Poker : Pokerstars Sunday Tournaments

PokerStars is the world’s largest online poker site. While there are many things to love about PokerStars such as their generous VIP program, industry leading player volumes, wide selection of games offerings and much more, one of the many areas that makes them famous is their Sunday Tournaments. Of course PokerStars offers tournaments 24/7/365 with new ones starting literally every minute, but none are more rewarding or more prestigious than PokerStars Sunday Tournaments, often called the Sunday Majors. In this article we’ll give a breakdown of the top tournaments held each and every Sunday at PokerStars.

PokerStars Sunday Millions The Sunday Millions is the most prestigious online poker tournament. This event was first introduced to PokerStars on March 5, 2006 and has been held every Sunday at 16:30 since. The first ever Sunday Millions had 5,893 entrant and was won by Daryl Jace from Massachusetts (user name: ‘aaaaaaaa’) who picked up $173,844 for his first place finish. This was the second major win for Jace who is often credited as a two-time Sunday Millions winner. While technically true his first victory came in October 4, 2004 in a Sunday tournament which was a precursor to the Sunday millions, that tournament had 2,161 entrants for a $432,200 prize pool and ‘aaaaaaaa’ picked up $90,762 for the win.

Daryl ‘aaaaaaaa’ Jace is not the only player who is mistakenly credit for multiple Sunday Million victories. Three other players won it two times with at least one of their victories coming prior to March 5, 2006. These players were Mike Goodman (anakinso), Hans Winzeler (miamihans) and (if you believe him) Carlos Mortensen who claims to have won it on back to back in 2004. While there are four players incorrectly credited as multi-time Sunday Millions winners there are in fact two legit multiple Sunday Million winners. On May 29, 2009 Jesper Hougaard (KipsterDK) became the first player to win multiple Sunday millions titles.

In April 2008 Hougaard won $272,133 for his first Sunday Millions title and for his second he earned a bit less pocketing $206,834 for his efforts. Interesting to note in 2008 Hougaard won a bracelet both in the WSOP and WSOPE series becoming the first player to win a bracelet on both sides of the Atlantic. On January 25, 2010 Juan Antonio Barros (Vietcong01) became the second two time Sunday Millions winner receiving $255,954.00. His first Sunday Millions victory was on July 8, 2007 where he topped 6,821 entrants to pocket $192,352.

Win a Seat at the Sunday Millions The Sunday Millions takes place each and every Sunday at 16:30 ET. The cost to buy-in direct is $200+$15.00, but even if you don’t have that sort of bankroll to gamble with you can still get a seat. PokerStars runs hundreds of satellites each week starting at $2.20 buy-in (or 400 FPP) making it possible for even a micro limit player to get a seat into this event. Also if you enjoy sit and goes, while it is not heavily advertised PokerStars allows Step 4 tickets to be used for entry into the Sunday Millions in lieu of playing Step 4. It’s possible to progress your way through the ranks starting at Step 1 ($7.50 buy-in) and once you reach Step 4 use that for a Sunday Millions seat. For your chance at poker stardom, get started playing online at PokerStars.

Sunday Warm Up Tournament The Sunday Warm Up was introduced to PokerStars on November 19, 2006. The inaugural event had 644 entrants and was won by Eric Crane (Jackz101) from Illinois, USA. Over the years this tournament has grown considerably in size and now packs a $750K guaranteed prize-pool and an average field size of 2,729 players. As is the case with the Sunday Millions players can satellite into this event for as little as $2.20 or 400FPP and can also use Step 4 tickets to enter. The tournament starts every Sunday at 13:00 ET, direct buy-in cost $200+$15.

Other Sunday Major Tournaments While Sunday Millions and Sunday Warm Up are the most prestigious Sunday tournaments held at PokerStars there are three others part of Sunday Majors lineup which while not holding the same level of prestige do carry massive prize pools. Those tournaments are as follows:

Sunday 1/4 Million: This tournament just an $11 buy-in but packs a hefty $250,000 guaranteed prize making it the ideal tournament for players of all bankroll sizes. The Sunday 1/4 Million starts every Sunday at 15:30 ET.

Sunday 500: For players who have a larger bankroll and prefer smaller fields than what the Sunday Millions offers the Sunday 500 is the ideal tournament to play. This $500+$30 buy-in tournament starts every Sunday at 17:00 ET and packs a $500K guaranteed prize pool.

Sunday Second Chance: For players who find themselves unlucky in the Sunday Millions there is still a chance for a big score. Every Sunday at 18:30 the $200+$15 buy-in Sunday Second Chance tournament starts. This event has a $200,000 guaranteed prize-pool making it the perfect way to close out the weekend. Once again, there are low buy-in satellites to all Sunday Majors. Even if you have a limited sized bankroll you can still get into the action and win some big money playing online at PokerStars.  

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