Poker Writer
America’s Cardroom’s (ACR) Venom no-limit hold’em progressive knockout (PKO) finished with a Latvian hockey player taking home the top prize. Pavels ‘Rigapols81’ Spirins conquered the 2,498-entry field for the massive combined $675,224 grand prize. That comprised the $378,372 first-place prize and $296,852 in bounties.
Spirins is a former semi-pro hockey player from Latvia who last appeared in competition in 2015. He played for Latvian hockey clubs HS Riga99/HK Tukums.
The 29-year-old has taken his competitive edge to another avenue through poker, accumulating an impressive poker resume. He has more than $650,000 in live career poker earnings according to the Card Player archives. But he is also a prolific online player.
He commented after the win:
The feeling [of winning] is indescribable. Last year I finished fourth in this exact same tournament, and now I finally managed to win it! I plan to celebrate with my family and friends, nothing special, there’s still a lot of work ahead.
The event’s $5 million guarantee was blown past as the field generated a total prize pool of $6,245,000, which included bounties.
Moneymaker Makes Day 2 Run
ACR ambassador Chris Moneymaker participated in the PKO and made a fairly deep run. The poker legend made Day 2 and finished in 138th place. For that finish, he won $3,441. But the real boon came in the form of bounties, where he accumulated $16,992.
Moneymaker talked about how exciting the PKO format was for him to play:
Playing the Dual Venoms was pure adrenaline from start to finish. Every knockout was super exciting and could change your whole tournament. It was action-packed and full of huge moments, and it’s great to see the Dual Venoms going from strength to strength.
PLO Action
In addition to the NLH PKO, ACR also hosted the pot-limit Omaha PKO Venom, which drew a field of 641 entries. User “PohPohPohPAAAA” won the event for the $135,789 top prize as well as $117,099 in bounties.
The PLO PKO also surpassed its guarantee. The $1.5 million guarantee became $1,602,000 as players flocked to compete in some four-card PKO action.
