News ACR Poker Heads Into Final Venom Weekend With Back-to-Back Flights Owen Gaines Owen Gaines is a professional poker player and author who has played an estimated ten million hands and written four poker strategy books. August 28, 2026 The $15 million Dual Mystery Bounty Venoms have two starting opportunities left, with an added Saturday flight followed by the final Day 1 on Sunday. The final weekend of ACR Poker’s $15 million Dual Mystery Bounty Venoms now comes with back-to-back chances to reach Day 2. The newly added Saturday, August 29 Bonus Flight begins at 12:05 p.m. ET, followed by the final scheduled Day 1 at the same time on Sunday, August 30. Both flights run simultaneously in the $12 million guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty Venom and $3 million guaranteed Pot-Limit Omaha Mystery Bounty Venom, with a $2,650 buy-in for each event. Saturday’s extra flight gives players one more opportunity than originally scheduled to qualify, while Sunday remains the last call. Players who have already advanced can also enter another Day 1 and combine their qualifying stacks for Day 2. Through the first seven flights, the NLH Venom has recorded 3,072 entries, with 349 players securing a Day 2 stack. The PLO event has drawn 781 entries and sent 91 players through. With the guarantees still well ahead of the current fields, the closing weekend is shaping up to offer significant potential overlay value—although the final numbers will not be known until registration closes. Saturday Adds a Bonus Shot and $355K in Venom Specials The new Saturday Bonus Flight puts both Venoms back in the lobby at 12:05 p.m. ET. Players can choose between the familiar two-card chaos of the $12 million NLH Venom and the four-card volatility of the $3 million PLO Venom. Either way, the goal is the same: build a stack, survive the flight and return for Day 2 already in the money. Saturday also brings $355,000 in guaranteed Venom Specials, giving players more options before, during and after the two headline flights. That supporting schedule makes the added day useful even for players who are not taking the full $2,650 shot. Qualifying once does not end the stack-building opportunity. Players may advance through multiple flights, with their qualifying chips combined into one Day 2 stack. For anyone who already has a seat, Saturday can be less about survival and more about arriving at the bounty phase with extra ammunition. Sunday Is the Final Day 1—and the End of Venom Fever Sunday brings the final starting opportunity for both Dual Mystery Bounty Venoms. The last NLH and PLO Day 1s begin at 12:05 p.m. ET on August 30. Once late registration closes, there will be no more chances to qualify or add to an existing stack. The supporting schedule is at its biggest on Sunday, with 13 Venom Specials carrying $2.34 million in combined guarantees. The lineup is part of the broader Venom Specials schedule, which features 91 tournaments and $10.16 million in guarantees across its original seven dates. Sunday is also the final day of Venom Fever, closing the qualification promotion that guaranteed more than 1,500 Venom seats. That leaves players with two basic choices: pay the full buy-in or try to win a seat before the qualification window shuts. PORKNOMAR and Winkyface1984 Set the Pace The current NLH chip lead belongs to PORKNOMAR, who has accumulated 8,606,067 chips, equal to approximately 215 big blinds. The leading NLH players remain closely packed, leaving plenty of room for the order to change once the final two flights are added. The PLO race looks very different. Winkyface1984 holds a commanding lead with 17,037,699 chips, or approximately 608 big blinds. That is a serious cushion, even in a format where one four-card collision can turn a comfortable session into a small electrical fire. The final weekend still gives new qualifiers a chance to enter with a competitive stack, while returning players can use the two remaining flights to close the gap. Day 2 Brings the Money and Mystery Bounties Reaching Day 2 does more than keep the tournament alive. Every returning player is already in the money, and that is when ACR Poker’s Mystery Bounty format activates. The NLH event features a $500,000 top Mystery Bounty, while PLO offers a top bounty of $250,000. Every successful Day 2 knockout is guaranteed to reveal a bounty worth at least $5,000. That makes every extra chip collected during the final weekend especially valuable. A larger stack improves a player’s chances of running deep and creates more opportunities to cover opponents once the bounty hunt begins. Day 2 starts Monday, August 31 at 1:05 p.m. ET. The NLH field continues to Day 3 on Tuesday, September 1 at 1:05 p.m. ET, while PLO moves directly from Day 2 to its final table. Both tournaments are scheduled to conclude on Wednesday, September 2 at 4:05 p.m. ET. There are two flights left, two Venoms to choose from and no more room on the calendar for “maybe next time.” Open the ACR Poker client, pick NLH or PLO and take your final-weekend shot.