Since 2006, PokerStars’ Sunday Million has been one of the biggest tournaments in online poker. The weekly event is soon celebrating 15 years of million-dollar prize pools on March 21.
To mark the occasion, the site has some bg plans including a $12.5 million guaranteed prize pool. That’s quite a step up from that first event, which paid out $1.2 million.
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Huge prize pool for anniversary Sunday Millions
For many, the Sunday Million has become synonymous with online poker. When the tournament debuted, PokerStars became the first site to offer a regularly featured tournament with a $1 million guarantee.
Players had a shot each Sunday at a massive payday for only $215. The tournament has continued to grow through the years and still remains extremely popular.
All players on the PokerStars international site can buy in for the usual $215. However, qualifiers are already underway. Players can also win their way into the anniversary tournament for free.
PokerStars will be giving away more than $500,000 in tournament tickets beginning March 8. Final details on those plans haven’t been announced yet, but will be soon.
Looking back at a huge 2020 Sunday Million win
Last year’s 14th anniversary event also featured a $12.5 million guarantee and proved to be quite a story. Brazil’s Alex “AAAArthur” Brito came out on top and scored $1.1 million after a four-way deal.
That event attracted 60,897 players and 93,015 total entries for a final prize pool of $18.6 million. That became the biggest Sunday Million ever.
The 38-year-old married father of two from São Paulo lost his job about six months before the tournament. The win was perfect timing.
What made Brito’s win even more amazing was that he qualified for only $4. A recreational player who usually enjoys microstakes, he’s been playing on PokerStars since 2011.
After winning the $4 qualifier, he went on to win an $11 satellite to earn his spot in the tournament. After that, he just kept progressing through the tournament, surprising himself a bit but gaining confidence.
“Each pay jump I got, I felt more and more confident in my game,” he says. “At the same time, I was nervous to know that I was close to changing my family life completely.”
Winning the tournament became an ultimate dream come true. He worked as a business manager before losing his job and the win was great timing. It didn’t even seem real at first, he says.
“To be honest, it took me a little time to really understand what happened,” he says. “I can only say that it’s a dream that I’m living. I got the big hit that every poker player wants.
“I’m an example of an aspiring poker player, a recreational player who could change his own life and his family’s life thanks to poker.”[cta id=1754 type=cta]
Plenty of action underway at PokerStars
Players have a big event to look forward to with the anniversary Sunday Million. However, three has been plenty of big tournament action recently at PokerStars.
The Blowout Series paid out $93.6 million in January, topping the guarantee of $60 million. More big events are also planned throughout February.
The 50/50 Series began Sunday, running through Feb. 7 and featuring $6.2 million in total guarantees. All events feature a buy-in of only $50 and the Main Event comes with a $1 million guarantee.
Players on the PokerStars Southern Europe platform (France, Spain, and Portugal) also can get in on the action with the MicroMillions running through Feb. 11. That series features a $3 million guarantee.
MicroMillions also runs on PokerStars Italy at the same time with a €2 million guarantee. For a preview and schedules of all these series, click here.
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