BabyBowser Wins $1,514,000 After Triumphing in The $10 Million Venom

The record-breaking $10M GTD The Venom on the Winning Poker Network (Americas Cardroom, PokerKing) has come to an end on the night of August 4th-5th after seven heated days of play. This event was particularly notable since both the winner and the runner-up walked away with seven-figure numbers joining the exclusive “Millionaire Club”. For the first time in its history, it was held with an overlay ($175,000) and the triumph was celebrated by a US player with the name “BabyBowser” with $1,514,000 in prize money.

Who is “BabyBowser”?

There is not much info on the internet about this player, however, it is safe to say that “BabyBowser” is a regular poker player. This player has participated in over 21 thousand tournaments at WPN in one and a half years with an average buy-in of $80. The total profit of “BabyBowser” is currently at $104,455, but it has been steadily declining since the end of 2020. Judging by this player’s nickname, we can assume that “BabyBowser” is a gamer (his name belongs to a character in the Mario universe) and enjoys consoles besides poker.

The Final Table

The final table of The Venom $10M GTD was dominated by the players from the American continent, as expected. However, one of the two remaining European players, “Sw33ney”, was able to advance to the final as a chip leader and take 2nd place in the tournament. Here is a brief overview of the order in which the players were knocked out:

• Felipe “Ketzerfelipe” Ketzer – $130,000 (Brazil) – Was knocked out during the first hand by the British player “TALKINABOOT?” with suited JT against his pocket queens.
• Tommy “BTCBlade” Chen – $185,000 (US) – After losing most of his stack against “BabyBowser”, was eliminated by “TALKINABOOT?” with KK against his 44 after going all-in on preflop.
• “Cruel” – $265,000 (Canada) – The Canadian played very tight and pushed A6 hearts from the button after his stack reached 10BB. Was knocked out by “BabyBowser” who took on him with pocket tens.
• Eduardo “M CUNHA G” Silva – $375,000 (Brazil) – After pushing from the button and betting all of his chips with 88 in response to the open-raise of “BabyBowser” was knocked out by an American when his AK caught the needed ace on the river.
• “Lordfish” – $504,000 (Canada) – Had the 2nd largest stack at the final table, but lost most of it by the second half. Was knocked out with A7 against his 66 by “BabyBowser” making it his third knockout in a row. The American players got the needed ace on the turn and the river.
• “TALKINABOOT?” – $694,000 (Great Britain) – Started the final table with the smallest stack but was able to reach 3rd place. Was knocked out by “BabyBowser” with AQ against 99 that helped get a three of a kind on the flop.

Heads-Up

As a surprise to most of the fans, the large stacks during heads-up (95 vs 53 BB) did not cause a lengthy battle. The whole matchup lasted a little more than 20 minutes.

First, Ronan “Sw33ney” Sweeney lost more than half of his chips in two hands without a showdown, surrendering to the opponent’s re-raises, before handing up a large pot to the American, who only grabbed the third pair with Q5.
The final hand was quite dramatic as well. “BabyBowser” check raised all-in with K6 with a big heads-up chip lead against sw33ney and K623 on the board. Sw33ney, who had pocket aces, followed the lead and boldly placed all of his chips into the pot. Despite a pointless 4 on the river, “BabyBowser” was proclaimed champion, with his two pair edging his opponent’s AA. Sw33ney nevertheless went away with a tidy sum of $1,015,200 for second place.

As a result, a US regular known as “BabyBowser” became the winner of The Venom $10M GTD, with a total prize of $1,514,000. Ronan “Sw33ney” Sweeney became the tournament’s second millionaire with a total prize amounting to $1,015,000.

New Records and First Overlay

The Venom $10M GTD is the network’s largest tournament so far gathering a record-breaking 3,940 entries with 576 players cashing in the $2,650 buy-in. It also featured a record prize pool of $9,825,000 with a modest overlay of $175,000 giving participants some extra value. As of 2021, The Venom of the American Winning Network remains the largest MTT event for US poker players online in two formats – classic and PKO.