PokerStars Sunday Million Overview

The PokerStars Sunday Million is the largest regular poker tournament on the internet by a long shot. With a guaranteed prize pool of at least $1,500,000, someone takes home a first place prize of $225,000 or more every single Sunday.

Its $215 buyin might be steep by some standards but it’s not too bad considering the prize pool is never less than a million and a half dollars. And even if $215 is too much of a strain on the bankroll, there are still satellite tournaments that run every day with entry fees that go as low as a few Frequent Player Points (FPPs).

Sunday Million Quick Stats

When
Every Sunday at 16:30 ET (21:30 GMT)

Buyin
$215

Prize Pool
$1,500,000+

1st Place Prize
$225,000+

Average # Entrants
About 7500

Starting Chips
10,000

Top Places Paid
1st through 1080th (Note – this can vary based on # of entrants)

Satellites
Buyins start at just a few dollars or FPPs

Length of Time
About 9 hours from beginning to end

Sunday Million Prize Money

The first place finisher in the Sunday Million isn’t the only person to win life changing money at this event. Here is the payout structure for the final table from a recent tournament:

1st:             $225,000
2nd:           $165,555
3rd:            $120,000
4th:            $79,500
5th:            $61,500
6th:            $46,500
7th:            $32,250
8th:            $18,000
9th:            $11,625

Get Started Now

Visit PokerStars to download the software and create an account. When you make your first deposit, use the bonus code Stars600 to get up to $600 free. After that, you can buy in directly or play at any of PokerStars’ many satellite tournaments.

Satellite Tournaments

If you don’t want to pony up $215, there are plenty of smaller tournaments out there that give away free entries to the Sunday Million in the place of normal cash prizes.

Open the PokerStars software and click on the “Tourney” tab to see a list of tournaments. Inside there, click on the “Satellite” sub-tab to see a list of all upcoming satellite tournaments.

More about satellite tournaments

Satellite tournament strategy

Deal Making

One of the reasons PokerStars is the king of tournaments is because it was the first poker site to include a deal-making feature in its software. If any of the players at the final table decide to cut a deal instead of playing all the way to the end, they may set the terms and the software will automatically divvy up the prize money.

Anyone can make a deal at the final table but the players must always leave at least $30,000 in prize money in play. This way the tournament never ends without a final champion.

Basic Sunday Million Strategy

The biggest difference between the Sunday Million and most online poker tournaments is how many starting chips you get. With 10,000 in starting chips, this is one of the deepest tournaments you’ll find anywhere.

The key to playing in deep stacked tournaments is to focus on making smart post-flop decisions. Pre-flop decisions are still important but post-flop skills are crucial. In a deep-stacked tournament, you have to be able to fold after the flop if things don’t look good.

In middle and late position, small pocket pairs can be a blessing if the pot odds are right. The big stack sizes make it worth limping in occasionally in the hopes of hitting a set and breaking someone.

You should also be more cautious about going all in before the flop with deep stacks. Unless you’re up against a maniac, the only hands you should be willing to get all in with are AA and KK.

More tournament strategy

Other Big Sunday Tournaments

You would think PokerStars would be satisfied to have the biggest Sunday poker tournament in the world but that’s not the case. In addition to the Sunday Million, PokerStars also runs the following two tournaments:

Sunday Second Chance

The Sunday Second Chance has a buyin of $215 and it has a guaranteed prize pool of $250,000. You can find it at PokerStars every Sunday at 18:30 ET.

Sunday Warm-Up

The Sunday Warm up has a $750,000 guaranteed prize pool and it runs every Sunday at 12:45 ET. The buyin is still just $215.

Visit PokerStars now