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PokerStars Gears Up for Sunday Million Anniversary

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
Jennifer Newell

It comes around once each year. The anniversary of the Sunday Million, PokerStars’ most well-known and respected weekly tournament offering a big guarantee.

On Sunday, March 22 – which is tomorrow – PokerStars will celebrate the 14th anniversary of the Sunday Million with its biggest tournament ever.

And PokerStars is expecting it to be a very big deal.

Special Sunday Million Details

The flagship tournament of PokerStars will be on the calendar as usual, with its $215 buy-in. The difference this weekend is that it will guarantee the prize pool to be at least $12.5 million, with $1 million of that going to the winner.

This will be the biggest guarantee ever offered for a PokerStars online poker tournament and the largest prize pool for any one tournament on PokerStars.

This weekend, the Sunday Million will begin officially at 13:00 ET on Sunday, March 22. For those in the UK, that time is 5pm, though it is 6pm across most of Europe.

But for those who enjoy late registration, this is their tournament. Players can reenter for the first 24 hours. And the tournament will run for two days (obviously).

There are still chances to win seats, which will be available up until the start of the Sunday Million, for as little as $1.

Sunday Million History

The very first Sunday Million happened in 2006, back when PokerStars was open to nearly every country in the world. In 2007, the site held the tournament’s first anniversary. There were 10,508 players in the event with its $1.5 million guarantee, which created a $2,101,600 prize pool.

The tournament’s popularity only grew in the years that followed, so much so that the fifth anniversary in 2011 attracted 59,128 players and created a prize pool of $11,825,600. This one guaranteed at least $1 million for first place and awarded a Lamborghini Gallardo luxury car to the winner, who was Luke “Bdbeatslayer” Vrabel.

Of course, that was just a few weeks before Black Friday forced PokerStars out of the United States, Full Tilt crumbled, and the entire online poker industry was disrupted.

In the past several years, the Sunday Million on the dot-com network has made a comeback. It was a slow road but produced these results:

–6th anniversary in 2012: $6 million guarantee, $6,746,400 prize pool

–7th anniversary in 2013: $7 million guarantee, $9,857,400 prize pool

–8th anniversary in 2014: $8 million guarantee, $9,317,200 prize pool

–9th anniversary in 2015: $9 million guarantee, $10,086,400 prize pool

–10th anniversary in 2016: $10 million guarantee, $11,011,800 prize pool

–11th anniversary in 2017: $10 million guarantee, $11,167,000 prize pool (first time with reentries)

In 2018, the Sunday Million’s 12th anniversary event offered a $10 million guarantee and even offered reentries, but the total entries of 43,975 (including 9,701 reentries) prompted the first overlay in the history of Sunday Million anniversary tournaments.

Last year’s anniversary tournament tried again with the $10 million guarantee. The result was much better, showing 61,342 entries (including 15,413 reentries) and a $12,268,400 prize pool. And it turned out to be the largest Sunday Million tournament and its largest prize pool to date.

 

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