Here’s all you need to know about playing, qualifying for, and following the Sunday Million Anniversary 17

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Sunday, March 26, 2023.

Mark it on your calendar. Don’t make plans. Get a good night’s rest beforehand.

Because PokerStars is celebrating the 17th anniversary of its iconic Sunday Million with a special edition tournament – and it’s a big one.

There’s $7.5 million guaranteed in the prize pool.

And an astonishing $1 million (at least!) is reserved for the champion.

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. 

Keep reading to discover all the different ways you can qualify for a fraction of the price.

But for now, start dreaming. 

The iconic online poker tournament

For 18 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 qualify

There are many ways that you can qualify for the $215 Sunday Million Anniversary for less.

Let’s go through them.

FAST TRACK

There’s $75,000 in added value via the Sunday Million Anniversary Fast Track

The Sunday Million Anniversary Fast Track route gives you the opportunity to book your seat for as little as $0.50.

The Fast Track is essentially a series of qualifiers with escalating buy-ins, culminating in entry to the Sunday Million Anniversary.

Here’s how Fast Track qualification works:

• Step 0: $0.50 Spin & Go >
• Step 1: $1.50 Sit & Go >
• Step 1.5: $5 Sit & Go/MTT >
• Step 2: $20 MTT >
• $215 Sunday Million entry

You have the option to buy in at any step, so if you want to hop straight into the $5 or $20 steps, you can.

To locate Fast Track qualifiers in the PokerStars client, open up the lobby and click on the Sunday Million tab.

From there, you can click on the Anniversary Fast Track tab.

SPIN & GO’S

Special edition Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go’s will run on PokerStars

Special edition Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go tournaments will begin to run soon and will be available right up until the event begins, with prizes ranging from $215 entries to satellite tickets and cash.

Want to get involved? Just head to the Spin & Go lobby.

Here’s how the prize probabilities break down in a $0.50 buy-in Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go:

• $215 Sunday Million Anniversary entry — 350 in 1,000,000
• $5 satellite ticket — 17,500 in 1,000,000
• $1.50 satellite ticket — 470,200 in 1,000,000
• $1 cash — 511,950 in 1,000,000

A $4 buy-in Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go:

• $1,000,000 (plus $100,000 each for runners-up) — 1 in 10,000,000
• $215 Sunday Million Anniversary entry — 25,000 in 10,000,000
• $20 satellite ticket — 1,250,000 in 10,000,000
• $11 satellite ticket — 3,008,336 in 10,000,000
• $8 cash — 5,716,663 in 10,000,000

And a $20 buy-in Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go:

• $1,000,000 (plus $100,000 each for runners-up) — 1 in 10,000,000
• $215 Sunday Million Anniversary entry — 550,998 in 10,000,000
• $55 satellite ticket — 4,425,026 in 10,000,000
• $40 cash — 5,023,975 in 10,000,000

REGULAR SATELLITES

You can also win entry to the event via regular satellites, which run daily on PokerStars.

To find them, hit the Sunday Million tab in your PokerStars client and then click on the Anniversary MTT Satellites tab.

Buy-ins range from freerolls to $22.

Additional information:

• Players cannot unregister after winning an entry to the $215 Sunday Million Anniversary via the Sunday Million Anniversary Fast Track or Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go’s.
• Any subsequent entries won to the $215 Sunday Million Anniversary will be exchanged for T$ (Tournament Money) instantly.
• After the conclusion of the Sunday Million Anniversary on March 27, any remaining tickets won via Sunday Million Anniversary Fast Track or Sunday Million Anniversary Spin & Go’s will be converted within 72 hours into generic MTT tickets.
• These generic MTT tickets will allow entry into any scheduled MTT tournament with the corresponding buy-in and will expire after five years.

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

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

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

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

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 17 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.

POKER NEWS LIVE UPDATES

The Poker News team will be on hand to bring you blow-by-blow updates from the event. They’ll follow the biggest names and notable stacks so we can better understand the stories of the tournament as it unfolds.

TUNE IN TO YOUR FAVOURITE STREAMERS

This is one tournament that no online poker streamer is going to miss.

So when Sunday, March 26 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 17 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 at least $1 million guaranteed for the winner, 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 last year’s winner, “Blackbeaty”, who won $931K after a heads-up deal. “This win changes everything,” they told us.

Read: Sunday Million 16th Anniversary champ ‘Blackbeaty’ on his $931K victory: “This win changes everything”

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”

Start dreaming. 

We’ll see you on Sunday, March 26, 2023.

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MORE ABOUT SUNDAY MILLION ANNIVERSARY
SUNDAY MILLION TIMELINE | SUNDAY MILLION ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE

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