The Winning Poker Network´s Venom absolutely smashed its $5 million guarantee yesterday following a last-minute rush to get involved in the action.
Yesterday was a colossal day of action on the Winning Poker Network as thousands of players attempted to qualify at the last minute for the final opening flight of the Network´s $5 million guaranteed Venom tournament. The volume of traffic not only shattered all expectations, but shattered guarantee after guarantee throughout the day.
Satellites and mega-satellites paid many more seats into the target event than advertised and, in the Steps promotion, some stages were paying six times their guaranteed number of seats into the next Step. Even the freeroll Step 1 games were packed out as players attempted to start their journey to the Venom tournament from scratch.
When qualification finished, an incredible 1,328 players had entered Day 1C of the Venom – more than the previous two days combined. In terms of what the last minute rush did for the prize pool, it raised it from a precarious-looking $5 million to a rather healthy $6,382,500; and while only 351 of the remaining 374 players will cash in the event, the winner will walk away with $1,050,599.
Despite the big turnout for Day 1C of the Venom, Thomas Cannuli remains at the top of the chip counts after his sensational Day 1A. However, more than 150 players have an above average chip stack going into today´s Day 2, and nearly all the field has a chip stack worth twenty-five Big Blinds or more. This event is not going to end quickly and the provisional Day 3 tomorrow will likely be required.
Traffic Raises Prize Money in MOSS and Other Tournaments
Yesterday was also the opening day of the Winning Poker Network´s OSS Cub3d series which kicks off with a week of low buy-in tournaments. Nicknamed the “Mini Online Super Series” (MOSS), the five events in yesterday´s schedule benefitted from the additional traffic on the site to also smash their guarantees – one event more than doubling its guaranteed prize pool.
| MOSS Tournaments Smash Their Guarantees | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Prize Pool |
| MOSS #1 | $5.50 | $20,000 | $24,465 |
| MOSS #2 | $22.00 | $60,000 | $81,220 |
| MOSS #3 | $55.00 | $125,000 | $178,500 |
| MOSS #4 | $2.20 | $3,000 | $3,590 |
| MOSS #5 | $21.00 | $8,000 | $8,320 |
| MOSS #6 | $104.50 | $15,000 | $33,600 |
The knock-on effect of the Venom was felt throughout every tournament played yesterday. From low buy-in events to the biggest high roller events, players flocked to the tables and knocked guarantees out of the park. Even satellites feeding into OSS Cub3d tournaments later in the series were well supported, with many players booking seats for valuable events still on the horizon.
| Regular Tournaments Smash Their Guarantees | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Prize Pool |
| Early High Rollers | $1,050.00 | $200,000 | $299,000 |
| Sunday Warm Up | $109.00 | $150,000 | $247,200 |
| Sunday Special | $215.00 | $125,000 | $190,200 |
| Sunday PLO Special | $215.00 | $35,000 | $54,800 |
| Late High Rollers | $530.00 | $50,000 | $83,000 |
The OSS Cub3d tournament series continues through to August 18th and includes two million dollar guaranteed events on Sunday August 11th and Sunday August 18th which – although not as likely to be as popular as the Venom, will still attract a considerable amount of interest following the successful execution of the Winning Poker Network´s most ambitious project yet.
A $6 Million Venom Event Coming in November?
Last week I suggested a second Venom event may be in the planning stage because of the changed wording to the tournament´s terms and conditions regarding unused entries. Then, on Saturday, the Network´s CEO – Phil Nagy – tweeted that if his Tweet got a thousand retweets by the end of late registration (around 8:30pm last night) he would announce a $6 million Venom event for November.
Ok, I’m not much for buying RT’s but to raise awareness on The Venom this weekend if I can get 1k RT’s between now and Sunday’s close of late reg I will put up the next one end of November with 6 million guaranteed on Monday #lovepoker
— Phillip Nagy (@WPN_CEO) July 19, 2019
Unfortunately, the Tweet didn´t reach the thousand retweet mark, yet I fully expect an announcement later today or following Wednesday´s Final Table. Considering how successful the current tournament has been – and the positive comments the Network has received about its structure – Nagy would be mad to miss a further opportunity to build on the Venom´s success.
