Pokerstars Sunday Million

• Pokerstars Sunday Million Anniversary
• Pokerstars Sunday Million Anniversary 2018
• Pokerstars Sunday Million

Following two days of intense action, the PokerStars Sunday Million special 13th anniversary tournament numbers are simply staggering.

All told, 45,929 unique players from around the globe ponied up the $215 buy-in to take their shot at a massive $10 million guaranteed prize pool. Throw in an additional 15,413 reentries and the final field swelled to 61,342, generating an absurd prize pool of $12,268,400 to easily eclipse PokerStars’ ambitious guarantee.

PokerStars Sunday Million The Sunday Million is the world’s biggest weekly poker tournament. With a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and first prize regularly in excess of $100,000, this No Limit Hold’em tournament attracts poker’s best players and is the ultimate way to take your bankroll to new heights! Sunday Million Jason Kirk August 20, 2018 4:40 AM As heads-up play began in this week's Sunday Million, one player with more than $3 million in PokerStars tournament winnings was avenging a ninth-place finish within the last year and guaranteed his biggest cash ever.

That eight-figure tally marked the second-largest tournament ever hosted by PokerStars. In fact, it fell just short of the $12.4 million prize pool awarded in the site’s 10th anniversary celebration of the Sunday Million back in 2011.

At the time, that 2011 Sunday Million was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest online poker tournament of all time. But that record has since been smashed by rival platform PartyPoker, which awarded a prize pool of $21,385,000 in its MILLIONS Main Event late last year.

Ahead of the 13th anniversary Sunday Million, Severin Rasset, director of poker innovation and operations for PokerStars parent company The Stars Group commented on the milestone moment for online poker’s leading provider. Referring to the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament held between April 14-15, Rasset explained:

“We’re thrilled to be a part of this poker milestone, but the credit goes to all of the poker lovers out there who have made the Sunday Million happen nearly every week for the past 13 years, so we hope to see them at the tables on April 14.”

Final Table Recap and Results

Before the most anticipated final table in recent memory kicked off, several well-known pros and PokerStars personalities made deep runs before falling short of the finish line.

The top 10,196 finishers from the sprawling field would make the money to earn a minimum cash. But members of Team PokerStars like Lex “L. Veldhuis” Veldhuis certainly had their sights set on the $1 million guaranteed first-place payout. Unfortunately for Veldhuis – a live streaming sensation on Twitch – his Sunday Million was cut short in 741st place for a $1,345 score.

Martin Jacobson – who famously pocketed $10 million for winning the 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event – guided his “M.nosbocaJ” account to a 500th place finish for $1,582.

As for the final table, play began with nine relative unknowns entering the fray in the following seating arrangement:

13th Anniversary PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Seat Draw and Chip Counts

The “RMarland” account from the U.K. busted “ZoMbiE2808” of Georgia to claim the first final table elimination. However, the Brit fell next to “idzake” of Romania.

The Russian Sergei “sega1989” Shakhov was the next to fall, as “wangli0402” of China sent him to the rail in an A-K over A-J all-in preflop confrontation.

Next to go was “pantherwang2019” of China, whose K-Q lost a coin flip cooler to “idzake” when the flop came down K-Q-3.

At this point, the five remaining players were each guaranteed $250,000 in winnings, with $1 million waiting up top for the winner. But after running an independent chip model (ICM) calculation to see how the remaining prize pool would be split up if they agreed to a chop, all five immediately entered “I Agree” to effectively end the tournament.

The players left $50,000 to play for, and in the end, “wangli0402” wound up winning the last hand to collect every chip in play.

Due to the ICM chop arrangement, however, “t4rz4n_21” of Greece actually won the most money with a $625,073 payout to $611,944 for “wangli0402.”

Check the table below to see how the final nine players stacked up:

13th Anniversary PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results

*Denotes a five-way deal to chop the prize pool based on current chip counts

Sunday Million Sets Standard for Online Poker Tournaments

PokerStars began hosting the Sunday Million tournament and its $1 million guaranteed prize pool on a weekly basis back on March 6 of 2006.

