Half Price Sunday Million Sees Prizepool Surpass $1.6 Million

Greg Shaun

2 years ago

PokerStars executives will be celebrating their decision to reduce the price of the Sunday Million for the second time this year.

PokerStars has hosted on of its largest Sunday Million events in recent years after cutting the buy-in. (Image: PokerStars)

Although the weekly MTT remains a firm fixture in many player’s diaries, changes have been made. At the start of 2019, the buy-in was adjusted down from $215 to $109.

The move was seen as a sign of the times and an effort to reflect the new dynamics of online poker. With a greater focus low stakes players, PokerStars made the Sunday Millions more accessible to the masses.

Sunday Million Remains Popular

That decision revived interest in the tournament and led to the latest seasonal promo. By slashing the buy-in to $54.50, the executives at PokerStars HQ have generated the largest non-special Sunday Million prizepool of 2019.

When the virtual registration desks closed on December 15, a total of 33,317 entries had been collected. Thanks to 23,793 unique entries and 9,524 re-entries, the $1 million guarantee was pushed to $1.6 million.

With 5,336 players set to get paid, the winner will take home $164,892 when play concludes on December 16.

At the close of play on Day 1, Dutch grinder SprinnrDinnr led the way with more than 7 million chips. Comfortably ahead of Canada’s 102040 who finished with a stack of 4.8 million, SprinnrDinnr was the man to beat with just 221 players remaining.

In tandem with the half price Sunday Million, a selection of MTTs had their buy-ins cut.

For one day only, the Sunday Storm cost $5.50. Maintaining its $150,000 guarantee, the low stakes even attracted 38,735 entries to create a prizepool worth $189,801.

Alongside the Storm, the Sunday Warm-Up breached its guarantee by more than $200,000. By halving the buy-in from $215 to $107.50, PokerStars’ tournament team managed to attract 3,683 entries.

That level of interest was enough to ensure three players walked away with over $34,000 after a final table deal.

Half Price Sunday Acts as Warm Up for Winter Series

Seeing out the year with a flurry of broken guarantees will allow PokerStars start 2020 with some positive momentum. Although there’s been no suggestion that the Sunday Million’s entry fee will ever go back to $54.50, it’s proven to be a successful exercise.

With Partypoker recently showing its MTT prowess with Millions Online, PokerStars needed a way to hit back.

Half Price Sunday has captured the community’s attention and now PokerStars will double down on that with its $50 Million Winter Series.

Getting underway on December 25, the 242-MTT series could see PokerStars steal back the limelight as we head into the new year.