PokerStars Sets Sunday Million Anniversary for March 20

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on February 23rd, 2022

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It’s that time of year again…almost. PokerStars is preparing to celebrate its Sunday Million’s anniversary with a massive guarantee on March 20. The annual event garners attendance from around the world. This year, the Sunday Million has a bit of competition. While the Sunday Million remains a unique event, GGPoker wants to try to steal the spotlight. It set its GGMasters Overlay Edition tournament for the exact same day.

Sixteenth Anniversary

The Sunday Million celebrates its birthday/anniversary each year. PokerStars started the tournament in 2006 and continues to mark each year’s milestone with a special edition of the Sunday Million. The very first of this now-iconic tournament happened in 2006. It started with a $1M guarantee on the prize pool. But, as has become the norm, attendance of 5,893 players boosted the prize pool to $1,178,000.

From there, PokerStars celebrated the tournament each year going forward. As a reminder, here’s a quick rundown of the history those anniversaries.

1^st  anniversary in 2007:  $1.5M GTD, 10,508 players, $2,101,600 prize pool

2^nd in 2008:  $2M GTD, 14,181 players, $2,836,200 prize pool

3^rd in 2009:  $2.5M GTD, 13,267 players, $2,653,400 prize pool

4^th in 2010:  $4M GTD, 36,169 players, $7,233,800 prize pool

5^th in 2011:  $5M GTD, 59,128 players, $11,825,600 prize pool + Lamborghini Gallardo

6^th in 2012:  $6M GTD, 33,732 players, $6,746,400 prize pool

7^th in 2013:  $7M GTD, 49,287 players, $9,857,400 prize pool

8^th in 2014:  $8M GTD, 46,586 players, $9,317,200 prize pool

9^th in 2015:  $9M GTD, 50,432 players, $10,086,400 prize pool

10^th in 2016:  $10M GTD, 55,059 players, $11,011,800 prize pool

11^th in 2017:  $10M GTD, 55,835 entries (first time with reentries), $11,167,000 prize pool

12^th in 2018:  $10M GTD, 43,975 entries, $10M prize pool (first overlay)

13^th in 2019:  $10M GTD, 61,342 entries, $12,268,400 prize pool

14^th in 2020:  $12.5M GTD, 93,016 entries, $18,603,200 prize pool

15^th in 2021: $12.5M GTD, 69,876 entries, $13,975,200 prize pool

Last year’s anniversary was special but made even bigger headlines because of the player who won it. Canadian poker pro Vanessa Kade, who had just a week prior signed on as an ambassador for Americas Cardroom, won the tournament for $1,514,920.

The $1.5M moment. 👇

Congratulations to @VanessaKade on winning the #SundayMillion 15th Anniversary. 👏 pic.twitter.com/F5i2PRrPaK

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) March 23, 2021

This year, the 16^th anniversary is set for Sunday, March 20, 2022. The $215 buy-in tournament will boast of a $10M guarantee.

Satellites for the tournament have been running since January 21 and will continue until the day of the event.

A Coincidence?

A few weeks after PokerStars set the date for its Sunday Million anniversary, GGPoker announced a tournament set for – you’ll never guess – Sunday, March 20. It is the GGMasters Overlay Edition, which will require a $150 buy-in and offer a $5M guarantee.

Of course, the tournament is not identical to the Sunday Million. Its lower buy-in and half-sized guarantee are different, as is the et of three flights. They will all be on the same day but at vastly different times to allow people in various time zones to play.

According to former Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, “There’s no way this tournament is not going to have an overlay!”

Wouldn’t you know, this will also be an anniversary-style tournament, celebrating two years “of the poker world’s richest weekly freezeout tournaments.”

March 20 will be a big day for online poker players in parts of the world where they can play.

👀 https://t.co/gKlTYYXsW5

— GGPoker (@GGPoker) February 14, 2022