ACR Poker has launched a weekly MTT leaderboard open only to US-registered accounts, and it started on October 12, 2026. The top 10 players each week share $6,195 in Sunday tournament tickets, awarded on Friday. For regular American grinders on the Winning Poker Network, it is a free overlay on top of tournaments you may already be playing. This guide explains the rules, the qualifying events, the points formula, and how to decide whether chasing the board is worth it.
How the leaderboard works
Players earn points from Monday through Thursday in designated tournaments. Only events marked with a US flag in the ACR client count toward the leaderboard, so check the lobby before you register. You are not required to enter every qualifying event, which means you can choose based on start times and bankroll.
At the end of the week, the top 10 finishers receive Sunday tournament tickets worth $6,195 in total. Tickets are awarded on Friday and must be used on the first Sunday after they are credited to your account. Unused tickets expire at midnight ET that Sunday. That expiry matters: if you win a package and cannot play on Sunday, the tickets are worthless.
The ten qualifying tournaments
The lineup is built around evening tournaments, with start times between 6:15 and 9:45 PM ET. The listed events are:
- 6:15 PM: The Loncar Daily Double, $55 buy-in, $20,000 guaranteed
- 6:15 PM: The Boski Daily Double, $11 buy-in, $7,500 guaranteed
- 6:45 PM: The Loncar Daily Double, $55 buy-in, $20,000 guaranteed
- 6:45 PM: The Boski Daily Double, $11 buy-in, $7,500 guaranteed
- 7:05 PM: PKO, $33 buy-in, $10,000 guaranteed
- 7:15 PM: PKO, $88 buy-in, $10,000 guaranteed
- 7:30 PM: PKO, $16.50 buy-in, $6,000 guaranteed
- 8:15 PM: $109 buy-in, $15,000 guaranteed
- 8:45 PM: Mystery Bounty Turbo, $33 buy-in, $5,000 guaranteed
- 9:45 PM: PKO Hyper, $21 buy-in, $4,000 guaranteed
The buy-ins run from $11 to $109, so the board is accessible to recreational players as well as regulars. Several events run in two time slots, which gives you a second chance on the same day if you bust early or cannot register for the first one.
The points formula
Points are calculated as the square root of the prize pool divided by the square root of your finishing position. That formula has two consequences. Larger prize pools earn more points, and higher finishes earn more points, but the relationship is not linear. As an example, a $10,000 prize pool with a fourth-place finish earns 50 points: the square root of 10,000 is 100, the square root of 4 is 2, and 100 divided by 2 is 50.
Because of the square roots, a win in a $20,000 event is worth more than a win in a $7,500 event, but not by the same ratio as the guarantees. Finishing first in a $10,000 prize pool earns 100 points, while finishing ninth earns about 33. A deep run in a bigger pool therefore beats a min-cash in a smaller one, though a single big score is not enough on its own to guarantee a top-10 position over four days.
Worth noting is that a prize pool is what counts, not the buy-in. A tournament that overshoots its guarantee yields more points than one that merely meets it, so fields that run big on a given night help whoever cashes there.
The prize structure
The weekly prizes are tiered:
- 1st place: $1,294 in tickets, including all 10 Sunday tickets.
- 2nd to 5th: $664 each, with all tickets except the $630 Sunday HR.
- 6th to 10th: $449 each, with all tickets except the Sunday HR and the $215 Sunday Special.
The Sunday events eligible for tickets include the Sunday Splash ($11, $50,000 guaranteed), Major Mash up MB ($66, $80,000), Sunday HR ($630, $500,000), Sunday Special ($215, $200,000), Sunday Moneymaker ($109, $300,000), Sunday Smash ($22, $75,000), Mini-Special ($55, $75,000), Pardy Time PKO ($33, $30,000), The Encore MB ($109, $75,000) and Curtain Call MB ($44, $40,000). Only first place gets the Sunday HR ticket, and the Sunday Special ticket is limited to places one through five.
Is the leaderboard worth chasing?
The answer depends on your volume and your edge. The total weekly pool is $6,195, which is modest compared with ACR's big guarantees. Ten players share it, which means the average winner takes home about $620 in tickets. Tickets are not cash: you can only use them in Sunday events, and they expire.
Where the board adds value is for players who already fire several of these tournaments every night. For them, the leaderboard is effectively free rakeback on events they would play anyway. The qualifying buy-ins are small, so the marginal cost of an extra entry is low. See our guide to rakeback and what is rakeback for how to compare these extras with standing rewards.
For a recreational player who enters one event a week, the odds of cracking the top 10 are slim, because the points formula rewards volume and deep runs. You may still enjoy the extra reason to register. Keep expectations realistic and treat any ticket you win as a bonus.
Strategy: how to approach a points race
Points races reward a particular style. First, volume matters. The more qualifying events you play from Monday to Thursday, the more chances you have to run deep. Plan your bankroll so that the extra entries do not put you at risk of ruin; our bankroll management guide explains how many buy-ins to hold for tournament play.
Second, deep runs matter more than min-cashes. The formula divides by the square root of your finishing position, so the gap between first and fifth is large. In PKO and mystery bounty events, that argues for patience in the early stage and aggression when the field thins, as the knockout structure pays out along the way. Check our tournament strategy resources and ICM explainer if you need a refresher on late-stage decisions.
Third, watch the late slots. The 9:45 PM PKO Hyper is a $21 buy-in with a $4,000 guarantee and a fast structure. Hypers play quickly, so you can squeeze in an extra entry at the end of the night if you are close to a spot on the board.
Fourth, plan for Sunday. If you finish in the top 10, you will want to be available for your Sunday ticket events. Block the time in advance, because the tickets expire at midnight ET.
What it says about ACR's US strategy
The launch of a leaderboard open only to US-registered accounts is a notable choice. US players are ACR's core market, and the room has regularly built promotions around them. A US-only board gives American grinders a smaller pool of rivals than a worldwide leaderboard would, which improves their chances. It also matches the broader promotional push around the room's big series, which you can follow on our Americas Cardroom review and our bonus page.
If you are comparing sites for the US market, check our list of US poker sites and our network guide for how WPN stacks up. For anyone testing the leaderboard in its first weeks, track your results across a few weeks before deciding whether the volume is worth it. A leaderboard that costs you extra entries but rarely pays is simply a tax on your bankroll.
Bottom line
ACR's weekly US leaderboard is a small but real extra for volume players: ten events, four evenings, a clear square-root points formula, and $6,195 in Sunday tickets for the top 10. Read the lobby flags, plan your entries, protect your bankroll and make sure you can use any tickets you win.