Tournaments

ACR Poker’s Dual Venom Ends With Two Champions and One Double Run

By Samantha Doyle

3 hours ago

Samantha Doyle 3 hours ago

Share this article

Oihan Abarzuza rebounded from sixth in chips to win the NLH Venom for $536,577.
Daniel Palau maintained his chip lead to secure the PLO Venom and $239,819.
Pepareg1 reached both final tables, finishing with $446,144 combined.

Two Venom tables were running side by side on Wednesday night, leaving ACR Poker with two champions to crown and one player somehow trying to win both.

By the time the last cards were dealt, Oihan Abarzuza had turned a middle-of-the-pack stack into a $536,577 No-Limit Hold’em victory, while Daniel Palau converted the PLO final-table chip lead into another $239,819.

Here is how it all went down on Wednesday.

JOIN VENOM PKO ON ACRUse Code: NEWBONUSPLAY NOW

Oihan Abarzuza Turns Sixth Place Into $536,577

Abarzuza, under the name PushLightYear, wasn't the player to catch on Wednesday night. He began sixth with 60.8 million chips, while Nyts14 returned with more than twice that amount.

Oihan Abarzuza Wins ACR Venom Hold'em — Oihan Abarzuza Wins No-Limit Hold’em Venom

As the night chipped away and with four players left, Abarzuza's position became more and more precarious, when ArkaduktusFrRM had taken control and Abarzuza was again the shortest stack.

Fortunately for him, a couple of pocket queens changed that. Lappy shoved with ace-five, Abarzuza called, and a queen on the flop gave him the double he needed. Soon afterwards, a straight against ArkaduktusFrRM moved him into second place.

The largest pot before heads-up came when Abarzuza defended pocket sevens and flopped a set. ArkaduktusFrRM eventually paid off a river shove, bringing the stacks much closer, before Abarzuza eliminated Pepareg1 in third with ace-queen against ace-eight.

Even then, ArkaduktusFrRM began heads-up ahead.

That advantage disappeared quickly. Abarzuza won a major pot after flopping two pair with seven-six, then closed the tournament only a couple of hands later. His ace-two made two pair on the river against ArkaduktusFrRM’s ace-jack, and when the latter shoved, Abarzuza called to finish the comeback.

Place	Player	Regular Prize	Bounties	Total
1	PushLightYear	$332,932	$203,645	$536,577
2	ArkaduktusFrRM	$332,931	$85,893	$418,824
3	Pepareg1	$240,369	$41,101	$281,470
4	Lappy	$173,550	$84,248	$257,798
5	Nyts14	$125,306	$54,492	$179,798

Daniel Palau Starts First and Finishes There in the PLO Venom

The PLO final table gave Daniel “tigerseyes” Palau a very different assignment, at least compared to Abarzuza.

Daniel Palau Wins ACR Venom PLO — Daniel Palau Wins PLO Venom

Palau arrived with 60.9 million chips and the lead, ahead of Yuri Dzivielevski, playing as “vousconfus,” and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Hastings. At the opposite end of the counts sat Pepareg1, who was simultaneously playing the NLH final table and returned to the Omaha table with the smallest stack.

Palau didn't control of the lead during the final table, but recovered as the field thinned. Dzivielevski eventually fell in fifth, while Hastings worked his way from one of the shorter stacks to third. That left Palau and Pepareg1 heads-up, with the latter having somehow climbed from seventh to second while also making the NLH podium.

After Pepareg1 rivered a full house to win one sizeable pot, the two players agreed to a deal. Their regular payouts ended almost identical at roughly $128,622 apiece, although the bounty totals created a much bigger difference in what they actually took home.

Place	Player	Regular Prize	Bounties	Total
1	tigerseyes	$128,622	$111,198	$239,820*
2	Pepareg1	$128,621	$36,050	$164,671
3	Brian Hastings	$93,194	$25,903	$119,097
4	Blessed33	$67,526	$15,217	$82,743
5	Yuri “vousconfus” Dzivielevski	$48,927	$23,706	$72,633

Pepareg1 Left Without a Trophy but With $446K

Even though the two Venom champions collected their titles, neither of them managed to do what Pepareg1 did.

The Ukrainian player reached both Venom final tables on the same night, starting third in NLH and last in PLO. By the end of the session, he was third and second. The NLH run gave him approximately $281,471, while the PLO runner-up finish added another $164,673. Combined, his two tables were worth $446,144.