2021) | $5,000,000 | ? | ? | ? |
Americas Cardroom Team Pros look forward to the Venom PKO
The upcoming Venom PKO produced plenty of hype among the Team Pros at Americas Cardroom. Players who register for the Venom PKO can look forward to seeing the ACR Team Pros in action over the next two weeks and possibly encountering the pros at the tables.
“I always love Venom season,” said ACR Team Pro Jon Van Fleet in a hype video released on the Americas Cardroom Twitter account earlier this month. “And I love getting a little bounty, a little cha-ching when I knock people out. I can’t wait until April 30th.”
That date finally arrives today, as Day 1A of The Venom PKO $5 Million Guaranteed kicks off at 1 pm EDT. Day 1B (May 2), Day 1C (May 7), and Day 1D (May 9) all begin at 1 pm EDT as well.
The October 2020 run of the Venom PKO crowned ‘pinguinachica’ as the tournament champion, awarding a $751,067 total winner’s prize. Of that six-figure score, $477,814 came from the first-place prize money and another $273,253 from progressive bounties.
“I think about all the vicious knockout attempts that people are going to be going for with all the big bounties up for grabs in this tournament from beginning to end,” said ACR Team Pro Michael Loncar in the Twitter hype video.
Looking to brush up on the rules of poker before The Venom? Check out Poker.org’s hand rankings chart.