Pokerstars Sunday Million Anniversary

That inaugural edition attracted 5,893 entries to generate a total prize pool of $1,178,600, with Canadian player “aaaaaaaa” claiming the $173,843.50 lion’s share.

All told, PokerStars has paid out more than $750 million in prize money over the course of 600+ Sunday Million events.

Table Of Contents

The PokerStars Sunday Millioncelebrates its 13th anniversary on April 14 and is doing so with a $10 million guaranteed anniversary special edition that has a massive $1 million reserved for the eventual champion.

The First-Ever Sunday Million

You have to go all the way back to March 5, 2006 to find the inaugural Sunday Million. A field of 5,893 players exchanged $215 for the chance to become the first-ever PokerStars Sunday Million champion. That player was “aaaaaaaa” who got their hands on the $173,843 top prize and a place in online poker’s history books.

There have been a grand total of 613 more Sunday Millions since “aaaaaaaa” triumphed in that first-ever tournament. More than 4.8 million players have played in the Sunday Million during that time with the collective prize pools weighing in at over $750 million.

Special editions of the Sunday Million have always proven popular and have broken plenty of records. The Sunday Million 4th Anniversary tournament boasted of a $4 million guarantee, in February 2010. Any fears of not hitting the ambitious guarantee were soon dispelled as 36,169 players bought in to create a monster-sized $7,233,800 prize pool. The aptly named “RichieRichZH” won this particular event and the first seven-figure prize awarded in the Sunday Million, a cool $1,141,510.

The Biggest-Ever Sunday Million

The Sunday Million that took place on Dec. 18, 2011 and broke the record for the largest online poker tournament ever was part of PokerStars's 10th Anniversary celebrations. A field of 62,116 players built a $12,432,200 prize pool, a sum that would hold the record for the best part of seven years. Canada’s Kyle “First-Eagle” Weir was the victor on that occasion, walking away with $1,146,574 after a six-way deal; this is still the biggest prize awarded in the Sunday Million.

With such large fields, usually several thousand but sometimes in the tens of thousands, you would think it would be all but impossible to win the Sunday Million more than once. You’d think wrong.

Danish pro Jesper “KipsterDK” Hougaard had already become the first poker player to win both a World Series of Poker bracelet in Las Vegas and at the WSOP Europe. Then, in May 2009, Hougaard did the unthinkable and became the first two-time Sunday Million champion. Amazingly, 15 other players have emerged victorious in the Sunday Million twice, with one star having won it an unbelievable three times.

Once, Twice, Three Times a Champion

Russia’s Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov took down the Sunday Million in November 2015 after outlasting 5,295 players to secure a $83,675 prize. Less than two years later, in July 2017, Vezhenkov was the last player standing from a field of 5,554 entrants to scoop $166,530. Fast forward to October 2018 and Vezhenkov became the first and only (to date) three-time Sunday Million champion when he triumphed over 5,235 opponents to bank another $141,494. Vezhankov even has a third-place finish in the Sunday Million so was close to being a four-time champion!

This Sunday, April 14, PokerStars is celebrating the 13th anniversary of this fantastic tournament by guaranteeing at least $10 million will be won and reserving $1 million for the tournament’s champion. Although the buy-in for the Sunday Million has dropped recently from $215 to $109, this special edition event sees the return to a $215 buy-in as a nod to the history of the Sunday Million.

Several thousand poker players from all corners of the planet are expected to descend on PokerStars for the $10 million guaranteed event, many of them former Sunday Million champions. Perhaps Vezhenkov can pull a fourth victory out of the hat, or maybe it will be your name adorning the PokerNews pages on April 15 having been crowned the latest Sunday Million conqueror. Who will join Sunday Million's long and illustrious history this Sunday?

Pokerstars Sunday Million Anniversary 2018

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Pokerstars Sunday Million

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