Winning one big Sunday tournament is a good week. Winning the same one twice in a row is rare enough to draw attention. A player using the screen name kingqueensuited has taken down the $1,050 Venom Special Sunday Banana at Americas Cardroom on October 4 and October 11, 2026, banking $96,336.64 and $108,320.79 for a combined $204,657.43, according to GamblingNews. The back-to-back result is the headline, but the same report offers a detailed snapshot of how ACR's biggest weekly tournaments and its Venom series are performing, which is worth unpacking for anyone who plays on the Winning Poker Network.
The Back-to-Back Wins
The October 11 Sunday Banana was a $1,050 buy-in event with a $500,000 guarantee. It drew 502 entries, producing a $502,000 prize pool, just $2,000 above the guarantee. The top three were:
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | kingqueensuited | $108,320.79 |
| 2 | TruthHurts | $78,912.39 |
| 3 | LionHeart93 | $57,606.00 |
The previous Sunday's win paid $96,336.64. Taking two first prizes in successive weeks from fields of this size is statistically unlikely. If we assume, for simplicity, that every entrant had an equal chance, the odds of a particular player winning one 502-entry event are about one in 502, and of winning two in a row about one in 252,000. Skill clearly shifts those numbers, and a regular at this stake level will have far better odds than a random entrant, but the point stands: this is a very good fortnight.
A few details are worth noting. The winner's share of the pool was about 21.6 percent ($108,320.79 divided by $502,000), which is a relatively flat payout structure for a tournament with a six-figure first prize. And the prize pool is only slightly above the guarantee. With 502 entries at $1,050, gross buy-ins were $527,100, so roughly 95 percent of buy-ins reached the prize pool. A field only a few entries smaller would have produced an overlay. High-priced Sunday tournaments with large guarantees are always on the edge of their numbers, which is good news for players when they fall short.
The Rest of the Sunday Lineup
The report details other big Sunday events at ACR:
- $630 VSpecial Sunday High Roller ($600,000 GTD): 1,025 entries, $615,000 prize pool. JAMERECIA won $118,989.89 and soappalled took second place for $87,208.84. The winner's share of the pool was about 19.3 percent.
- $109 Sunday Moneymaker ($300,000 GTD): 2,735 entries. HanSolo47 won $48,765, dirty630 took $35,514.60 for second, and MeetJoeBlack earned $25,925.70 in third.
The GamblingNews article also states a combined figure for the top three finishers across these events, but the numbers it gives for the Moneymaker winners do not add up to the total it quotes, so we have not repeated that total here. The individual payouts above are as reported.
The picture is of a Sunday programme with entries that range from roughly 500 at $1,050 to nearly 2,800 at $109, a pattern that reflects how field sizes shrink as buy-ins rise. If you are choosing between these events, our tournaments hub and our bankroll management guide help match stakes to the number of buy-ins you can afford to lose.
Venom Day 1C: Qualifier Rates
The same report covers the dual Venom series, ACR's flagship tournament pair, which run as multi-flight events with a Day 2 qualification system.
$5 million GTD NLH Venom PKO. Day 1C drew 496 entries and produced 63 Day 2 qualifiers. Across flights A to C there were 1,205 entries and 175 qualifiers, with owens9397 holding the cumulative chip lead at 336.99 big blinds.
$1.5 million GTD PLO Venom. Day 1C had 142 entries and 17 qualifiers. Cumulatively, flights A to C had 359 entries and 42 qualifiers, with LawyerDad68 leading at 458.61 big blinds.
The qualification rates are interesting. In the NLH PKO, 175 of 1,205 entries (about 14.5 percent) reached Day 2 after three flights. In the PLO event, 42 of 359 (about 11.7 percent) did. Those percentages show how selective the Day 1 flights are: most entries do not survive, so a re-entry strategy is built into the economics. The report notes that these are qualifying stacks waiting for Day 2, not completed restart results. Both Venoms had two remaining flights, on October 15 and October 18, with Day 2 beginning October 19. Direct entry was $2,650 per Venom.
The outcome of the NLH Venom PKO has since been reported: see our coverage of PushLightYear's $536,577 Venom win for how the event finished.
Paradise Packages Keep Flowing
Another item in the report is the $1,050 Paradise Mega, which drew 148 entries and awarded seven $30,000 packages. Each package includes a $26,000 Super Main Event entry and accommodation at SLS Baha Mar. The next Mega, guaranteeing seven packages, was scheduled for October 18.
This connects to the WSOP Paradise series in the Bahamas, which we have covered in our WSOP Paradise 2026 schedule guide. With 148 entries at $1,050, gross buy-ins were $155,400, against seven packages worth $210,000 at face value, which means the satellite structure is generous relative to its buy-ins, though the real value depends on whether a player would otherwise have bought into the $26,000 event. Package value to a winner is therefore high, but the buy-in leverage varies by player. If a seat is not something you would otherwise buy, it is worth comparing the package with the cash alternative before you play.
What This Says About ACR's Tournament Health
This snapshot suggests a few things about the Winning Poker Network's flagship room:
- Fields at the top end are stable. A $1,050 tournament with 502 entries and a $630 tournament with 1,025 entries are healthy numbers for a US-facing offshore room.
- Guarantees are tight. Several events finished close to their guarantees, which means there is little overlay for players but also little risk that the room is losing money on them.
- Qualifier structures create leverage. The Paradise Mega and the Venom Day 1 flights give players routes into larger events at lower upfront cost.
For context on how ACR's wider series have performed this autumn, our coverage of the Online Super Series XL shows that the room ran 336 events with more than $50 million guaranteed in September. Players who want to compare the network with others can see our poker networks guide and our Americas Cardroom review. For anyone planning to try ACR, our rakeback page explains how loyalty and rake-based rewards work.
What This Means for Players
Guarantee-hunting is a legitimate strategy. When fields come in close to the guarantee, overlay can occur. Checking registration counts before late registration closes is a simple way to look for value, though you should not assume an overlay will appear.
Big-field Sundays are high variance. Even a strong player has a small chance of winning any single event. Treat a back-to-back win like kingqueensuited's as an outlier, not a benchmark. Our poker strategy hub covers how to build a sustainable tournament approach.
Understand the format. PKO and Venom-style structures reward different skills than freezeouts. If you plan to enter a Day 1 flight, understand how restarts, bounties and qualification work before you register.
Check the legal position where you live. ACR serves US players under an offshore licence; our US poker guide and safe poker sites page explain the risks and what to check.
Summary
Back-to-back Sunday Bananas are a rare feat, and kingqueensuited's $204,657.43 over two weeks puts the player among the more notable online results this autumn. For everyone else, the more useful lessons lie in the numbers behind the result: tight guarantees, selective Day 1 flights and satellite packages that can turn a $1,050 buy-in into a $30,000 prize.