The latest running of ACR Poker’s massive online poker tournament known as ‘The Venom’ drew 3,735 entries at $2,650 a piece across six starting flights. The $10 million guaranteed event ended up with over $600,000 in overlay money up for grabs.
Brazil’s Gabriel ‘kingqueensuited’ Tavares emerged victorious with the title and the staggering $1,505,240 top prize. Runner-up Minh ‘Bow2Me’ Nguyen also secured a seven-figure payday with his strong performance in this event, walking away with $1,094,230.
The final table was live streamed on the site’s Twitch channel on Wednesday, April 30.
Several big names made it down to the final table, including World Series of Poker bracelet winner Ryan Laplante. The 2016 WSOP $565 pot-limit Omaha event winner took to social media earlier on in the tournament to share how he had earned a seat in this event on the cheap.
Step 1: $3 left in ACR account
Step 2: Use Rakeback funds to win Satty into Venom
Step 3: 1.5x Avg stack ITM.
Step4: pic.twitter.com/oBwBNPXXUy
— Ryan Laplante (@Protentialmn) April 28, 2025
That meant quite the ROI for Laplante, as he and the other eight remaining contenders had all locked up at least $120,890 by making the final table. He came into the day in the middle of the pack, but was knocked out in a matter of minutes thanks to a brutal preflop cooler. ‘jsmackers’ opened with K
Q from UTG+1 and chip leader ‘FedorFoldz’ three-bet with A
A
on the button. Laplante four-bet jammed for just over 38 big blinds with A
K out of the small blind and received a snap-call from ‘FedorFoldz’ after ‘jsmackers’ got out of the way. Laplante made aces and kings by the river, but that meant ‘FedorFoldz’ had improved to top set. With that Laplante’s run ended in ninth place.
The next knockout saw ‘kadambah’ bust in eighth place ($165,600). ACR Ambassador Katie Lindsay had come into the day as the shortest stack. The poker agent turned player’s run in this event ended thanks to a coin flip, with her A-10 unable to outrace the pocket eights of Nguyen. The 2024 Moneymaker Tour Aruba main event champion earned a career-best score of $226,850 for her seventh-place finish.
#TheVenom $10M NLH – 7th place goes to our PRO, @katelinds, who takes home $226,850!
We’re live on Twitch https://t.co/pjZySYDiYY pic.twitter.com/Q5DsdoKA02
— ACR Poker (@ACR_POKER) April 30, 2025
‘robeezy’ had pocket kings cracked by the A-K of Nguyen to finish sixth for $310,750. Pocket kings were also the holding for fifth-place finisher ‘jsmackers,’ with the A2 of ‘FedorFoldz’ winning thanks to an ace on the flop after all the chips went in preflop. ‘jsmackers’ settled for $425,680 after being sent packing.
Tavares scored the next elimination. With a final board of A105K7, he moved all-in with AQ for an effective shove of 15.5 big blinds into a pot of 25 big blinds. ‘Cantbereal’ called off with 109 and was shown the bad news. ‘Cantbereal’ walked away with $583,120 as the fourth-place finisher.
Even with that win, Tavares was still at the bottom of the leaderboard to start three-handed play. Nguyen was pulling away from the pack ahead of the next big clash. With a board of 8778, ‘FedorFoldz’ checked holding J8. Tavares bet small with K8 for the same full house and ‘FedorFoldz’ just called. The K on the end gave Tavares a higher full house. ‘FedorFoldz’ checked again and Tavares overbet the pot. ‘FedorFoldz’ check-raised all-in and Tavares called to score the knockout and move into a virtual tie for the chip lead. ‘FedorFoldz’ earned $798,790 for this podium showing.
The 3rd Place of #TheVenom $10M NLH goes to FedorFoldz for $798,790.
We’re live on Twitch with the Heads Up https://t.co/dYafGY2X9K pic.twitter.com/CXLMbKvASZ
— ACR Poker (@ACR_POKER) May 1, 2025
Tavares was able to overtake the lead and then extend his advantage ahead of the final hand of the tournament. Nguyen shoved his last nine big blinds with K7 on the button and Tavares called with 66. The 874 flop gave Nguyen a pair of sevens to move ahead in the hand, but the 6 turn improved Tavares to a set of sixes. The Q on the river brought the event to a close, with Nguyen earning nearly $1.1 million for his second-place finish.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Gabriel ‘kingqueensuited’ Tavares | $1,505,240 |
| 2 | Minh ‘Bow2Me’ Nguyen | $1,094,230 |
| 3 | ‘FedorFoldz’ | $798,790 |
| 4 | ‘Cantbereal’ | $583,120 |
| 5 | ‘jsmackers’ | $425,680 |
| 6 | ‘robeezy’ | $310,750 |
| 7 | Katie ‘Katie Lindsay’ Lindsay | $226,850 |
| 8 | ‘kadambah’ | $165,600 |
| 9 | Ryan ‘PLOtential’ Laplante | $120,890 |
Photo credit: Mundo Poker.
