Michael Loncar to Take On $6 Million Venom Steps Challenge

Californian pro player and poker coach Michael Loncar believes he can succeed where others have failed by winning multiple Venom tickets worth $2,650 for free.

Prior to last month´s Venom tournament, one of the Winning Poker Network´s pro players – Thomas Cannuli – was challenged to win three seats in the event starting at the freeroll level of the Network´s Steps promotion. Cannuli failed to complete his challenge – not even managing to win one ticket. He ultimately had to buy directly into the Venom, where he finished a creditable 105th for $10,850.

Although Cannuli wasn´t successful, his efforts have inspired another pro player – Michael Loncar – to start his own challenge. Loncar believes that, with three months to go until the start of the next Venom tournament, he can succeed where Cannuli failed and possibly win as many as four seats. All of his attempts will be live streamed, and his results posted on his Instagram page.

What Does the Venom Steps Challenge Consist Of?

The Venom Steps Challenge consist of a six stage Steps program feeding into a final satellite for the $6 million guaranteed Venom tournament starting on Wednesday November 27th. The first Step consists of a freeroll tournament that runs every two hours and guarantees fifty seats into Step 2. Thereafter, Steps 2 to 6 are “On Demand” tournaments that start when a certain number of players have registered.

In addition to the above, there is a “paid-for” Step 1 (buy-in $0.25) that feeds into Step 2, and three “Skip Steps” at Steps 2, 3, and 4 that allow players to accelerate their journey through the challenge by missing out Steps (i.e. a Skip Step 2 awards seats in Step 4). Naturally these On Demand stages require more players to start and they don´t guarantee as many seats into the target Step.

For Loncar´s challenge, he won´t be able to take advantage of the paid-for Step 1 or the Skip Steps; although he has the option of using a Step 6 ticket (if he gets that far) to enter a Sunday afternoon scheduled satellite that guarantees five seats in the target event. Nonetheless, Loncar is pretty confident – inviting followers on Twitter to guess how many seats he will win.

I’m gonna start the Loncar Challenge on Tuesday and try to get $2,650 Venom tickets from the freerolls on @ACR_POKER. The Venom starts in almost exactly 3 months. How many tickets should I challenge myself to win from the daily freerolls?? ?

— Michael Loncar (@Michael_Loncar) August 26, 2019

Could You Take On The Venom Steps Challenge?

The Venom Steps Challenge is free to enter for any player with an account at Americas Cardroom or Black Chip Poker – you don´t even have to make a deposit to take part in the challenge. However, if you fund your account, you will be eligible for a 100% bonus on your first deposit (or 200% if you fund your account with cryptocurrency) plus get up to $50 in free poker money for the first twenty days after funding your account and be invited to play in up to four freeroll tournaments with $250 in prize money.

Also if you fund your account, you will able to take part in the High Five tournament series that gets underway on Tuesday September 10th. The series has more than $5 million in guaranteed prize pools over one hundred tournaments; and, by playing in the series, you will gain a better understanding of the standard of play on the Network – which could work in your favor if you intend qualifying for the $6 million guaranteed Venom in November.

So, will Michael Loncar complete his challenge? More importantly, can you beat the Venom Steps Challenge and be in with a chance of taking down the $1 million Venom first prize when the event reaches its conclusion on December 11th? You will only find out by playing at Americas Cardroom or Black Chip Poker; but hurry – there´s only three months to do until the first of four Day 1s gets underway on Wednesday November 27th.