Brazilian player CrossBreed17 wins Sunday Million Anniversary 18 and $1 million
Join us as we celebrate the 18th edition of the Sunday Million Anniversary.
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Here’s all you need to know about the Sunday Million Anniversary 18
CrossBreed17 wins Sunday Million Anniversary and $1,000,000
The dreams of thousands of players ended for another year this week. But for one player, every dream came true.
The Sunday Million Anniversary event – the 18th in its illustrious record – came to a finish, won for the second year in a row by a Brazilian player.
That player was CrossBreed17, who emerged from a gruelling 90-minute heads up battle to win a first prize of $1,000,000.
Sunday Melon finished in second place, for a not-bad-at-all runners up prize of $733.959.80.
If you’re thinking podium, FcProto10 finished third, collecting $526,523.20.
Huge payouts for another huge celebration of this iconic event.
- CrossBreed17 ($1,000,000)
- Sunday Melon ($733,959.80)
- FcProto10 ($526,523.20)
- themasterryan ($408,827.40)
- Grafttekkel ($270,961.60)
- Majo360 ($194,380.20)
- n3v3rw1n88 ($139,442.80)
- alxwhitty ($100,032.10)
- nzlking ($71,759.80)
SAVE THE DATE
Sunday, April 7, 2024.
Mark it on your calendar. Don’t make plans. Get a good night’s rest beforehand.
PokerStars is celebrating the 18th anniversary of its iconic Sunday Million with a special edition tournament – and it’s a big one.
The Sunday Million 18th Anniversary has a staggering $8 million guaranteed in the Prize Pool – half a million more than last year’s edition.
Plus, there will be at least $1 million up top for the winner.
It costs $215 to enter, but if that’s a bit out of your bankroll budget, don’t worry. There will be plenty of other ways to get in for cheap, from big satellites and freerolls to Spin & Go’s and giveaways.
You’ll find the event in the PokerStars client right now, with satellites already running.
So start dreaming.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?
The Sunday Million 17th Anniversary concluded on March 28, 2023, as you’d expect: with a new millionaire.
Brazil’s Ricardo ‘RFN1986’ Nagamoto took down the $1,000,000 first prize having topped a field of exactly 39,500 entries over the course of three days.
Last year’s winner Ricardo ‘RFN1986’ Nagamoto
“It’s a very symbolic event with affordable value for many and you can find big poker stars in the field,” he told us. “Winning a regular Sunday Million would be an incredible feat. But winning the anniversary Sunday Million is indescribable.
“This win will change my life as it gives me more stability and financial security. But for the time being, I want to continue doing what I love, which is playing poker.”
You can read our full interview with Nagamoto here.
A few highlights:
The prize pool reached $7.9 million, topping the guarantee.
Here’s how the top ten finished.
- RFN1986 (Brazil) $1,000,000
- roflcopter88 (Denmark) $723,474.66
- PAX176 (Poland) $519,001.44
- songoks (Lithuania) $372,317.79
- dariepoker Romania) $267,090.72
- atredezini (Brazil) $191,603.34
- paulinhoo00 (Brazil) $137,450.76
- Sufferring102 (Brazil) $98,603.07
- young_diam18 (Austria) $70,734.66
- DefBeat976 (Hungary) $50,742.60
All told there were 25,722 entries. With 13,778 re-entries on top, which paid the top 5927 places.
Not a bad three days’ work for second-place finisher roflcopter88. They won their initial entry through a $20 satellite. Then followed that with a re-entry using a ticket won from an $11 Bounty Builder Series “Road to Sunday Million 17th Anniversary” Side Event.
In terms of ROI, fourth place songoks from Lithuania has a story to tell. They turned a $20 satellite into a payout of more than $372,000.
Among those finishing close to the top included PokerStars Ambassador Nick Walsh. He reached day three, departing in 16th place. You can read more about his experience here.
The iconic online poker tournament
For 19 years, the Sunday Million has cemented itself as online poker’s most prestigious regularly scheduled tournament; the one that every player dreams of winning.
Affectionately referred to as the Milly, the Sunday Million has consistently broken online poker records, kickstarted countless poker careers, and been a permanent fixture on our weekend schedules since it was first named back in June 2006.
It’s the event that moves with the times and adapts to players’ wants, from changes in the buy-in to switching to a progressive knockout format.
Becoming a Sunday Million champion is iconic. Becoming a multiple Sunday Million champion is the stuff of legend.
Only one player has ever won it three times: Russia’s Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov. But we’ve seen 19 two-time champions, including Renan “Internett93o” Bruschi, Rob “robtinnion” Tinnion, and Paul “pvas2” Van Nunes.
Check out the full timeline of the Sunday Million.
How to get ready
The Sunday Million is–first and foremost–an extremely fun tournament to play. There are huge fields, massive prizes, and the excitement that comes with playing such an iconic event.
You certainly don’t need to hit the books beforehand in order to enjoy a deep run.
But it certainly won’t hurt your chances either. And over the years, PokerStars Learn has published some excellent strategy articles to help players make the most of this particular tournament.
Let’s go through some of them.
SUNDAY MILLION – EARLY GAME STRATEGY
So you’ve got your ticket to the Sunday Million. You’ve prepared mentally, are well rested, have some snacks on hand, and the game is about to start.
Now that it’s go-time, how should you approach the early game strategy? In this article, we are going to talk about just that.
Read: Sunday Million – Early Game Strategy
The early stages of any tournament requires a particular strategy
SUNDAY MILLION – MID GAME STRATEGY
In this article, we move to the middle stages pre-money and talk about what to expect there.
How do you adjust to varying stack sizes? What kind of players should you look out for?
Read: Sunday Million – Mid Game Strategy
You’ve survived the early stages but you’re not yet at the bubble. What’s the best mid game strategy?
SUNDAY MILLION – BUBBLE STRATEGY
Here, we break away from the more generalized “stages” to talk about a specific point in the tournament, the bubble.
How can you use this stage to your advantage? Which players should you target? And who should you avoid?
Read: Sunday Million – Bubble Strategy
The bubble. A unique moment in any poker tournament
SUNDAY MILLION – FINAL TABLE STRATEGY
So you’ve won a satellite into the Sunday Million, made it through the early and middle stages, navigated the bubble like an expert, and now find yourself at the final table. Congratulations! What now?
Obviously, the intricacies of final table play can’t be covered completely in a single article, but let’s cover some of the essential basics here.
Read: Sunday Million – Final Table Strategy
The final table. Now the hard work begins.
How to follow the action
Even if you’re not playing in the Sunday Million Anniversary, doesn’t mean you can’t follow the action and cheer on your friends and favourite players.
Thankfully, there are many ways you can do it.
POKERSTARS LIVE STREAM
You’ll be able to watch cards-up coverage from the Sunday Million Anniversary 18 on the PokerStars Twitch and YouTube channels, with the award-winning broadcast duo James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton calling the action alongside the likes of Nick Walsh and Griffin Benger.
TUNE IN TO YOUR FAVOURITE STREAMERS
This is one tournament that no online poker streamer is going to miss.
So when Sunday, April 7 rolls around, simply open up Twitch or YouTube and you’ll have your pick of the biggest streamers in the game.
Make sure you follow them all so you know when they go live!
You’ll find links to all PokerStars Team Pro streamers below.
- Lex Veldhuis
- Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg
- Fintan “easywithaces” Hand
- Parker “tonkaaaap” Talbot
- Arlie Shaban
- Georgina “GJReggie” James
- Lasse “WisternJL” Jagd Lauritsen
- Sebastian “peacendloove” Huber
- Felix “xflixx” Schneiders (German language)
- Rafael “GM_Valter” Moraes (Portuguese language)
WHY IT’S PERFECT FOR YOUR COMEBACK
We hope reading through this article has got you as excited about the Sunday Million Anniversary 18 as we are.
Perhaps it has even inspired you to open your PokerStars client for the first time in a while and try to book your seat.
That’s a fantastic idea.
Because if there’s one online poker tournament you should play this year, it’s this one.
First of all, there’s life-changing money up for grabs. With $8 million guaranteed, this is the best-value $215 buy-in tournament you’ll find anywhere.
Secondly, you’ll be playing in one the largest editions of the most iconic online poker tournament ever held.
And perhaps most importantly, it’s your chance to add your name to the poker history books.
You could follow in the footsteps of 2022 winner “Blackbeaty”, who won $931K after a heads-up deal. “This win changes everything,” they told us.
Blackbeaty is the reigning champ
And Vanessa “Nifller” Kade, who won the Anniversary outright in 2021 for a staggering $1.5 million. “This is the best value tournament all year,” she said.
Read: Vanessa Kade reflects on $1.5M Sunday Million win: “This is the best value tournament all year”
Vanessa Kade: winner of the Sunday Million Anniversary in 2021
Start dreaming.
We’ll see you on Sunday, April 7, 2024.
MORE ABOUT SUNDAY MILLION ANNIVERSARY
SUNDAY MILLION TIMELINE | SUNDAY MILLION ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE
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